Sir Gary Sobers in star-class performances

By A. C. De Silva

Star-class allrounder: Mention the name Sir Garfield Sobers and pop will come the answer that he was cricket's greatest ever allrounder.

Sobers is a West Indian and many facts and figures very clearly show that he belonged to the upper class.

He became a dual Barbadian-Australian citizen through marriage in 1980.

The great allrounder, after his playing days were over for the West Indies, took to coaching and Sri Lanka stood to gain a lot.

Sri Lanka at a certain time had the late Gamini Dissanayake as President of the Board of Control for Cricket and he was instrumental in getting Garfield Sobers to coach the Lankan side.

Top allrounder - left-hand batsman, left-hand bowler and a fine fielder - what more does a side want? Sobers made his Test debut for the West Indies against England at Kingston between March 30 and April 3 in 1954 and his last Test too was against England at Port of Spain between March 30 and April 5 in 1974. He has played in 93 Tests and scored 8,032 runs. With 365 not out as his highest. He made 26 centuries and took 235 wickets.

The capabilities of Sobers with both bat and ball made him a cricketer adored by all and with the 2011 World Cup Cricket Tournament round the corner, he will be thought of in no uncertain manner. He can very easily be known as the greatest of all cricketing icons. He officially opened the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007 in Jamaica.

He is unquestionably cricket's most accomplished player though catching up in age, (he was born on July 28th in 1936 (Barbados), he still is up and about and doesn't look that he is past the seventies.

His wonderful deeds on the cricket field was duly recognised by the top rung and queen Elizabeth knighted him in 1975 for his services to cricket. He also figures in Wisden - the cricketers almanac as one of the finest cricketers of the century in 2000.

Chief guest

He was given the signal honour given to him in 2007 on March 13 to be the Chief Guest at the opening ceremony of the World Cup then. He was honoured by the ICC earlier in 2004 when it announced that the most prestigious individual award in world cricket - the ICC Player of the Year - will be named in honour of the West Indian legend - Sir Garfield Sobers.

Among the awards that Sobers won during his playing career were:

* West Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year: 1958-59 * Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1964 * The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for the Leading All-Rounder in English First-Class Cricket: 1970 * Walter Lawrence Trophy winner: 1974 * Wisden Cricketer of the Century: 2000

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

In 2004, the International Cricket Council (ICC) inaugurated the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy which is awarded annually to the player selected by ICC as its Player of the Year. The recommendation to name the award after Sobers was made by a panel consisting of Richie Benaud, Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Holding, who were asked by the ICC "to select an individual with whom to honour cricket's ultimate individual award".

In 2007 Wisden retrospectively selected the Leading Cricketer in the World for every year dating back to 1900, Sobers was selected for eight years (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964-66, 1968 and 1970). Only Sobers and Bradman (10) received the accolade more than three times.

On that occasion, Sobers said: "It is a great honour to have this award named after me, "and added: "I have been fortunate to enjoy a long association with the game that I and millions of others around the world cherish."

There are some performances of Sobers on the cricket field that will not be forgotten. He made a significant rush on cricket history as the batsman who first achieved the perfect six - sixes in one six-ball over. Playing for Nottinghamshire as captain in the English County Championship match against glamorgan. The Glamorgan's Malcolm Nash (left-arm seamer) was hit by Sobers for six sixes in one over.

The onslaught

The first two balls of the over were mercilessly heaved over the mid-wicket fence for six - first one out of the ground and the second one into the stand that a large crowd. The third one to long-on for six, the fourth to backward square-leg, the fifth straight past the bowler for six. then Glamorgan skipper Tony Lewis sent all his fielders to the boundary - and the 6th ball came and it was a straight and quicker one from Nash which was a little short and Sobers who was seeing the ball like a football, pulled it over mid-wicket and out of the ground for six. The last ball went high over King Edward Road - it was returned the next day by a schoolboy and now the ball occupies pride of place in the Trent Bridge museum. There was also Indian Ravi Shastri who hit six sixes in a side match.

It is well worth remembering some Test match performances by Sobers. In his world record score of 365 made against Pakistan in the 1957-58 series, Sobers batted for 10 hours and 14 minutes for that glorious 365 that had 38 fours. With Conrad Hinte who made 260 (run out), Sobers was involved in a second-wicket partnership of 446. It was Sobers' first century in Tests.

Record price

The cricket bat used by Sobers to hit a world record six sixes in a single over has smashed a record price at an auction. Sobers' famous short handled Slazenger fetched 146,875 in Melbourne. Sobers used the bat during a 1968 county cricket match.

Another Sobers' bat, which helped him to clout a record Test score of 365 not out against Pakistan in 1958, was snapped up for 129,250.