Garry Sobers was born with two extra fingers — one on each hand. He removed them himself as a boy, using catgut and a sharp knife.
Sobers would go on to become the most complete cricketer to play the game. A graceful and destructive left-handed batsman, a left-arm bowler equally skilled at delivering pace and spin, and a brilliant fielder in any position, Sobers was named one of the five leading cricketers of the 20th century by the sport’s Wisden Almanack.
He came second only to prolific Australian batsman Don Bradman, who himself said of the player in 1988: “I’ve got no hesitation at all in saying that Garry Sobers is the greatest all-round cricketer I ever saw.”
Reflecting on his achievements, Sobers often played down the importance of his natural talent. “People call me a genius. I don’t know much about geniuses,” he said late in his life.
“But I do believe that what I achieved was not just because of the ability that I was born with but also because I worked hard.”
He has died aged 89, West Indies Cricket announced on Friday. No cause was given.
‘LILLIPUTIAN CRICKET’
Garfield St Aubrun Sobers was born in St Michael, Barbados, on July 28, 1936, the fifth of six children of Shamont and Thelma Sobers.
His father, a seaman working in the Canadian merchant navy, died when German forces sank the boat on which he was serving. Garfield was five years old.
His mother rose to the task of raising the children by herself. “She did whatever she had to do and looked after us tremendously well,” Sobers wrote in his autobiography.
“We went to school, we were clean, we had shoes on our feet and food in our bellies.”
Sobers excelled at many sports, including soccer and basketball, but cricket was his passion. His first memories of the sport were of playing in the road or on the beach, aged eight.At first he played “Lilliputian cricket”, which required little space and a wicket less than half the normal size. The ball would be fashioned from a lump of tar, the bat from a piece of fence.
Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/cricket/west-indies-great-sobers-dies-89-2026-07-17
