… Surely the greatest all-rounder in cricket history

July 28 down the years
1936
BORN this day, Garry Sobers, one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers-of-the-Century, was just 21 years old when he converted his maiden Test century into a gigantic 365 not out against Pakistan in Kingston in 1957-58, which remained the Test record for 36 years, until Brian Lara came along.

Sobers won the 1966 series in England almost single-handed, scoring three centuries – all in excess of 160 – and a 94, as well as taking 20 wickets with his left-arm bowling,, which flitted between seam and spin as the situation warranted.

For many years he was a stalwart at Nottinghamshire, and against Glamorgan in Swansea in 1968 he became the first batter to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket, making Malcolm Nash famous in the process.

A colossus with bad knees, Sobers, who Bradman called “the greatest cricketing being to have ever walked the earth”, retired from the game in 1974, with 8 032 Test runs and 235 wickets to his name, and was knighted shortly afterwards.