Happy birthday, Sir Garry!

THE Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all-rounder in the history of cricket and Barbados’ only living national hero, celebrates his birthday today.

The West Indies legend was seen watching the lastest cricket game, which featured West Indies vs Australia at Kensington Oval on Monday in a One-Day International match. 

A look back at Sir Garry and his cricket career saw him making his debut for Barbados at the age of 16 and then the Test scene at the age of 17.

His debut for the West Indies came against England in 1954 and his final match was 20 years later, also against England in 1974.

Though some may have argued about who was the greatest batsman or even who was the greatest cricketer, Sir Garry is known as the greatest cricketer who encompassed all three disciplines of the game – batting, fielding and bowling. 

His outstanding ver-satility saw him excel in every department of the game, of which he played 93 Test matches for the West Indies. 

In those 93 Test matches, he scored 26 centuries, 30 half centuries and a total of 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78.

His highest score with the bat was 365 runs at the age of 21 years, which he recorded in 1958 against Pakistan and stood as Test cricket’s highest individual score at the time. He succeeded Frank Worrell as captain of the West Indies.

Sir Garry is also known for his six consecutive sixes hit off an over from medium pacer Malcolm Nash, in a game for his English County cricket team Nottinghamshire in 1968. 

With the ball, he took 235 wickets at an average of 34.03, with best bowling figures of 8/80 in a match while holding 109 catches, most spectacularly close to the wicket with panther-like reflexes.

In his 383 first-class matches, he scored over 28,314 runs and took 1,043 wickets and 407 catches.

After his retirement from the Test arena, Sir Garry was knighted in 1975.

Happy birthday, Sir Garfield Sobers! (CG)