Sir Garfield Sobers — Cricket's Greatest All-Rounder
Garfield Sobers is universally rated cricket's greatest all-rounder: 8,032 Test runs at 57.78 and 235 wickets with three different bowling styles. Learn about the Barbadian genius who hit six sixes in an over in 1968.
Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers (born 1936, Bridgetown, Barbados) is universally considered the greatest all-rounder cricket has ever seen — and by many, the single greatest cricketer in the game's history. In 93 Tests for West Indies, Sobers scored 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78 with 26 centuries — elite batting figures by any measure. In addition to his batting, Sobers bowled in three separate styles: orthodox left-arm spin, wrist-spin (chinaman), and left-arm pace — making him the most versatile bowling asset any captain has ever commanded. He took 235 Test wickets and 109 Test catches.
Six sixes in an over — Nottingham, 1968
Sobers achieved one of cricket's most celebrated individual feats on August 31, 1968, when he hit every ball of a six-ball over for six during a County Championship match between Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan at St Helen's, Swansea. The bowler was Malcolm Nash. Sobers hit six successive sixes — the first player in history to do so in a single over. The sixth six, hit by six-year-old Roger Davis (fielding at deep mid-wicket), was the moment 'six sixes in an over' became part of cricket's lexicon. The feat has since been replicated (Ravi Shastri, Herschelle Gibbs, Yuvraj Singh) but Sobers was the first.
The 365 — a world Test record for 36 years
Sobers scored 365* against Pakistan in Kingston, Jamaica in 1958 — the highest individual score in Test cricket at that time, breaking Len Hutton's 19-year-old record of 364. Sobers' 365* remained the Test record for 36 years until Brian Lara scored 375 in 1994. The innings, made when Sobers was 21, is one of cricket's great individual batting performances — played against a Pakistan attack that was genuinely competitive.
A captain at West Indies' peak
Sobers captained West Indies through much of the 1960s, the golden age when West Indies were genuine world contenders. He is credited with developing the depth of West Indian cricket and creating the team culture that Clive Lloyd later transformed into the dominant side of the 1970s and 1980s. His one controversial captaincy decision — declaring against England in Trinidad in 1968, allowing England to win and draw the series — remains debated, but it was made in the spirit of entertaining cricket rather than safety-first cricket.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Garfield Sobers considered the greatest all-rounder?
Sobers combined world-class batting (8,032 Test runs at 57.78) with the ability to bowl in three different styles (orthodox left-arm spin, wrist-spin, left-arm pace) and catch superbly in the slips. No all-rounder has matched this breadth and depth of ability. Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, and Ben Stokes are all considered great all-rounders, but none could bowl in three distinct styles at Test level.
Did Garfield Sobers really hit six sixes in an over?
Yes. On 31 August 1968 in a County Championship match at Swansea, Sobers hit every ball of Malcolm Nash's over for six — the first time this had been achieved in cricket's history. The feat is now commonplace in T20 cricket but in 1968, playing with a red ball in a county match, it was extraordinary.
What was Sobers' highest Test score?
Garfield Sobers scored 365* against Pakistan at Kingston, Jamaica in 1958 — a world Test record at the time. It stood for 36 years until Brian Lara scored 375 in 1994. Sobers was 21 when he set the record.