Arabic version: تذكّر سوبيرز لتحويله مسار كريكيت جنوب أستراليا

According to ABC News, Sir Garfield St Aubrun “Garry” Sobers, widely recognised as cricket’s greatest all-rounder, left a lasting mark on South Australian cricket during three Sheffield Shield seasons. Sobers, who died recently aged 89, scored 8,032 Test runs at an average of almost 58, took 235 wickets and held 109 catches across 93 matches for the West Indies.

South Australia recruited Sobers in 1961, when he was 25, following the 1960/61 West Indies tour. Sportswriter Michael Sexton said the circumstances were “a little bit murky”, but linked the move to enthusiasm for West Indian cricket and said Don Bradman had a role. Sobers and Bradman got on well, and Sobers would have dinner at Bradman’s Adelaide home.

Ken “KG” Cunningham, who played with Sobers for South Australia, described him as the greatest cricketer the game had seen. Cunningham said Sobers could open the bowling, bowl left-arm orthodox and wrist spin, field “like a demon” and bat, calling him “five cricketers in one”. Sexton’s book, Three Summers of Sobers, recounts Sobers’s time with South Australia and Prospect Cricket Club, as well as his appearances at community events and training sessions for young cricketers in Mount Gambier.

Sobers’s South Australian career culminated in the 1963/64 Sheffield Shield victory. He scored more runs and took more wickets than any other player in Australia that summer, claiming 47 wickets while leg-spinner Rex Sellers took 46. In South Australia’s final match, a win over Victoria that secured the Shield, Sobers scored a century and took nine wickets. Sexton said Sobers was pivotal not only as the side’s best player, but because he inspired teammates with confidence.