Against Pakistan in 1958, Garfield Sobers scored his maiden Test century, progressing to 365 not out and establishing a new record for the highest individual score in an innings.
82 Facts About Garfield Sobers
2.
Garfield Sobers's record was not broken until Brian Lara scored 375 in 1994.
3.
Garfield Sobers was made captain of the West Indies in 1965, a role which he would hold until 1972.
4.
Garfield Sobers has the fifth-highest batting average in Test cricket in the list of cricketers with more than 5,000 runs.
5.
Garfield Sobers was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975 for his services to cricket.
6.
Garfield Sobers became a dual Barbadian-Australian citizen through marriage in 1980.
7.
In 2009, Garfield Sobers was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
8.
Garfield St Aubrun Sobers was born on 28 July 1936 to Shamont and Thelma Sobers of Walcott Avenue, Bay Land, St Michael, Bridgetown, Barbados, and was the fifth of six children.
9.
From an early age, Garfield Sobers demonstrated the ability and enthusiasm to play with great skill almost any sport involving a ball, particularly cricket, football and basketball.
10.
Garfield Sobers gained useful experience by bowling to Wanderers batsmen, including West Indies Test player Denis Atkinson, at practice in the nets and soon developed his great skill as a left arm spin bowler.
11.
Garfield Sobers was initially selected as 12th man but then made the team itself when Frank King was forced to withdraw with an injury.
12.
Garfield Sobers therefore made his first-class debut on 31 January 1953, aged only 16.
13.
Garfield Sobers batted at number five against Marylebone Cricket Club, scoring 46 and 27; and took two wickets in the match.
14.
Garfield Sobers had shown enough talent in these two matches to be selected for West Indies and his third first-class appearance was his Test debut.
15.
Garfield Sobers had progressed quickly and made his Test debut in March 1954, aged 17, against England at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, for the fifth and final Test, after Alf Valentine had fallen ill.
16.
Garfield Sobers was selected as a bowler, despite only mediocre performances against England for Barbados.
17.
Garfield Sobers scored 14 not out and 26 batting at number nine; however, England won the match by nine wickets.
18.
Garfield Sobers was not selected for the First Test, which the West Indies lost by nine wickets.
19.
The match was a high-scoring draw, with Garfield Sobers scoring 47 and eight not out.
20.
Garfield Sobers was barely used with the ball, bowling three overs for ten runs, as Australia amassed a first-innings total of over 600.
21.
Garfield Sobers was given a further opportunity in the next Test in Georgetown, Guyana in South America.
22.
Garfield Sobers had a suspicion he might be asked to do the job.
23.
Garfield Sobers was eventually dismissed for 43 out of a first-wicket partnership of 52 with JK Holt.
24.
The match was drawn, and Garfield Sobers took one wicket in the Australians' only innings, before scoring 11 in the West Indies second innings.
25.
Garfield Sobers performed with the bat scoring 35 not out and 64.
26.
Garfield Sobers went on his first overseas tour in the early months of 1956 when, aged 19, he was part of the West Indian tour of New Zealand.
27.
The series was not successful personally for Garfield Sobers, who struggled on the foreign batting wickets.
28.
Garfield Sobers was sent home from New Zealand early to play an unofficial Test match against an England team that included feared fast-bowler Frank Tyson.
29.
The matches saw Garfield Sobers get his first look at West Indian cricket politics.
30.
Batting at number 3, Garfield Sobers made 39 and 42, while none of his colleagues passed 30 in either innings.
31.
At this stage of his career, Garfield Sobers had frustrated his admirers by failing to convert good starts into high scores.
32.
Garfield Sobers had reached double figures in 18 of his 22 Test innings, although his highest score was still only 66.
33.
Garfield Sobers batted for 614 minutes and scored 38 fours but, unusually in such a large total, no sixes.
34.
Sir Garfield Sobers set the world records for the highest maiden test ton as well as becoming the first batsman in test history to convert his maiden test ton into a triple ton.
35.
Garfield Sobers underwent trauma following the death of Collie Smith in September 1959, but he continued to play cricket successfully.
36.
Garfield Sobers scored a celebrated 132 on the first day of the First Test at Brisbane Cricket Ground, the match which resulted in the first Tied Test.
37.
Garfield Sobers was never a prolific wicket-taker in Test cricket, and his average of three wickets per game in this series typified his whole career.
38.
Garfield Sobers enjoyed immediate success as West Indies captain when his team defeated Australia by 179 runs in the First Test at Sabina Park.
39.
Garfield Sobers enjoyed spectacular success in England in 1966 and was widely acclaimed as "King Cricket".
40.
Garfield Sobers's status was celebrated at that time by the Trinidadian calypso artist Mighty Sparrow, with his song "Sir Garfield Sobers".
41.
Garfield Sobers did not play in that series but returned to play under Kanhai in England in 1973.
42.
Garfield Sobers played his last Test in March 1974 at Queen's Park Oval against England.
43.
Garfield Sobers was invited to captain the Rest of the World XI in England and a World XI in Australia.
44.
Garfield Sobers then scored "a magnificent" 183 and helped bowl out England in the second innings using his left arm wrist spin.
45.
In January 1972, in the third unofficial Test between Australia and The World XI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Garfield Sobers played an innings of 254 which was described by Don Bradman as "probably the greatest exhibition of batting ever seen in Australia".
46.
Garfield Sobers reached his century in 129 balls and after a rest day, reached 254 in 326 balls.
47.
Garfield Sobers wrote in his autobiography that these two "unofficial" series should be given full "Test" status due to the quality of the players involved.
48.
Garfield Sobers was driving a car in which Smith and another West Indian Test player Tom Dewdney were passengers.
49.
Garfield Sobers "began drinking more" and there were concerns, expressed by himself and others, that the experience might affect his cricket career.
50.
Garfield Sobers got over the trauma by deciding that he would be letting his country down if he "disappeared into the mists of an alcoholic haze" and he resolved to play not just for Garfield Sobers but for Collie Smith as well, thus setting himself the task of playing for two men.
51.
Garfield Sobers gives an insight into the life of the club professional in his autobiography.
52.
Garfield Sobers made 549 runs in 18 innings at 49.90, finishing second in the league averages behind only his amateur brother Gerald, playing for Norton, who averaged 50.12.
53.
Gary Garfield Sobers did even better with the ball, his 97 wickets at 8.38 heading the league averages.
54.
Norton lost the league title in 1966 while Garfield Sobers was touring England with West Indies but regained it in 1967 when he returned.
55.
Garfield Sobers was fourth in the 1967 league batting averages with 41.83 and third in the bowling with 95 wickets at 9.37.
56.
Garfield Sobers was the season's leading runscorer with 973 at 74.84 and the leading wicket taker with 47 at 28.27.
57.
Garfield Sobers spent three seasons with South Australia and in two he achieved the rare double of 1000 runs and 50 wickets.
58.
Garfield Sobers made his first appearance in the inaugural season of the new Shell Shield competition in February 1966.
59.
Garfield Sobers stated that, although he had enjoyed his time in league cricket, he had a definite preference for the first-class game and he looked forward to restoring Nottinghamshire's fortunes.
60.
On 31 August 1968, Garfield Sobers became the first batsman ever to hit six sixes in a single over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket.
61.
Garfield Sobers hit the first four balls cleanly out of the ground but was caught on his fifth attempt by Roger Davis on the boundary at long-off.
62.
Garfield Sobers then smashed the next ball - the sixth ball of the over - clean over the East Terrace of the St Helen's Cricket Ground.
63.
An outstanding all-rounder, Garfield Sobers was left-handed as both batsman and bowler.
64.
Garfield Sobers's versatility enabled him to bowl all varieties of left-arm bowling from spin to fast-medium.
65.
I've got no hesitation at all in saying that Gary Garfield Sobers is the greatest allround cricketer I ever saw.
66.
Garfield Sobers made over 8000 runs for the West Indies in test matches at the splendid average of 57.7, and only Weekes and Headley have beaten that average.
67.
Benaud wrote, "Garfield Sobers was a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket, and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing orthodox left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin".
68.
In James's view, only Sir Don Bradman and Garfield Sobers were comparable with St Hill in having this capability of "seeing" the ball.
69.
Garfield Sobers could operate as a seamer, sometimes using medium pace, but he was much more effective when he bowled fast.
70.
Garfield Sobers married Prue Kirby, an Australian, in September 1969.
71.
The marriage ended in divorce in 1990 after the couple broke up in 1984; however, Garfield Sobers acquired dual Australian citizenship through marriage in 1980.
72.
Garfield Sobers says that his was a multi-sporting family who were all good at football, basketball, table tennis and tennis.
73.
Garfield Sobers is the author of a children's novel about cricket, Bonaventure and the Flashing Blade, in which computer analysis helps a university cricket team become unbeatable.
74.
The award was originally intended to be made in the 1975 Queen's Birthday Honours, but since there was a royal visit to Barbados planned for February 1975, it was moved forward to the New Year list so that Garfield Sobers could be knighted by the Queen in person during the visit.
75.
Garfield Sobers was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1975 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews while attending a reception at the Barbados High Commission in London to celebrate his recent knighthood.
76.
Garfield Sobers was made a National Hero of Barbados by the Cabinet of Barbados in 1998 and is thus accorded the honorary prefix "The Right Excellent".
77.
Garfield Sobers is one of only eleven people to have received this honour and one of two recipients still living, along with Rihanna.
78.
Garfield Sobers coached internationally, having a one-time stint with Sri Lanka.
79.
In 2000, Garfield Sobers was named by a 100-member panel of experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century.
80.
Garfield Sobers received 90 votes out of a possible 100.
81.
The recommendation to name the award after Garfield Sobers was made by a panel consisting of Richie Benaud, Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Holding, who were asked by the ICC "to select an individual with whom to honour cricket's ultimate individual award".
82.
In 2007 Wisden retrospectively selected the Leading Cricketer in the World for every year dating back to 1900, Garfield Sobers being selected for eight years.