Garfield Sobers
From Cricipedia - The Cricket Encyclopedia!
Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers (born 28 July 1936 in Bridgetown, Barbados), often known as Garry Sobers, is a former West Indies cricketer, widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder (batsman and bowler) the game has ever seen.
Sobers was born with two extra fingers, one on each hand, which were removed at birth. Besides cricket, he also excelled at other sports, and played golf, football, basketball, table tennis and dominoes for Barbados.
Sobers was a true all-rounder in that he could bat and bowl with equal aplomb. He was also an outstanding fielder, usually fielding close to the wicket. Sobers was an exceptionally talented left-handed batsman, with a superb career Test batting average of 57.78. He ended up scoring 8,032 runs in his career, which was a record at the time. Sobers was also a versatile bowler, taking 235 Test wickets at an average of 34.03. He bowled left-arm spin and also left-arm fast-medium.
Sobers played his first Test Match in 1953 at the tender age of 17. Just under five years later, in 1958 he set a Test cricket record by scoring 365 runs in 614 minutes in a single innings that included 38 fours and, interestingly, not one six against Pakistan. It was his first Test century, and a record which stood for over 36 years, until it was surpassed by Brian Lara. However, Sobers' innings still remains the highest maiden Test century ever. He played his last Test in 1974 against England in Trinidad.
In 1968 Sobers became the first ever batsman to hit six sixes off one over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket. Sobers was playing as captain of Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in Swansea; the unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. This tally of 36 runs off an over beat a 57 year-old record of 34 runs, held by Ted Alletson.
In 1975 Queen Elizabeth II awarded Sobers a knighthood for his services to the sport. In 2003 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, where he played many first-class games for South Australia.
He is the author of a children's novel about cricket, Bonaventure and the Flashing Blade, in which computer analysis helps a university cricket team become unbeatable.
In 2000 Sobers was named by a 100-member panel of experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. Sobers received 90 votes out of a possible 100. The other four cricketers selected for the honour were Sir Donald Bradman (100 votes - out of 100 possible), Sir Jack Hobbs (30 votes), Shane Warne (27 votes) and Sir Vivian Richards (25 votes).
He was made a National Hero of Barbados by Prime Minister Owen Arthur in 1999.
