Sir Garfield Sobers *Signature Value : £30
| Sir Garfield (Gary) Sobers is probably the world's greatest ever all-round cricketer, his cricket career spanning from 1952 to 1974. Sobers was born on July 28th, 1936 in Bay Land, Barbados. Sir Garfield Sobers was an excellent all round sportsman, excelling at football and basketball as well as cricket. Whether batting, bowling or fielding, his all round ability in all aspects of cricket was outstanding and helped Sobers gain his test debut at the age of 17 after playing at the first-class level for Barbados since he was 16. In 1954 Garfield Sobers made his debut in the final test at Sabina Park against the touring English side. He was picked to play as a bowler for his slow left arm spin replacing Alf Valentine. Four years later Sir Garfield Sobers set the test record for an individual batsman, with a mammoth 365 against Pakistan in 1958 also at Sabina Park. He batted for a total of 10 hours and 8 minutes. 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. This tally of 36 runs off an over beat a 57 year-old record of 34 runs, held by Ted Alletson. Sobers captained the West Indies cricket team for 39 matches between 1965 and 1972, the Barbados team in 1966 and 1967, Nottinghamshire from 1968-1971 and the Rest of the World for two tours - one of England and the other of Australia. Sir Garfield Sobers retired from Cricket in 1974 due to knee problems and in 1975, Queen Elizabeth II overturned tradition by dubbing him a Knight in an open-air ceremony at the Garrison Savannah instead of at Buckingham Palace. |