Sir Garfield “Garry” Sobers, widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder in the history of cricket, has died at the age of 89, ESPNcricinfo reported. The Barbadian great died at his home in Highgate, St Michael, on July 17, just days short of his 90th birthday. His son Daniel, who was at his side, said his father had been ailing for some time.
Sobers represented the West Indies from 1954 to 1974, playing 93 Test matches and scoring 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78, while also taking 235 wickets. A left-hander who could bat, bowl pace or spin, and field brilliantly, he set a world record with an unbeaten 365 against Pakistan in 1958 — a mark for the highest individual Test score that stood for 36 years until Brian Lara surpassed it in 1994.
He also became the first player to hit six sixes in a single over, achieving the feat for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in 1968. Knighted in 1975, Sobers was later named one of cricket’s five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only all-rounder on that list.
Tributes flowed from across the cricketing world. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) expressed its “deepest condolences” on the passing of the legend, describing him as one of the greatest all-rounders the game has ever produced, according to Ada Derana. SLC extended its sympathies to Sobers’ family, the people of Barbados and the wider West Indies cricketing community.
Regarded by many contemporaries and successors as the finest cricketer of his generation, Sobers leaves a legacy that shaped the modern all-rounder’s role in the game.
