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Full name Garfield St Auburn Sobers
Born July 28, 1936, Chelsea Road, Bay Land, St Michael, Barbados
Current age 72 years 23 days
Major teams West Indies,Barbados,Nottinghamshire,South Australia
Also known as Garry Sobers
Playing role All-rounder
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Left-arm fast-medium, Slow left-arm orthodox, Slow left-arm chinaman
Height
5 ft 11 in
Relations Cousin - DAJ Holford
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
BF
SR
100
50
4s
6s
Ct
St
Tests
93
160
21
8032
365*
57.78
26
30
32
109
0
ODIs
1
1
0
0
0
0.00
6
0.00
0
0
0
0
1
0
First-class
383
609
93
28314
365*
54.87
86
121
407
0
List A
95
92
21
2721
116*
38.32
1
18
41
0
Bowling averages
Mat
Inns
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
Tests
93
159
21599
7999
235
6/73
8/80
34.03
2.22
91.9
8
6
0
ODIs
1
1
63
31
1
1/31
1/31
31.00
2.95
63.0
0
0
0
First-class
383
70789
28941
1043
9/49
27.74
2.45
67.8
36
1
List A
95
4387
2393
109
5/43
5/43
21.95
3.27
40.2
4
1
0
Career statistics
Test debut
West Indies v England at Kingston, Mar 30-Apr 3, 1954 scorecard
Last Test
West Indies v England at Port of Spain, Mar 30-Apr 5, 1974 scorecard
Test statistics
Only ODI
England v West Indies at Leeds, Sep 5, 1973 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class span
1952/53 - 1974
List A span
1963 - 1974
Profile
A cricketing genius, Garry Sobers excelled at all aspects of the game, and few would argue his claim as the finest allround player in modern cricket. His exceptional Test batting average tells little about the manner in which he made the runs, his elegant yet powerful style marked by all the shots, but memorably his off-side play. As a batsman he was great, as a bowler, merely superb, but would have made the West Indies side as a bowler alone. He was remarkably versatile with the ball, bowling two styles of spin - left-arm orthodox and wrist spin, but was also a fine fast-medium opening bowler. His catching close to the wicket may have been equalled but never surpassed, and he was a brilliant fielder anywhere. He was an enterprising captain - at times maybe too enterprising, as when a generous declaration allowed England to win a decisive match at Port-of-Spain. Born with an extra finger on each hand (removed at birth), Sobers excelled at most athletic activities, playing golf, soccer and bastketball for Barbados, and made his first class debut at the age of 16, appearing in Tests a year later. He was played initially mostly as a bowler, but four years later set the Test record for an individual batsman with a mammoth 365 against Pakistan. His achievments are numerous - including the six consecutive sixes hit off an over from the unfortunate Malcolm Nash, a superb innings of 254 for the Rest of the World against Australia in 1971 that earned the praise of Don Bradman, and much more. Like many West Indians, he plied his trade abroad, playing for Nottinghamshire, and South Australia. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1975.
Dave Liverman
Notes
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1964
Walter Lawrence Trophy 1974
Knighted for services to cricket 1975
Selected as one of five Wisden cricketers of the century, 2000
