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'Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers' (born July 28, 1936 in Bridgetown, Barbados), often known as 'Garry Sobers' (though earlier in his life he preferred the spelling 'Gary'), is a former West Indies cricketer, widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder (batsman and bowler) the game has ever seen. 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.^[1] 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. He played his last Test in 1974 against England, in Trinidad.
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. However, Sobers' innings still remains the highest maiden Test century ever.
In 1968, Sobers became the first ever batsman to hit six sixes off one over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket^[2]. 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 twice. Ravi Shastri completed the only other first-class instance, playing for Bombay against Baroda in 1984. In an ODI match during the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, South African Herschelle Gibbs hit six sixes off an over against the Netherlands.
In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II 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).
He was made a National Hero of Barbados by Prime Minister Owen Arthur in 1999.
He has two sons, Matthew and Daniel, and a daughter, Genevieve.

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References

References

1. ''Garry Sobers: My Autobiography'' - book review at Amazon,com
2. BBC Archive - 1968 footage of Sir Garfield Sobers hitting six sixes in one over