All-time West Indies cricketer Garfield Sobers dies aged 89 | Cricket News

Garfield Sobers, the West Indian cricketer whose world record 365 Test not out at the age of 21 made him the game’s greatest ever player, has died. He was 89 years old.

West Indies Cricket announced his death on Friday without giving a reason.

“In the context of cricket, there are great players. There are geniuses. Then, there are rare individuals who redefine the meaning of greatness,” said Kishore Shallow, President of Cricket West Indies.

“Sir Garfield Sobers was the greatest cricketer in the world.” His batting, bowling, and fielding skills were unmatched, but his true meaning reached far beyond the boundary ropes.

Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, with an extra finger on each hand, Sobers hit 26 Test hundreds and had a Test average of 57.78 from a batting that was beautiful and powerful. He was also a versatile bowler, dangerous with arm bends and quick deliveries.

Sobers had several records. His unbeaten 365 against Pakistan in 1958 – an impressive maiden Test century – was the best in 36 years, before international Brian Lara did the feat. He was also the first player to reach 8,000 runs in test cricket and hit two sixes in the first match, Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in English county cricket in 1968.

He achieved all this while still living a party life.

Sobers told The Guardian in 2002: “It’s an exaggeration to say I was partying every night.

“The night before the Test match, I stayed out all night.

‘Bigger than ever’

Sobers played 93 Tests for the West Indies from 1954-74, making his debut at the age of 17 and retiring at 38 with 8,032 runs, 235 wickets and 109 catches. He captained his country 39 times. He was the best batsman of his generation, astute at slips and quick hands.

Wisden rated him one of the five greatest cricketers of the 20th century alongside Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Viv Richards and Shane Warne. To Bradman – considered the greatest cricketer of all time – Sobers was the greatest cricketer. Queen Elizabeth II created him in 1975 to play cricket.

Bradman had an astonishing 100 wickets but before his death in 2001, “Don” paid a huge tribute to Sobers.

“He is, in my opinion, the greatest cricketer of all time,” Bradman said.

Born on July 28, 1936, Garfield St Aubrun Sobers grew up in a poor family living in a one-story wooden house. One of seven children, he was five years old when his father, who was a merchant, died at sea.

Sobers played golf, football and basketball in Barbados, but devoted himself to cricket, learning the game on the beach with bats made from palm leaves and rolled tar balls.

Less than a year after making his first-class debut aged 16 and barely trained, Sobers was playing international cricket – initially as a left-arm slow bowler. He soon became known for his timing as a batsman, the variety of his strokes and his ability to excel in all departments of the game.

“He can do anything,” former Australian captain and legendary commentator Richie Benaud said.

It took him 29 Test innings to reach three figures, against Pakistan in Kingston in February 1958. It was in that innings that he became the youngest by three years and later broke Len Hutton’s record-world mark of 364, which stood for nearly 20 years.

Sobers was there when Lara broke his record against England in Antigua in April 1994, eventually making 375 not out.

“There was a lot of pressure on him, people telling him not to break the record, to keep the legend alive,” Sobers recalled. “So I talked to him in the locker room during his innings, and I said, ‘Go do it, man.'”

Sobers is best known for smashing six sixes in one double, off spinner Malcolm Nash in a game at Swansea where Sobers pushed Nottinghamshire to claim. He was caught on the fifth delivery, but the bowler fell back across the boundary.

“Everywhere I go (to) every part of the world, everyone mentions six,” Sobers told the BBC. “You know, it seems like it’s the only thing I’ve ever done in cricket.”

It made Nash a household name for the wrong reasons.

He said: “I feel that they ask me if not once a week then maybe once a month.”

Sobers played for South Australia from 1961-64 and Nottinghamshire from 1968-74. One of his best performances was 254 for the Rest of the World team against Australia in 1972.

He played one international day, and got 0 dismissals.

Sobers was one of the first inductees into the ICC’s Hall of Fame in 2009.

Shallow said Sobers “became a game winner”.

“He became a symbol of Caribbean success, resilience, and potential,” he said. “His achievements brought pride to Barbados, inspiration to the West Indies and admiration from all sides of cricket.

Sobers, Shallow added, “has finished his last innings, but his legacy will live on in the hearts of our community, and the story of cricket.”

The Cricket world is crying

The England Cricket Board also paid tribute on television, calling Sobers “one of the greatest ever to play the game”.

“Forever in our hearts, Sir Garfield Sobers,” they added.

Former England international Geoffrey Boycott paid tribute to Sobers, who he said was “like a panther on the move, slinky and confident”.

“I just loved the way Garry went to bat,” Boycott said in The Telegraph.

“He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. There was no ego. His walk let the opposition know he was there to do business.”

The governing body for cricket in India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), also paid a fair tax.

“The BCCI mourns the passing of Sir Garfield Sobers, a true sporting icon and one of the greatest cricketers of all time,” it said.

“His incredible achievements, enduring influence on Caribbean cricket and his immense contribution to international cricket have left a legacy that will continue to inspire generations,” he added, posting a video of Sobers joining Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and other Indian players for the West Indies tour in 2024.

Sobers was asked in 2013 by Cricinfo readers asking what was the magic of cricket.

“Well, I think cricket is a game that you have to be born to understand the difference and the joy of it,” he said.

“I don’t think cricket is a game that people who have never played or participated in understand the joy of it.

“This is a very interesting game because people who love cricket follow the game and understand its principles and rules.