Sir Garfield Sobers, RIP

Sir Garfied Sobers - or as he was known in my childhood, Gary Sobers - died yesterday  a few days short of his 90th birthday. and was the consummate cricketer of my childhood. His name was in the record books at the time (the 1960s) for having made the highest score in test cricket, 365 not out, but he was also a fearsome bowler.

Although I must have watched him play for the West Indies on television, I was also privileged to see him play in the flesh in June 1968 when I was a junior member of Gloucestershire CC. I remember the occasion although not the date (Copilot found it instantly, 22–24 June 1968). 

During the match, there had been intermitten showers, and indeed the players had left the pitch during Sobers' innings. When play resumed, Sobers scored 98 runs before getting out. Even though he hadn't made a centurty, he received a standing ovation from the around the ground, and especially in the member's enclosure where I and my friends were. I remember trying to touch him - touch a  cricketing god! - but I don't remember whether I succeeded in doing so. 

As Copilot put it, Sobers’ 98 was described as one of those innings where the number didn’t matter. He dominated the bowling, lifted Nottinghamshire’s innings, and played with that effortless authority that made spectators feel privileged just to be present. A standing ovation for 98 — as if he had reached a hundred — is exactly the kind of reception Sobers inspired. County crowds adored him. They knew they were watching the greatest all‑rounder in the world, and they treated him accordingly.

Two months later, Sobers entered the history books again by being the first player to score six sixes in a single over off six consecutive balls in first-class cricket. 

From the Guardian obituary, I learnt that he captained West Indies in 39 Tests, with a sense of adventure in keeping with the character of someone who loved to gamble at racecourses around the world. All this he did while pursuing rum, women and the sort of hedonistic lifestyle that makes the tales about Botham seem like nursery rhymes (in his autobiography, Sobers dealt candidly with his jousts with the bottle in his early adult life).

Anothing sporting legend of my youth has passed away.

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