SIR Garfield Sobers, one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history and a former West Indies captain, died here on Friday at the age of 89. The death of the legendary cricketer was confirmed by his son Daniel. Sobers was only 10 days shy of completing his 90th birthday. One of the finest all-rounders the game has ever seen, Sobers played 93 Tests and scored 8,032 runs at 57.78 with 26 centuries and 30 half-centuries between March 1954 to April 1974. A left-handed batter and also a left-arm fast medium pace bowler, Sobers claimed 235 wickets in Test cricket. He played in a solitary ODI, taking one wicket. He was also the first-ever batter to have hit six sixes in an over in First-Class cricket. Born in Barbados in 1936, Sobers made his First-Class debut at 16 and entered Test cricket for West Indies a year later. Initially selected as a bowler, he developed into a complete cricketer whose batting brilliance, bowling versatility and athletic fielding made him a rare match-winner.

 

Sobers will forever be associated with the feat he completed in 1968 at Glamorgan’s St Helen’s ground in Swansea when he became the first batsman to hit six sixes in a single over of six consecutive balls in First-Class cricket but his achievements in a long and illustrious career were numerous. The late Richie Benaud, a revered broadcaster and former Australia captain, described Sobers as “the greatest all-round cricketer the world has seen”. “Sobers was a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket, and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing orthodox left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin,” Benaud said. Sobers retired relatively early for a player of his stature and ability at the age of 38 in 1974. Wisden had then said, “Some great players of the past continued appreciably longer. Simply tired, he had lost his zest for the sport which had been his life – and was still his means of earning a living.”