Cricket's Greatest #3: Sir Garfield Sobers

In the words of Ray Robinson, "Evolution's ultimate specimen in cricketers"

Neville Cardus once said,

“We remember not the scores and the results in after years; it is the men who remain in our minds, in our imagination.”

We remember some cricketers for their wonderful ability with the bat, some for the sheer pace with which they bowled at batsmen, few for their guile and ability to spin the ball, and quite a few for their fielding. But there’s only one man who is remembered for possessing all of these skills and that man was Sir Gary Sobers. Gary Sobers was cricket’s Superman, some even thought he was a freak. Uniquely talented, possessing a highly athletic body and sharp eyes, Sobers was a great batsman who could bowl at a reasonable pace, swing it, bowl orthodox spin if needed, switch on to chinaman googly if that didn’t work, and when he was on field not doing either of these he was busy taking catches. So in short, he was a captain’s dream, always in the game ready to make contributions. A rare talent in the cricketing world.

A son of a sea merchant, Gary Sobers lost his father at a very early age, leaving his mother to be the sole bread earner in the family. Sports was at the forefront in everything he and his brothers did. Sobers nurtured his cricketing skills like any other Caribbean boy in those days would, by playing the ‘Lilliputian Cricket’. The balls were made of lump of tar or rock wrapped in cloth, knitted in tights and the bats were made out of wood taken from the palisade or reshaped broken bats.

A self taught cricketer unlike players of the current generation, most of Sober’s skills were developed by watching great cricketers like Frank Worrell, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes. He represented Barbados at a very early age of 16 as a left arm orthodox spinner. A few years later he made his debut for West Indies against Len Hutton’s England team. After that, he went on to score more than 8000 runs at an outstanding average of 58 and took 235 wickets at 34 a piece, also captaining West Indies for almost 6 years in what turned out to be an illustrious career.

As a batsman, he was fearless at the crease. All through his career he played without the thigh pad, when asked about it he replied that he never needed them as he learned to play with the bat. His batting style was attacking in nature as he always looked to play shots freely. His offense was his defence and he never got bogged down to any kind of bowling. His maiden century came against Pakistan, a mammoth triple hundred, a record 365 runs,which remained the highest individual score ever for 36 years until it was broken by another left-hander from the Caribbean, Brian Charles Lara.

Sobers was a quick scorer of runs, one who believed that he should give enough time for his bowlers to take 20 wickets and win the match. So if and when presented with an opportunity, he never shied away from hitting shots. In applying this philosophy, he once famously hit six sixes off Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash, which rendered him immortal as he was the first ever to do it!

Of his 26 test hundreds, his best was the 254 against the Australians while playing for the Rest of the World (Unofficial Test match). After getting destroyed by Dennis Lillie at Perth, Sobers’ men needed to come back into the series. Sobers troubled Lillie with his bouncers in the first innings while Australia were batting. Lillie was furious and vowed to knock his opponent out with his fast bouncers whenever he would come to bat. With his team in trouble at 45 -3, Sobers came in and weathered the storm courageously, going on to score 254 eventhough Lillie used all his tricks. When Sobers got out and walked back towards the pavilion Dennis looked at Sobers and said, “I’ve heard about you and now I’ve got my tail cut properly”. Sobers was 36 then. At that age, being at such a peak was beyond amazing. Sir Donald Bradman said that was the best innings he ever saw, even better than the 132 Sobers scored in the tied test match which many consider to be his best innings ever. Players who played both against and with him considered Sobers to be the best batsman of his era.

Gary Sobers: The batsman smashing through the covers

Sobers as a bowler started out with left arm orthodox spin and switched on to chinaman googlies and fast bowling. At one point of the time, he bowled the highest number of overs eventually overtaken by Lance Gibbs. A very intelligent bowler, he used to look out for the batsman’s weakness and work on it. His very first wicket was that of the excellent Indian batsman Poly Umrigar, Sobers was just 16 then.

Sobers: The bowler

For someone who could do everything on the cricket pitch, Sobers was a supremely fit player, he pulled his muscle for the first time after 18 years when he was in Australia. As a fielder, his close catching was rarely matched, for he would pluck balls from the air and sometimes take very low catches. Many people wondered what fitness exercises he did to keep himself fit. As a captain, Sobers was a gambler, always trying to win the game, but this obsession for winning cost him a match. He set a modest target of 215 to win on a turning wicket against England in 1968 and was widely criticized following the loss. But he continued to captain in the same way, the right way. He would make declarations when other captains wouldn’t dare to. Whatever he did, it was always in the best interest of the game.

When teams played the West Indies, they used to say that they were playing against a team of 12 players, Sobers being equal to 2 players. In fact, Sobers was five players mouled into one: His batting, exploits with three types of bowling and his brilliant fielding often made it tough for the opposition to keep him out of the game. He was the most relaxed man on the cricket field, he played all types of cricket with the same intensity; club cricket, international cricket, first class cricket, everything was the same for him. He enjoyed the game and entertained people at the same intensity. People all over the world wanted to be like him, many cricketers who went on to play international cricket were inspired by him. Sobers could turn a match on its head single-handedly, for he possessed so many tricks in his bag.

The debate about Sobers being the greatest cricketer ever always goes on. Many consider him to be the greatest cricketer who ever lived. Ian Chappell once he said he would pick Sobers if he had to pick between Bradman and Sobers. In the present era, Sobers would have been more than just a player, he would have been cricket’s greatest icon. I will leave you with a story to decide for yourself who the best cricketer is. Keith Miller, the legendary Australian all-rounder who was considered to be the next best all-rounder after Sobers, was once sitting with his son Dennis on a lounge and watching cricket. A graphic came up on the screen showing Don Bradman and the commentator saying ‘There he is Don Bradman, the greatest cricketer of all time’ . Keith jumped off the lounge and said “Don Bradman: Greatest batsmen of all time ; Greatest cricketer of all time: Gary Sobers”.

and #2 in our Cricket’s Greatest series.