Garry Sobers, towering West Indies cricket all rounder, dies at 89
Cricket in the 20th century was littered with great players, but by universal consent two stand head and shoulders above the rest – Australian batsman Donald Bradman and West Indian all-rounder Garry Sobers, who has died aged 89. “A great innings has come to an end. In our hearts, now and forever, Sir Garfield Sobers,” […] The post Garry Sobers, towering West Indies cricket all rounder, dies at 89 appeared first on The Namibian .
Cricket in the 20th century was littered with great players, but by universal consent two stand head and shoulders above the rest – Australian batsman Donald Bradman and West Indian all-rounder Garry Sobers, who has died aged 89.
“A great innings has come to an end. In our hearts, now and forever, Sir Garfield Sobers,” West Indies Cricket posted on social media on Friday.
In a poll of 100 cricket experts in 1999, both Bradman and Sobers were chosen in Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the 20th Century with the West Indian all-rounder garnering 90 votes.
Bradman had an extraordinary 100 votes and yet before his own death in 2001, the Don paid the ultimate tribute to Sobers.
“He is, in my opinion, the greatest cricketer of all time,” said the Don.
That tribute is based not just on the statistics or on style — of which Sobers had plenty — but on the breathtaking breadth of his cricketing ability.
As a batsman Sobers scored 8,032 runs in his 93 Tests at an average of 57.78, numbers that on their own that would guarantee him a place in any pantheon.
