Garfield Sobers

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Personal information
Sir Garfield Sobers
Image:West Indies Cricket Board Flag.svg West Indies
Full name	Garfield St. Auburn Sobers
Nickname	Garry Sobers
Born	28 July 1936 (1936-07-28) (age 73)
	Bridgetown, Barbados
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Role	All-rounder
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Left-arm fast medium Slow left-arm orthodox Slow left-arm chinamen
International information
Test debut (cap 84)	30 March 1954: v England
Last Test	5 April 1974: v England
ODI debut (cap 11)	5 September 1973: v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1952 – 1974	Barbados
1968 – 1974	Nottinghamshire
1961 – 1964	South Australia
1961 – 1962	MCC
Career statistics
	Tests	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	93	1	383	95
Runs scored	8032	0	28314	2721
Batting average	57.78	0.00	54.87	38.32
100s/50s	26/30	0/0	86/121	1/18
Top score	365*	0	365*	116*

Balls bowled	21599	63	70789	4387
Wickets	235	1	1043	109
Bowling average	34.03	31.00	27.74	21.95
5 wickets in innings	6	–	36	1
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	1	n/a
Best bowling	6/73	1/31	9/49	5/43
Catches/stumpings	109/–	1/–	407/–	41/–
As of 13 September, 2007 Source: Cricinfo

Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers, AO (born July 28, 1936 in Bridgetown, Barbados), often known as Garry Sobers (though earlier in his life he preferred the spelling Gary), is a former West Indies cricketer, widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder (batsman and bowler) the game has ever seen. He was born with two extra fingers, one on each hand, which were removed at birth. He also excelled at other sports, and played golf, football, basketball, table tennis and dominoes for Barbados.^[1] He is universally regarded as one of the most exceptional players ever to grace the game.

Sobers was a true all-rounder, he both batted and bowled, and was also an outstanding fielder, usually fielding close to the wicket. With the ball, Sobers performed superbly, taking 235 Test wickets at an average of 34.03. He bowled left-arm orthodox spin, left-arm unorthodox spin, and also left-arm fast-medium. Sobers was also exceptionally talented with the bat, with a career Test batting average of 57.78. He scored a then-record 8032 runs in his career. He played his last Test in 1974 against England in Trinidad.

Sobers played his first Test Match in 1953, aged only 17. Just under five years later, in 1958, Sobers set a Test cricket record by scoring 365 runs in 614 minutes, in a single innings that included 38 fours and, interestingly, not one six against Pakistan. It was his first Test century, and a record which stood for over 36 years, until it was surpassed by Brian Lara. However, Sobers' innings still remains the highest maiden Test century ever.

In 1968, Sobers became the first ever batsman to hit six sixes off one over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket.^[2] Sobers was playing as captain of Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in Swansea; the unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. This tally of 36 runs off an over beat a 57 year-old record of 34 runs, held by Ted Alletson.

In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Sobers a knighthood for his services to the sport. In 2003, Australia, where he played many first-class games for South Australia, appointed him an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to cricket ^[3].

He is the author of a children's novel about cricket, Bonaventure and the Flashing Blade, in which computer analysis helps a university cricket team become unbeatable.

In 2000, Sobers was named by a 100-member panel of experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. Sobers received 90 votes out of a possible 100. The other four cricketers selected for the honour were Sir Donald Bradman (100 votes - out of 100 possible), Sir Jack Hobbs (30 votes), Shane Warne (27 votes) and Sir Vivian Richards (25 votes).

He was made a National Hero of Barbados by Prime Minister Owen Arthur in 1999.

He has two sons, Matthew and Daniel, and a daughter, Genevieve.

Image:Garry Sobers Graph.png

Garry Sobers's career performance graph.

Image:GSobersBowling.png

A graph showing Sobers' test career bowling statistics and how they have varied over time.