{"id":546859,"date":"2026-07-18T00:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/546859\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T00:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:05:13","slug":"sir-garry-sobers-west-indies-cricketing-great-dies-aged-89-cricket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/546859\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Garry Sobers, West Indies cricketing great, dies aged 89 | Cricket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Garfield Sobers, the great West Indies cricketer widely regarded as the finest all-rounder in the sport\u2019s history, has died aged 89. His death at his home in Barbados only 11 days shy of his 90th birthday was announced by Cricket<\/a> West Indies on Friday, with the simple line: \u201cA great innings has come to an end. In our hearts, now and forever, Sir Garfield Sobers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, paid tribute to Sobers in a post on social media and said that Friday has been declared a day of national mourning \u2013 flags will be flown at half-mast and no official functions will take place. A state funeral will follow in the coming days.<\/p>\n

Sobers was the first batter to hit six sixes in an over when playing for Nottinghamshire at Glamorgan\u2019s St Helen\u2019s ground in Swansea in 1968. But it was just one of many feats in an illustrious career featuring 93 Test matches for West Indies \u2013 including 39 as captain \u2013 from 1954 to 1974.<\/p>\n

The late, revered broadcaster and former Australia captain Richie Benaud once described Sobers as \u201cthe greatest all-round cricketer the world has seen\u201d.<\/p>\n

Benaud wrote: \u201cSobers was a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket, and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing orthodox left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin.\u201d<\/p>\n

From a humble background, Sobers first caught the eye playing club cricket, before turning out for the Barbados police aged 15 and making his first-class debut a year later against India at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown. His Test debut for West Indies aged 17 followed in 1954 against Len Hutton\u2019s England at Sabina Park in Jamaica.<\/p>\n

His maiden Test century against Pakistan at the same ground in 1958 secured his place in history early: an unbeaten 365 that set the record for the highest individual Test score. It stood for 36 years until Brian Lara\u2019s 375 against England in Antigua broke it in 1994, with Sobers at the ground to congratulate him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to be there for Brian,\u201d Sobers told the Guardian in 2002<\/a>. \u201cThere was a lot of pressure on him, people telling him not to break the record, to preserve it for the legend. So I spoke to him in the dressing room during his innings and said: \u2018Go out and do it, man.\u2019 Records are there to be broken. I don\u2019t cling to the idea that nobody else can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, the left-handed Sobers scored 8,032 Test runs at an average of 57.78 \u2013 the fourth-highest average in history among players with over 5,000 runs \u2013 and took 235 wickets at 34.03. In 383 first-class matches, including time with South Australia and Nottinghamshire, he scored more than 28,000 runs and took more than 1,000 wickets.<\/p>\n

On his record six sixes in an over for Notts, hit off the bowling of Malcolm Nash, Sobers said: \u201cIt was only about the fifth six that I thought: \u2018Here\u2019s something that hasn\u2019t been done, why not try it?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cRecords have never meant a lot to me. If I have ever broken records, they have come in the stride of my duty to my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Garry Sobers becomes the first batsman to hit six sixes in a single over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket in 1968.<\/p>\n

Nash, who died in 2019, said: \u201cHe hit them all pretty cleanly except one. The second ball was pretty dramatic. It nearly destroyed the [nearby] pub after hitting the guttering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt went like a tracer bullet and was still going up when it hit the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sobers was knighted for his services to cricket by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975, with the investiture taking place at the Garrison Racecourse in Barbados \u2013 a mile from his childhood home in the parish of St Michael.<\/p>\n

One of seven children, Sobers was raised by his mother after his father, a merchant seaman, drowned when his ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1942 during the second world war. Sobers was five at the time.<\/p>\n

He was awarded the status of National Hero of Barbados in 1998 and two years later named one of Wisden\u2019s five cricketers of the century, second to Sir Don Bradman and sitting ahead of Sir Jack Hobbs, Shane Warne and Viv Richards in the voting. He also sits No 1 among all-rounders in the International Cricket Council\u2019s historical rankings.<\/p>\n

A statue of Sir Garfield Sobers Kensington Oval in Barbados. Photograph: Jason O\u2019Brien\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Kishore Shallow, president of Cricket West Indies, wrote: \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. Sir Garfield Sobers was the greatest cricketer the world has ever seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe emerged from the Caribbean<\/a> at a time when our region was finding its voice and asserting its place on the world stage. Through his excellence, he gave millions across our islands and in the diaspora, a renewed belief in what was possible. He showed that greatness was not confined by the size of our nations, the geography of our islands or the circumstances of our beginnings.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir Garfield Sobers became more than a sporting icon. He became a symbol of Caribbean excellence, resilience and possibility. His achievements brought pride to Barbados, inspiration to the West Indies and admiration from every corner of the cricketing world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his later years Sobers was often seen watching West Indies\u2019 matches at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, sitting on a wicker chair at the top of the Worrell, Weekes and Walcott Stand next to the pavilion that bears his name. He is also immortalised in a statue at the same end of the ground, playing a straight drive with a flourish to denote his swashbuckling approach with the bat.<\/p>\n

David Rudder, the legendary calypsonian from Trinidad who wrote the anthem Rally \u2019Round the West Indies, told the Guardian: \u201cThe great man has left the round table with blade, flannels and ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps he has seen enough of a difference in these young men who now hold the flame. So on this fine day, with collar up, arrogant stride, the man we call THE GOAT, has joined the ancestors. Farewell.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Garfield Sobers, the great West Indies cricketer widely regarded as the finest all-rounder in the sport\u2019s history,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-546859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}