Was Gary Sobers the Greatest Cricketer of all Time?

By Dexter Theodore

Sir Garfield St. Auburn Sobers' cricket career spanned two decades, during which time he played 93 tests. As a batsman he scored a record 8,032 runs (including 26 centuries) at an average of 57.78 with a record highest individual score of 365 not out. He also excelled as a bowler, taking 235 wickets at an average of 34.03 runs per wicket. He bowled pace and spin with equal facility. Sir Gary was also a brilliant fieldsman with extraordinary reflexes.

His world record 365 not out achieved against Pakistan on 3rd March 1958, was his maiden test century, made in his fifth test series when he was only 21 years old. It was an outstanding feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that four years earlier when he played his first test match as a 17 year old he had batted at number 9. Sobers' 365 runs were scored in 10 hours and 8 minutes. The previous record holder, Sir Leonard Hutton, had taken 13 hours and 20 minutes to score his 364 runs. When batting maestro, Brian Lara broke Sir Gary's record 36 years later his 375 runs took him 12 hours and 46 minutes.

Sir Donald Bradman, widely acclaimed as the best batsman who ever lived, was a great fan of Sir Garfield and often travelled hundreds of miles to watch Gary play. The Don, as he was affectionately called, rated Gary's 254 made in 1972 for the Rest of the World against an Australian team which included one of the best fast bowlers of all time, Dennis Lillee, as the best innings he had ever seen. One of the most memorable shots made by Sir Gary in that match was a straight drive off Dennis Lillee which hit the boundary boards just as that great bowler was finishing his follow-through.

Sir Gary also had the reputation of scoring when it mattered. Playing for the West Indies against England at Lord's in 1966 his 163 runs transformed the West Indies' second innings from a perilous 95 for 5 to an impressive 369 for 5, declared. In that Test series he amassed 722 runs at an average of 103. He took 20 wickets at an average of 27 runs per wicket and also snapped up 10 catches. This performance is unrivalled in the annals of Test cricket.

Sobers also had the distinction of scoring six successive sixes in one over in a first class match for Nottinghamshire against the hapless Malcolm Nash of Glamorgan.

His most awe-inspiring feat as a bowler came in 1964 when, playing for the E.W. Swanon Eleven against Malysia, he so mesmerised his opposition that he took five wickets in five successive deliveries.

On 19th February 1975 at the Garrison Savannah in Barbados he was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second for his contribution to the game of cricket.

Dexter Theodore