Sir Garfield Sobers, West Indies cricket legend, dies aged 89
Cricket West Indies and Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club pay tribute to knighted icon who held Test batting record for 36 years
Sir Garfield Sobers, widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder in cricket history and a National Hero of Barbados, has died at the age of 89. A knighted West Indies captain and one of the five cricketers of the 20th century, Sobers held the record for the highest individual Test score (365 not out) from 1958 until 1994. He also famously became the first player to hit six sixes in a single over during a first-class match in 1968.
Tributes have been paid by Cricket West Indies and Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, where Sobers played county cricket and held dual citizenship through his marriage to Prudence Kirby. Cricket West Indies described him as a "great innings" that has come to an end, while Nottinghamshire labelled him "cricket's greatest-ever all-rounder and an iconic figure in Nottinghamshire history".
Sobers played 93 Test matches for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974, scoring 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78 and taking 235 wickets. He served as West Indies captain from 1965 to 1972, leading the team to a 3-1 series victory over England in 1966. His record of 365 not out stood for 36 years until it was broken by Brian Lara in 1994, a moment Sobers witnessed personally before shaking Lara’s hand.
He was knighted in the New Year Honours of 1975 and was selected as one of the five cricketers of the 20th century by Wisden, finishing second to Sir Donald Bradman. Sobers also played county cricket for Nottinghamshire (1968–1974) and South Australia, holding dual Australian citizenship. He attended Barbados' transition to a republic in 2021 as a National Hero.
The International Cricket Council honoured his legacy by naming its world player of the year trophy after him, and he was an inaugural inductee of the ICC’s hall of fame. Sobers also coached Sri Lanka in the early 1980s and opened the first World Cup staged in the Caribbean in 2007. His statue stands outside Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, where he made his first-class debut at the age of 16.
