I didn't know it at the time, but I have never since seen a cricketer who matched Garfield Sobers for versatility and brilliance at every aspect of the game. Bradman was before my time and a run machine, but he didn't bowl. Jacques Kallis was magnificent, but as Barry Richards explained, he was more likely to save you a game, whereas Sobers was more likely to win it. An over simplification, perhaps, but it tells the measure of the man who many refer to as 'The Greatest'.
He was a brilliant stroke player, a 360 degree bat before anyone else got close. His stroke play was dazzling, yet beneath it was a sound technique and a good defence. You don't average 58 in Test cricket without that. He took 235 wickets at that level too, most often bowling left arm seam and swing, but also effective as an orthodox or unorthodox left arm spinner. That versatility was honed in League cricket, where he could work on his skills without too great a risk of being punished if he bowled a bad ball.
His feats were many, including that erstwhile highest individual Test score, or his six sixes in an over from Glamorgan's Malcolm Nash. When he walked out to the wicket, usually at number six, you knew the entertainment level was being cranked up to eleven, his wicket often key to the game's result.
For so long he was the key to West Indian fortunes, even in an era when they had a far better side than today. Perhaps the only flaw in the book is the absence of comment from some of his surviving early contemporaries, such as Rohan Kanhai, but this is a minor quibble in a very fine read.
He eventually led the influx of overseas players into county cricket, where he played with success for Nottinghamshire. He wasn't able to bring them trophies, as Clive Rice and Richard Hadlee later managed to do, but he hauled a struggling team up the table and took them to the Gillette Cup semi final in 1969, when they were beaten by Yorkshire at Scarborough despite his remarkable spell of twelve overs for only twelve runs.
Nottinghamshire couldn't really afford him, his salary of between five and seven thousand pounds being way more than anyone else in cricket and more than most footballers. Like many in county cricket at the time their finances were in a parlous state, but from the start he gave good value, taking 3-28 and scoring an unbeaten 75 against Lancashire 'without a net or warm up, save for touching his toes half a dozen times'.
Of course, there was a decline. His body, like that of anyone else, could only take so much and injuries increased as he got older. His fondness for alcohol didn't help, even when his reputation preceded him. In his days at Nottinghamshire he often socialised with the Nottingham Forest and former Rangers star, Jim Baxter, whose reputation for alcoholic excess was well known either side of the border. Not for nothing were they known around the city as 'Drunk and Sobers'...
He wasn't an especially good captain, with several examples of his failings given within the 448 pages of an excellent book. But he was human and we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Few have strengths of the calibre of Sobers, who was a genuine superstar, capable of winning matches on his own and doing so over a career of remarkable longevity, all things considered.
A gambler, drinker and ladies man, for sure. Yet also the greatest all-round cricketer that the game has seen, or likely ever will see. This book is a worthy tribute to him and is highly recommended.
David Tossell has written about sport for over four decades, but this is up there with his best work, admirably researched and thorough in its approach to the subject.
Top marks to Pitch Publishing too, for a book delightfully produced and with a font size that this reader especially appreciated.
Get it on your Christmas list - you won't regret it!
Maestro: A Portrait of Garry Sobers, Cricket's Greatest All Rounder is written by David Tossell and published by Pitch Publishing.
And to think this titan played club cricket half a mile from where I live.
ReplyDeleteSadly the club Norton no longer exists and I was barely born when he played, however one of my near neighbours didn't just see him but also played with him and he only has very happy memories of the experience.
He has always said there was no arrogance from Mr Sobers and he was a gentleman on and off the pitch.