Radcliffe’s former cricket star Sir Garfield Sobers dies

The 89-year old was widely regarded as one of the finest cricketers ever to play the game and died just 11 days before his 90th birthday.

In all, he made 93 Test appearances and scored 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78, while his 235 wickets came at a cost of 34.03.

The Barbados-born cricketer, who played for the West Indies for 20 years, was well-known in the Radcliffe area after being signed by the town’s cricket club in 1956.

Between that late-summer day in 1956, when Radcliffe’s John Lowe persuaded Sobers to sign on the dotted line for £500, and the start of the 1958 season, the 20-year-old Barbadian was to make the highest Test match score of all time, 365 not out against Pakistan.

Sobers had signed for a year but stayed for five, lighting up the league with breathtaking individual performances, such as his 186 against Ashton in less than two hours; 50 in 13 minutes at Rochdale; and eight wickets for 13 runs at Werneth.

A report written by Anna Youssef for Bury Times in 2006 said he bowled extremely fast, a skill he says he learned in his first season at Radcliffe.

That first rain-hit summer, he scored 1,252 runs and took 88 wickets in a Radcliffe side which underperformed.

Barbadian cricketing great Sir Garfield Sobers has died at the age of 89, Cricket West Indies has announced. (Image: Philip Toscano/PA Wire)

In fact, Sobers took more wickets than the rest of the team put together and scored almost as many runs as them on his own.

His achievements in subsequent seasons were no less remarkable, with the professional’s “double” of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets achieved in both 1960 and 1961, the year Radcliffe also won the Wood Cup and the league championship.

Sobers had fond memories of his five years at Radcliffe, recalling it as a time when he learned how to bowl very fast – and how to bet.

He “discovered” horse racing and poker during long, aimless days between matches and enjoyed a drink with the “locals”.

In his autobiography, published in 2002, he describes how he was warned about “Teddy Boys” who carried “flick knives” when he first came to live in Radcliffe, lodging at the Boar’s Head in the town centre.

“When I walked home at night, the Teddy Boys in their drainpipe trousers, thick-soled shoes, bright shirts and string ties, with greased hair, would wave at me and shout hello,” he said.

“I often stopped to ask them what they were doing out on the streets at 11 o’clock and invite them to have a drink at the pub. We would have a few, and then they would go home, without any hint of trouble.”

Following his time in Radcliffe, Sobers went on to play for Nottinghamshire in county cricket and for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield.

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In all first-class matches, he scored 28, 315 runs, with 86 centuries, 400 catches, and more than 1,000 wickets.

In 1968, while playing for Notts, he became the first man to hit six sixes in one six-ball over from Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash.

He was knighted in 1975.

News of Sobers’ death has sparked an outpouring of warmth for a cricketer who transcended national loyalties.

England Cricket posted: “One of the greatest to ever play the game. Forever in our hearts, Sir Garfield Sobers.”

There were tributes too from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which said: “The BCCI mourns the passing of Sir Garfield Sobers, a true icon of the game and one of cricket’s greatest-ever all-rounders.

“His extraordinary achievements, lasting influence on Caribbean cricket and immeasurable contribution to the global game have left an enduring legacy that will continue to inspire generations.

“Our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and the global cricketing fraternity. May his soul rest in peace.”