2) Garfield Sobers was one of the six children to Shamont and Thelma Sobers. Sobers lost his father at the age of five due to shipwreck in 1942
3) ‘Garfield St Auburn’ was an uncommon and Sobers in his autobiography says, “Most Barbadians have unusual names, and I was no exception,” he said. He was supposedly given the two names after a few relatives settled in the United States of America
4) Garry Sobers was born with six fingers on each hand. The first extra finger fell off before he was 10, jerked out with a piece of catgut wrapped around the base and hauled off with a sharp tug. He played his first serious cricket match with 11 digits. The remaining additional finger was severed with the help of a sharp knife when Sobers was 14
5) Garfield Sobers did his schooling at Bay Street Boys School. He along with his brother Gerald Sobers helped his school to three inter-school cricket championships
6) Sobers was just 16 and still playing in his shorts when he was chosen as a last-minute replacement against the touring Indians of 1952-53 — his First-Class debut. The Sobers family could not afford flannels for the young man to play his first match. Barbados cricket Association presented Sobers with his first cricket outfit
7) Sobers had natural talent for sport and excelled in cricket, football and basketball. Still in his teens, he was invited to play cricket for Kent St. Philip club and Wanderers club
8) Sobers first international exposure was when he got selected for the Barbados eleven for a match against touring Indian team on January 31, 1953 at the age of 16 years. He made immediate impression with his bowling taking 7 for 142 in the match
9) In the 1952–53 season, Sobers was invited to the Barbados trials for the colony’s tour match against the Indian touring team at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown. He was initially selected as 12th man but then made the team itself when Frank King was forced to withdraw. He, therefore, made his first-class debut on 31 January 1953, aged only 16. Batting at number nine, he scored 7 not out in his only innings but made an immediate impression as a bowler, taking 4/50 and 3/92
10) His performance against touring Marylebone Cricket club earned him his test call. Sobers took two wickets and scored 46 & 27 in that match
11) From 1961 to 1968, in 33 Tests, Sobers scored 3106 runs at 63.38 with 9 hundreds and captured 125 wickets at 27.93
12) Sobers is the youngest player to score a Triple Century in tests. That 365* vs Pakistan at Kingston in 1958 came when he was just 21 years and 213 days old. He overcame Sir Don Bradman's record who scored his 334 vs Eng at Leeds in 1930 at the age of 21 years and 318 days
13) Scoring 300 runs and taking 20 wickets in a series is no mean feat - it's only been achieved 15 times in the entire history of Test cricket. But what makes Sobers stand apart is that he managed it three times on his own, twice against England, and once against India
14) In fact even in his early days he averaged nearly 63 in 79 matches, which was easily the best during that period. And if we talk about his bowling, in the eight years when Sobers was at the peak on his bowling powers, he was among the best in that aspect too: only three bowlers took more than 100 wickets at an average lower than Sobers' 27.93
15) Sobers became the captain of his side in 1965 and enjoyed immediate success as West Indies captain when his team defeated Australia by 179 runs in the First Test at Sabina Park. West Indies went on to win the series 2–1 and so claim the new Frank Worrell Trophy. This was the first time West Indies had beaten Australia in a Test series
16) Sobers was the first to score 3000 Runs, take 200 wickets and grab 100 catches in Tests. Only 3 others have managed to do it after him - Sir Ian Botham, Shane Warne, and Jacques Kallis
17) Sobers was the one of the first cricketer from West Indies to play as a professional in the English league crcicket. He represented Radcliffe Cricket Club in the Central Lancashire League from 1958 to 62. He was paid £500 a season apart from match day collection
18) Sobers was signed up Nottinghamshire county on November 14, 1967 to play as overseas cricketer for a sum of £ 7000 a year including apartment and car
19) On 31 August 1968, Sobers became the first batsman ever to hit six sixes in a single over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket. The feat consisted of five clean hits for six and one six where the ball was caught but carried over the boundary by Roger Davis. Sobers was playing as captain of Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at St. Helen’s in Swansea; the unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. This tally of 36 runs in an over broke a 57-year-old record of 34 runs, held by Ted Allenton. The ball was collected from a garden by 11-year-old Richard Lewis; he later gave the ball to Sobers
20) Sobers married Prue Kirby an Australian in September 1969. Apart from his two sons Mathew and Daniel, he adopted a daughter Genevieve
21) Sobers was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketer of the Century in 2000. He garnered 90 votes out of possible 100
22) Sobers was made a National Hero of Barbados by the Cabinet of Barbados in 1998 and has the honorary prefix “The Right Excellent” to his name. He is one of only ten people to have received this honour and the only recipient still living
23) In 2004 International Cricket Council inaugurated ‘Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy’ in honour of Sobers. The trophy is awarded to ICC Player of the Year
24) Sobers played 93 tests scoring 8032 runs and took 235 wickets. He has played 383 first class matches and has scored 28,000 runs with 1000 wickets.
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