live cricket scores - Sir Garfield SobersThursday , August 19 2010 , 11:52 PM 
Left-handed Sir Garfield (Garry) St. Auburn Sobers, former Barbados and West Indies cricketer, is unquestionably the greatest all-rounder the world has been privileged to see—an elegant, powerful and exquisite batsmen; a triple purpose bowler and a superb fieldsman in any position on the field. Sir Gary’s prowess was of such that he could have been selected to play for any one of the departments of the game. Sir Garry was born in Barbados in 1936. He captained the West Indies between 1965 and 1973 and was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 1975. He played 93 ( 87 of them consecutively) Tests for the West Indies, scoring 8,032 runs, with 26 centuries, including 365 not out( a world record then), at the age of 21 against Pakistan in 1958. He had surpassed the 364 of the late Sir Lennard Hutton who was the first player knighted for cricket. Sir Gary was the youngest player at the time to score a triple Test century. His record was eclipsed by Brian Lara in 1994 with a score of 375 against England. ( Lara’s record was then surpassed by Australia’s Mathew Hayden score of 380 vs Zimbabwe in 2003. Lara went on to achieve further glory by eclipsing Hayden’s record in scoring 400 not out against England in 2004). In his book ‘Sobers Twenty Years at the Top’, Sir Garry states, inter alia, that “the best tour I went on was my first visit to Australia in 1960/1 under Frank Worrell. And the greatest Test match I played was the first Test in Brisbane (in that same tour) which ended in a tie”. He rates his best tour in terms of statistics as that of England in 1966 when he returned as Captain. The West Indies won the series 3-1. He scored centuries in the First, Second and Fourth Tests and finished with 722 runs, topping the batting average at 103.14. He also captured 23 wickets in his all three bowling styles—left-arm fast medium, slow left-arm orthodox and slow left-arm chinaman. Sir Garry states that one of his regrets about his cricketing career is that he never had the opportunity to play much one-day cricket. In fact, he played only one game without scoring a run. He writes in his autobiography ‘Garry Sobers My Autobiography” as follows: “I would have enjoyed playing one-day cricket and I don’t think I would have changed my game. After all, I played in the same way whether it was League, County or Test cricket. I have always tried to play attractive cricket”. One of several West Indian cricketers to have been knighted, Sir Garfield feels deeply indebted to his family for the important role they played on his success and is flattered, highly emotional, proud and happy for his mother and family, “those father figures”, who had supported and helped him on his way to the top. The other cricket knights from the Caribbean are Sir Learie Constantine, Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Everton Weekes and Sir Vivian Richards. He was knighted for his services to cricket in February 1975 by Her Majesty the Queen in his homeland, Barbados, at the Garrison, a mile from where he was born. Sir Garfield asks rhetorically: “Who would have thought that a poor boy from a wooden house in Walcott Avenue would end up like this?” Apart from being conferred with a knighthood, Sir Garfield was made a National Hero of Barbados in 1998 and is the recipient of the Order of the Caribbean Community. He was also inducted into the Black Hall of Fame in the United States of America. Of Barbadian parentage and of humble origin, Sir Garry epitomizes the heights that can be reached when natural talent and genius quality are combined with discipline, commitment and loyalty to a cause—Caribbean peoples There was a certain majesty and grace about Sobers’ batting, bowling and fielding that even opponents who ‘suffered’ from his extraordinary skill and onslaught, still felt honoured to be playing against him. Malcolm Nash who had the unique distinction of being the first bowler in first class cricket to be struck for six consecutive sixes (the batsman being Sir Gary) in one over has achieved a certain star status in the cricketing fraternity. Indeed, speaking of this record of Sir Gary is incomplete without mentioning the hapless Malcolm Nash. There are some critics who say that Sobers’ captaincy was not as brilliant as his varied skills on the field. Others say that his genius did not allow for tolerating and/or accepting mediocrity. However, what everyone is unanimous about is that each one of them was privileged to witness a genius and artist at work, who brought indescribable joy to those fortunate to see him display his prowess and artistry. Sir Garry has received plaudits for his unique and multi-dexterous skills from a wide cadre of distinguished global personalities who, themselves, have distinguished themselves both on and off the cricket field. The doyen of all batsmen, the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, was alerted very early by his good friend, Lord Learie Constantine, of the talent of Sir Garry and was urged by him to seize the opportunity to watch Garfield Sobers as he was, according to Lord Constantine,” the hardest hitter of the ball I have ever seen”. Lord Constantine was no mean hitter himself “in his day”. Sir Donald, in the foreward he wrote to the book “Sobers Twenty Years at the Top”, said that he was not disappointed when he saw Sobers. Sir Donald went on to add: “In my recent public appraisal of all-round cricketers I unhesitatingly rated Gary Sobers as the greatest all-rounder I ever saw. The competition for such accolade was awesome. There were many contenders for the title, men like Hammond, Botham, Miller, Benaud and Davidson”. Sir Don recalled two shots by Sir Garfield that would remain indelibly in his mind. The first was at Adelaide Oval in Australia when left-hander paceman, Alan Davidson, bowled a bumper that reached Sobers at shoulder height. He, Sobers, off his back foot and with horizontal blade, hit him over mid-on for 6. According to Sir Don, it was a shot of unbelievable power. The second occasion was when Sobers “unleashed the most wonderful straight drive (against fast bowler Dennis Lillee of Australia) which hit the screen almost before the bowler’s forward momentum had finished”. Nelson Mandela, who, upon meeting Sir Garry in 1991, related how he had followed Sobers' exploits from the confines of his prison. The Mighty Sparrow (Dr. Francisco Slinger) widely-acknowledged as the ‘calypso’ king of the world, immortalized Sir Garry in calypso, one of the folk arts of Caribbean peoples, as "the greatest cricketer on Earth or Mars". The producer of the very popular British TV series, “This is Your Life" has acknowledged that one of most popular episodes was the tribute to Sir Garry Sobers. Sir Garry attaches much significance to friendship and team spirit. This has been clearly manifested in the manner he dealt with the death by vehicular accident of his great friend and cricket colleague (Collie Smith). He was driving the vehicle in which Collie was traveling. The pain of losing a dear friend was a traumatic experience for him. He was plunged into deep grief. He expressed his condolences by literally playing the innings of their lives, scoring 226 in his very next innings Although Sir Garfield’s name is synonymous with cricket, he is also a keen golfer, representing his country in this sport. As a youngster he was also an ardent footballer. In fact, he represented Barbados’ national soccer team as a goalkeeper. Profile Full name Garfield St Auburn Sobers Catch all the live cricket scores at cricandcric.com
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