Garfield Sobers

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Garfield Sobers West Indies (WI)

Batting style	Left-handed batsman (LHB)
Bowling type	Slow left-arm orthodox (SLA) Slow left-arm chinaman (SLC) Left-arm fast medium (LFM)
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	93	1
Runs scored	8032	0
Batting average	57.78	0.00
100s/50s	26/30	0/0
Top score	365*	0
Overs bowled	3418.3	10.3
Wickets	235	1
Bowling average	34.03	31.00
5 wickets in innings	6	0
10 wickets in match	0	N/A
Best bowling	6/73	1/31
Catches/stumpings	109/0	1/0
As of 30 December, 2004 Source: Cricinfo.com

Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers (born July 28, 1936 in Barbados), often known as Garry Sobers (though earlier in his life he preferred the spelling Gary), is a former West Indies cricketer. He was born with two extra fingers, one on each hand, which were removed at birth. He also excelled at other sports, and played golf, football, basketball, table tennis and dominoes for Barbados.<ref>Garry Sobers: My Autobiography - book review at Amazon,com</ref> He is universally regarded as one of the most exceptional players ever to grace the game.

Sobers was a true all-rounder, he both batted and bowled, and was also an outstanding fielder, usually fielding close to the wicket. With the ball, Sobers performed superbly, taking 235 Test wickets at an average of 34.03. He bowled left-arm orthodox spin, left-arm unorthodox spin, and also left-arm fast-medium. Sobers was also exceptionally talented with the bat, with a career Test batting average of 57.78. He scored a then-record 8032 runs in his career.

Sobers played his first Test Match in 1953, aged only 17. Just under five years later, in 1958, Sobers set a Test cricket record by scoring 365 runs in 614 minutes, in a single innings that included 38 fours and, interestingly, not one six against Pakistan. It was his first Test century, and a record which stood for over 36 years. The record has since been surpassed by Brian Lara, also of the West Indies, who scored 375 and 400 not out in 1994 and 2004 respectively, Matthew Hayden of Australia who scored 380 in 2003, and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka who scored 374 in 2006.

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; the unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. This tally of 36 runs off an over beat a 57 year-old record of 34 runs, held by Ted Alletson. The feat of six sixes in an over has since been matched only once, by Ravi Shastri, playing for Bombay against Baroda in 1984.

He played his last Test in 1974 against England, in Trinidad.

In 1975, Queen Elizabeth awarded Sobers a knighthood for his services to the sport.

He is the author of a children's novel about cricket, Bonaventure and the Flashing Blade, in which computer analysis helps a university cricket team become unbeatable.

In 2000, Sobers was named by a 100-member panel of experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. Sobers received 90 votes out of a possible 100. The other four cricketers selected for the honour were Sir Donald Bradman (100 votes - out of 100 possible), Sir Jack Hobbs (30 votes), Shane Warne (27 votes) and Sir Vivian Richards (25 votes); some voters considered that two votes of their five [Bradman & Sobers] were 'wasted'.

Garry Sobers's career performance graph.

Career record	First-class	List A
Matches	383	95
Runs scored	28,314	2,721
Batting average	54.87	38.32
100s/50s	86/121	1/18
Top score	365*	116*
Balls bowled	70,789	4,387
Wickets	1,043	109
Bowling average	27.74	21.95
5 wickets in innings	36	1
10 wickets in match	1	N/A
Best Bowling	9/49	5/43
Catches/Stumpings	407	41
As of 24 June, 2005 Source: cricinfo Edit this template