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Sir Garfield Sobers, the graceful West Indian cricketer whose world-record Test innings of 365 not out as a 21-year-old set him on the path to becoming arguably the sport\u2019s greatest all-rounder, has died. He was 89.<\/p>\n
West Indies\u2019 cricket federation announced his death on Saturday morning AEST without providing a cause.<\/p>\n
![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9a91134c042bdb89bb06b35643577037d1a7f59c.jpeg\")
Sir Garfield Sobers speaking at The Press Club in Canberra in 2002.Pat Scala<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the story of cricket, there are great players. There are champions. Then, there are those rare individuals who redefine the very meaning of greatness,\u201d said Kishore Shallow, president of Cricket West Indies.<\/p>\n
\u201cSir Garfield Sobers was the greatest cricketer the world has ever seen. His mastery of batting, bowling and fielding was unparalleled, but his true significance reached far beyond the boundary ropes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, with an extra finger on each hand, Sobers hit 26 Test centuries and had a Test average of 57.78 from batting that was both elegant and powerful. He was also a versatile bowler, dangerous with both wrist-spin and fast-medium deliveries.<\/p>\n
Sobers held a slew of records. His unbeaten 365 against Pakistan in 1958 \u2013 remarkably his first Test century \u2013 was the record score for 36 years, before countryman Brian Lara bettered it. He also was the first player to reach 8000 runs in Test cricket and to hit six sixes in one over in a first-class game, for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in English county cricket in 1968.<\/p>\n
All this achieved while maintaining a party lifestyle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, it\u2019s an exaggeration to say I was partying every night. Just every other,\u201d Sobers told The Guardian newspaper in 2002.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night before a Test match, I\u2019d always be out and about all night. Sometimes I didn\u2019t sleep at all before a big game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sobers played 93 Tests for the West Indies from 1954-74, making his debut at 17 and retiring at 38 with 8032 runs, 235 wickets and 109 catches. He captained his country a then-record 39 times. He was the best fielder of his generation, so alert at slip with his quick hands.<\/p>\n
![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/37d4a53511a356b0a2445a9dada544ceeec82d72.jpeg\")
Sir Garfield Sobers, February 14, 1969.Fairfax Archive<\/p>\n
Sobers was named one of the five leading cricketers of the 20th century by the Wisden Cricketers\u2019 Almanack, including Australians Don Bradman and Shane Warne. For Bradman \u2013 widely recognised as the best cricketer of all time \u2013 Sobers was cricket\u2019s greatest all-rounder. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1975 for services to cricket.<\/p>\n
Born July 28, 1936, Garfield St. Aubrun Sobers was raised in a poor family which lived in a one-storey wooden house. One of seven children, he was five when his father, a merchant seaman, died at sea.<\/p>\n
Sobers played golf, football and basketball for Barbados but devoted himself to cricket, learning the game on the beach with bats made of palm leaves and balls of rolled-up tar.<\/p>\n
Within a year of making his first-class debut at 16 and without ever being properly coached, Sobers was playing international cricket \u2013 initially as a left-arm slow bowler. He soon became known for his timing as a batter, the variety of his strokes and his ability to excel in all departments of the game.<\/p>\n
Related Article \u201cHe could do anything,\u201d former Australia captain and legendary commentator Richie Benaud said.<\/p>\n It took him 29 Test innings to reach three figures, against Pakistan in Kingston in February 1958. It was in that innings that he went on to become the youngest triple-centurion and then break Len Hutton\u2019s world-record mark of 364, which had stood for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n Sobers was present when Lara broke his record against England in Antigua in April 1994, eventually getting out for 375.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of pressure on him, people telling him not to break the record, to preserve it for the legend,\u201d Sobers recalled. \u201cSo I spoke to him in the dressing room during his innings and said, \u2018Go out and do it, man.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Sobers is arguably most famous for smashing six sixes in one over off spinner Malcolm Nash in a match at Swansea as Sobers pushed Nottinghamshire toward a declaration. He was caught on the fifth delivery, but the fielder fell back over the boundary.<\/p>\n \u201cWherever I go (in) any part of the world, everybody mentions the six sixes,\u201d Sobers told the BBC. \u201cYou know, it seems as though it\u2019s the only thing I\u2019ve ever done in cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n It made Nash a household name for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cI reckon I get asked about it if not once a week then at least once a month,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sobers played for South Australia from 1961-64 and for Nottinghamshire from 1968-74. One of his best innings was a 254 for a Rest of the World team against Australia in 1972.<\/p>\n Sobers played only one one-day international, and was dismissed for 0.<\/p>\n He was one of the initial inductees in the ICC\u2019s Hall of Fame in 2009.<\/p>\n Shallow said Sobers \u201cbecame more than a sporting icon\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe became a symbol of Caribbean excellence, resilience, and possibility,\u201d he said. \u201cHis achievements brought pride to Barbados, inspiration to the West Indies and admiration from every corner of the cricketing world.<\/p>\n Sobers, Shallow added, \u201chas completed his final innings, but his legacy will forever endure in the hearts of our region, and the story of the cricketing world.\u201d<\/p>\n AP<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e86bc5602eecc2e33b2959beb8e6fdf1ae697704.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0daa55726b9a69f1d65b12c8a9f6712d3b21ffa5.jpeg\")
Sir Garfield Sobers chats with members of the West Indies team in 2015.AP<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e31905920d780624d4231bbf1c18bde01fe5edb0.jpeg\")
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