Bio: Sir Garfield Sobers was born the sixth of seven children July 28, 1936 in Bay Land, St. Michael Parish, Barbados. At the age of six Sobers lost his father a merchant seaman when Germans torpedoed his ship.
Sobers first played first-class cricket for Barbados at the age of 16, playing for Barbados against India. He played his first test match in 1954 against England in Kingston, Jamaica getting 4 wickets. He showed promise during a 1957 English Tour, but it was during the 1957-58 tour of Pakistan where he set the highest test score of the time by scoring 365no.
Though at the beginning of a promising career Sobers would struggle with the bottle for years as he admits freely in his autobiography. In 1959, his close friend O.G. "Collie" Smith died after sustaining injuries in an automobile accident with Sobers at the wheel.
Sobers would then join the Lancashire League, playing for Nottinghamshire where he developed an extremely fast bowl. He would then bowl for South Australia setting records completing an unprecedented feat during his first season their a double; 1000 runs and 50 wickets twice in an Australian season. Something that no one else was able to complete even once. South Australia would go on to win the Sheffield Shield.
He went on to captain the West Indies team in 39 Tests between 1965 and 1972. Sobers, also avid player of basketball, hurt his left knee playing goalkeeper for Barbados. After 20 years of playing cricket Sobers retired in 1974, he held the record for the most runs in a test career at that time.
In 1974 he was also knighted by the Queen and became Sir Garfield Sobers. He married Prudence Kirby an Australian in 1969 (divorced in 1985) and moved to Australia with her for seven years until deciding to return to Barbados in 1985. He and his wife have two sons Matthew and Daniel and a daughter, Genevieve. Sir Garfield In 1998, Sir Garfield Sobers was declared a national hero of Barbados. He is now an international golfer.
Afiwi.com's complete profile on Garfield Sobers
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