Looking back: Garry Sobers

Good one, SHEEK - Sometimes the crowd can come up with some real zingers. A favorite of mine happened when I was living in SF and went to the old Kezar Stadium to see the 49ers play the Colts, then QB'd by the legendary Johnny Unitas. The 49ers caught a case of the fumbles and, all through the first quarter, continued to drop passes. The coach, Jack Christiansen, decided to yank the 49ers' star receiver and had a replacement warming up on the sidelines, with somebody lobbing him a ball. When the replacement dropped one of the lobs, a voice from the crowd called, "Put him in, Jack. He's ready." SPIRO - Siddy Barnes used to tell a story about that stop in Aden on that 1938 tour. A street merchant sidled up to him, dangled a knock-off watch in front of him and said, "Two quid. Two quid." Barnes snorted and said, "Mate, I wouldn't give you two bob for it." The merchant said, "Okay, two bob." Siddy bought it and sold it a member of the team for two quid.

Jack, I know we're drifting off the subject, but my favourite sledge comes from the 1973 Windies-Australia series. Of course, there are probably many better sledges, but I thought this one to be particularly clever. Windies pace bowling was in a slump. Hall & Griffith had been retired 4 years, & it would be another 1-2 years before Roberts & Holding hit the scene. The Windies held out hope for the Jamaican Uton Dowe. However, after his opening six overs in the 1st test, he had something like 0-50, the battering mostly from Keith Stackpole. Windies skipper Rohan Kanhai banished him to the outfield for the majority of the remaining day. Late in the day, Kanhai montioned for Dowe to return to the crease. A wag in the crowd called out: "Hey Kanhai, you forgotten the 11th commandment, Dowe shalt not bowl"! Priceless.

I read somewhere that Sid Barnes on the 1938 tour to England filled his cricket bag with soap tablets which he sold at great profit in suez. He arrived in England without any cricket gear but with plenty of money.

Good anecdotes, SHEEK - And you're right, I did spell Siddy Barnes' name incorrectly. What a character. He was Shane Warne before there was a Shane Warne although, after he retired, he became more of a Campo with his comments. But he was a hell of a cricketer, and brave. I recall the newsreel of him going down like a shot duck when he was hit in the ribs fielding at a shorter than short leg. He came out as a butler? Priceless. He also, I recall, captured a runaway dog on the field and presented it to an umpire telling him that all he needed now was a cane. There was quite some humor allowed in those days. There was an instance, in one test, when a bowler, first ball after lunch, delivered not a six-stitcher but a bread roll. I can't give you any details because I've lost my Wisden. I must go out and find another one, an excursion we'll call The Getting of Wisden.

An eccentric character, Sid Barnes (sorry to be technical, but the other Syd Barnes was the great English bowler - droll). Once when dropped to 12th man, Barnes demonstrated his displeasure to the selectors by carrying out the drinks on a silver tray, dressed in a tuxedo, with iced towel napkins over his arms as well. He never played for NSW or Australia again. Hard to know how good he really was. Averaged 63 over only 13 tests. Could he have maintained that over 20, 30, 40 tests? Perhaps not. The Messerschmidt/Folke Wulf anecdote attributed to Miller, typifies his attitude. When you've stared "death in the face", I guess it's difficult to take mainstream life seriously. Who knows, without the wartime experience, Miller's record may have been even more impressive. Richie Benaud likes to tell the story of Miller's captaincy. As the team walked trhough the gates onto the field, Miller would spread his hands & call out to his team: "Okay lads, scatter". Great tactics! Sobers apparently was a little like that in his captaincy. Laidback. Sobers knew he could rely on his own genius if the team struck trouble - either batting, fielding, fast bowling or spin bowling. Anyway, enough babbling from me!

Sheek, my dad told me that anecdote about Keith Miller. He was a member of the SCG, and the SCG would hold small gatherings now and then - in the members' lounge I think it was - at which one of the famous cricket players would give a little talk, reminisce and take questions. Syd Barnes -a great bat but a bit of a larrikin - gave one, and so did Miller. My dad, who was a bit of military historian, asked Keith what he did when, flying his mosquito, he found himself up against, not an ME 109, but a Fokker Wolf 190. "Hope he ran out of ammo before I did," Miller replied. As you probably know, the radial engine 190 was the best fighter anybody ever built (the Messerschmitt had poor vision, and the handling was clunky at high speeds). Luckily, Hitler insisted the 190 be used as a fighter-bomber, otherwise, Keith Miller, and a lot of other pilots, would have had a much harder time of it. Back to Syd Barnes. I was only a kid when I saw him play, but I was still old enough to be astonished by his square cut. A right hander, his right knee would be inches from the ground when he made the shot which, as often as not, flashed to the boundary. They had strokes in those days.

Jack, Thank you for your kind words. I read somewhere that Miller could bowl his fastest ball as fast as Lindwall, but being required as an allrounder, didn't bowl as consistently fast. Post-war, Miller was asked the meaning of pressure. As a WW2 Mosquito pilot, he replied that pressure was having a Messerschmidt on his tail! I don't think Miller's stats do justice to his genius.

Imagine how far Gary Sobers would have hit the ball with the modern thumper bats? I saw Sobers play in a test at Wellington NZ when he was a youngster. He was promoted from well down in the batting order (he was mainly a left-arm spinner in those days) to opener. In his first over he hooked lanky Tony McGibbon for six, breaking a window in the old pavilon that ran parallel to the pitch in the process. He only made 20 or so but you could see, here was a batsman of rare ability.

Always good to read your posts, Sheek. I ran into Gary Sobers when I was working for a short while in Trinidad. When he found out that I was an Aussie, and we got to talking cricket, he told me that the all rounder he admired most was Keith Miller. He'd seen some old kinescopes of Miller when Miller was ripping up Wally Hammond's team. He said he'd always wished he could have been as fast as Miller, and be able to hit towering straight-drive sixes off the back foot as Miller did. I think he was being kind - Miller was basically a strike bowler in tandem with Ray Lindwall, and he just happened to be a hell of a bat. In fact, Hammond said to Bradman, "Give us Miler and we'll beat you." Had Hammond had Garry Sobers in his side, they would definitely have given Don's team a run for their money.

That was his last century of 26, & in his penultimate test series. I consider myself priveleged that Sobers was still playing when I first became interested in Cricket. The Indian tour of Australia in 1967-68 was my introduction to Cricket when my family was holidaying in Australia from our then home of PNG. But I have little recollection of the grainy black & white TV images. My imagination was captured when dad brought home the ABC tour book of the West Indies tour of Australia in 1968-69. I was lucky to catch the 5th test in Sydney in early 1969, as I was beginning high school as a boarder at Waverley College. This was my first visit to the SCG, & I was lucky to see Sobers bat, although he made only 13 in the innings I saw live! Bummer! I caught his 2nd innings 113 on the TV. In 1971-72 when Sobers captained the Rest of the World team in Australia, I avidly followed each test on Radio Australia from my home in Port Moresby, during the school holidays. Alan McGilvray & co's description of his 254 in the 3rd test at Melbourne was breathtaking. Sobers played 93 tests, averaging 57.78 with the bat, 26 centuries & a high score of 365 not out. He also held 109 catches & took 235 wickets at 34.45. Unbelievable! Did you know that if you added his 10 tests for the Rest of the World, he would have played 103 Internationals at an average slightly under his official test average. He would have hit 29 centuries & taken 264 wickets. Stupendous! An interesting byline here is that his 29 centuries would have equalled Bradman - but in 103 Internationals to 52 tests. I guess that says something about how 'non-pareil' Bradman was. Nevertheless, Sobers was one of the greatest ever batsmen, an equally brilliant fielder, & it was said - 3 bowlers in one - leftarm fast medium; slow leftarm chinaman & slow leftarm orthodox.