Lord’s, 1973, the third Test versus England – Garfield Sobers closes a day’s play on 31 not out.
Not exactly living up to his last name and never one to say no to a drink or a good time, Sobers hits the town, visiting some Guyanese friends first, then meeting up with English off-spinner Reg Scarlett at a swanky inner London nightclub.
By the time Sobers had worn out his dancing shoes, it was 4am and the sun had begun its ascent for the next day’s play.
Sobers was a realist, thinking ‘I have so much liquor in my head that if I go home to the motel and go to bed, I am not going to wake up.’
Naturally, for Sobers, this meant a few more drinks to watch the sunrise, a quick shower and then donning the pads for the next day’s play.
He walked out to bat and played and missed the first five balls from Bob Willis. The sixth ball found the middle of that bat and it never really stopped that day. He went on to pound 132 runs before retiring for a break to go to the toilet.
During the break, he mixed two large glasses of port and brandy, scoffed them down, and then came back in and made 150 not out. For good measure, he also bowled 12 overs for 37 runs in the next two innings. He was 37 years old at the time.
Bradman once called Sobers a five-in-one cricketer, because he could do pretty much anything on a cricket field.
There is a similar term used in baseball to describe all-round gifted athletes that can hit for power or precision, throw, catch and run the bases: a five-tool player. They are the holy grail for baseball scouts.
Sobers was a five-tool player. Perhaps the only one cricket has seen.
He was an aggressive, explosive batsman, though not necessarily careless.
After smashing six sixes against Glamorgan in a county game, the opposing captain Tony Lewis remarked that: “It was not sheer slogging through strength, but scientific hitting with every movement working in harmony”.
(Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)
He was, by all accounts, an exceptional fielder in close and in the outfield. He was also willing to strap on the keepers pads, to guard the wicket if needed in a pinch.
But what fascinates me the most about Sobers is his bowling.
Starting as an orthodox left-arm spinner, he developed the ability to bowl wrist spin and googlies.
Later in his career, he was also used as a seamer, either to bowl fast given the new ball or as a stock bowler sending down medium-pacers.
There are some contemporary examples of cricketers doing this, but it’s very rare.
Manoj Prabhakar, an Indian all-rounder, while bowling pace to the dangerous Sanath Jayasuriya during the 1996 World Cup was smashed for 33 runs in the first two overs.
For his next two overs, he reverted to spin and went for 14 runs off his next two overs of spin bowling. Ironically, he was the one that took the catch that saw Jayasuriya off to the pavilion.
Kapil Dev’s opening fast-bowling partner, Karsan Ghavri, once took a five-for after changing to left-arm spin after the Indian spin trio of Bishan Singh Bedi, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar and Erapalli Prasanna failed to make an impact in the fifth Test against England in Bombay in 1977.
Mark Waugh was a medium pacer before reverting to off spin in to sustain his career after multiple back injuries.
Colin ‘Funky’ Miller, the blue-haired jack in the box, won Australian Test player of the year in 2001 after being brought in as an off spinner. He changed from swing bowling after an ankle injury.
Sending down four dot balls, Kiwi opener and captain Stephen Fleming glanced a quick single to the leg side to bring the right-handed Matthew Sinclair on strike.
Miller lengthened his run-up, the commentators remarked in astonishment how he was about to bowl medium pace, and he charged in and trapped Sinclair LBW.
Andrew Symonds, probably best known for his destructive batting and disciplined offies, started as a medium pacer.
Even the great Sachin Tendulkar could throw down a few leggies mixed in with some medium pace. He might be the only cricketer in the world to hold the claim that he got Shane Warne out with spin and Brian Lara to medium pace.
As far as my understanding of the legality of changing bowling style goes, as long as a bowler informs the umpire of their intention about which side they wish to bowl from, then it’s all cricket.
Perhaps, the streams in cricket academies teach players to specialise in one skill at the expense of others. There is the famous story of Dennis Lillee discouraging Tendulkar at his MRF Foundation to drop the pace bowling and focus on batting in Chennai in 1987.
The trend seems to be for quicker spinners, in the style of Anil Kumble or Shahid Afridi, or for pace bowlers who can slow it down, like James Faulkner for example.
It seems that in most cases, switch bowling has been employed out of necessity rather than novelty. To turn the screws on a pitch that is unfriendly, for example, or to compensate for a disruption to the bowling attack.
So my question for all the Roarers out there is this: Do you think we will ever see another bowler in the same mold as Sobers, or possibly one of those mentioned above? Does the idea even have merit?
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Apologies if this is not the right article but at a few minutes past mid night I have just heard a stat that just can't be left unshared: nobody in the history of test cricket has scored more runs at a better strike rate than Virenda Sehwag ... so what do you all think of that?
The Late News
Roar Rookie
You ok Tiger? Not flooded I hope??
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Bearing all that in mind, as well as those against 2nd rate attacks at the end of their careers believing they needed to top up their bank balances, all in one location - home conditions for Pollock. As I said Bernie, I don't discount what he did in Test cricket, I personally think 50-150 Test matches against the best a country can offer through 15 years in diverse playing conditions adds weight to Lara's credentials that unfortunately Pollock wasn't given the opportunity to display.
Jon Richardson
Roar Pro
Les Ames in the 1930s was probably the first really good keeper-batsman - averaged 43.4 across 44 Tests with 8 centuries as a keeper. Batted in the top 6 more than half his innings. I believe that’s a higher average as a keeper than Sangakkara, Walcott, Dhoni, McCullum, Prior - possibly more than any long term keeper other than Gilchrist and Flower (depending on whether you count de Villiers’ 24 Tests as keeper, where he averaged 53). However, against that Ames averaged only 27 against Australia, who were the only strong opposItion at that time. Farokh Engineer of India was also a true keeper-batsman, opening much of the time, though not so stellar.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
I also paid tribute to the amount of overs he bowled. I assume in that series in India he bowled mostly spin? I would say Mike Prokter would prolly have been more a number 7, though nowhere near Gilchrist. Actually he may have even batted 8 because the saffies had a guy called Dennis Lindsay keeping who was also an excellent batsman. Don't think Prokter would have made the side purely as a batsman to bat 6.
Jon Richardson
Roar Pro
I agree with you in general, even though I wouldn’t set much store on strike rates in comparing bowlers. It’s hard to say how good Procter might have been as a Test batsman - would he have been a decent number 7, which sort of equates to Sobers as a better-than-most 5th bowler, or more of a Stokes/Botham-like no.5/6? While Sobers mostly wasn’t a frontline bowler, he did bowl a lot more than most 5th bowlersas JGK points out, and also had some peaks that few part timers have. These were mid- rather than late career : 20 wickets at under 30 in both the 1963 and 1966 series in England, and 23 wickets at 21 in India in 1962, while averaging 100 and 70 respectively in the last two series. His highest retrospective ICC ranking as a bowler was 4th, in 1964. So at his best he was way ahead of the likes of Mark Waugh or Kallis.
elvis
Roar Rookie
I like his story, never giving up and getting back as a batsman. If he can get that consistency he could be a Rodgers or Hussey like figure for quite a few years.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Having kids specialise is to make it easier on coaches to ‘deliver measurable outcomes’. Sadly it irons out a lot quirks and anomalies. No kid with multiple talents can deliver all skills at the junior level to the satisfaction of the spreadsheet, so they must concentrate their efforts.
Peter Darrow
Roar Guru
Seems like there are two points to this post, the 5 tools and ability to bowl two speeds. I'm not sure if my comment will fit into either but it did make me think about the late Martin Crowe. It's still hard to believe he died at 53. But Crowe could just about do it all. A magnificent batsmen at both test and one day level, a good medium pace bowler, very capable fielder and an innovative captain. Also he started up Cricket Max, the forerunner to T20, if he wasn't from NZ the concept may have gone further. If you were to pick a best ever team he would have to go close. An opinion shared by Wasim Akram I believe.
Gonzo99
Roar Rookie
His dad wasn't good enough for the NRL ...
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
I myself tried a few things as a school and College level cricketer. I was a left hand bat who could bat anywhere between 1 to 8 with equal ineffectiveness. Also tried left arm pace like Wasim Akram, then converted to left arm spin. Enjoyed a bit more success with it; although most of my wickets came with the straight delivery, the balls I tried to turn but failed. Also kept wickets for half an hour during my college days; and hated every moment of it.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
No comparison can be made with Sobers, but Md. Rafiq of Bangladesh is an interesting case. Despite his short built he started as a left arm pacer playing for Bangladesh Biman in the Dhaka League. Wasim Haider, Biman's Pak allrounder and a member of the 1992 WC wining team advised him to convert to left arm orthodox spin. That was in 1993, and in Dec 1994, Rafiq made his Tigers' debut as a left arm spinner. His batting also improved enormously and he changed from a wild slogger into quite a reliable lower order bat. also opened successfully in ODIs on a few occasions. Was MOM when the tigers beat Kenya to register their 1st ever official ODI success. Rafiq became the 1st Ban player to do the test double, 100 wickets and 1000 runs.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
“Or maybe you take guard with your non-natural hand and see what fields get set.” That’s an interesting scenario, not just in relation to our thoughts below about leg stumps, but also illegal fields. There may come a point where it needs to be added to the laws of cricket in a relevant place something to the tune of “For any delivery, the stance, left or right hand, that a batsman takes when the ball comes into play i.e. when the bowler begins his/her delivery, will be considered his/her stance for the whole of that delivery irrespective of what is widely considered to be his/her natural stance by team mates, opponents and officials”. This would prevent a sort of foxing where a natural right hander, who isn’t known as a switch hitter, takes guard left handed, and the bowler subsequently sets three slips so as the bowler approaches the crease he switches back to his/her natural hand in order to gain a no ball (as well as free hit in limited overs or t20) for more than two fielders behind square on the leg side. And then of course a very cluey bowler pulls out of delivery with this in mind, and this process repeats itself over and over causing ill feeling all round.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Possibly. I haven’t heard but I don’t watch too much t20 either. They may have changed it specifically for that or just assuming that not too many batsmen will switch hit in a test match or even a traditional 50 over one dayer maybe?
JGK
Roar Guru
I am sure that Law was changed in the last couple of years but maybe only as an International rule?
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Jeff … If you refer to my reply to JGK above, in respect to a batsman not having his natural leg stump invalidated by switch hitting in respect to a potential lbw, I have heard at least one commentator on air saying that batsmen should (lose their natural leg stump in the event) for the very reasons of fair play that you suggest.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
JGK … While a batsman doesn’t gain an unnatural leg stump by switch hitting he doesn’t lose his natural one either. For example, a right hand batsman facing a right arm bowler over the wicket switches to batting left hand around the point of delivery his natural off stump doesn’t suddenly become a leg stump to potentially save him from being dismissed lbw. The reverse is also true: a left hand batsman facing a right arm over the wicket bowler doesn’t have his natural leg stump invalidated by switch hitting in respect to a potential lbw. At least not that I’m aware of, and a pretty major law change like that every umpire in our association would be informed via a priority group email from our secretary/president.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
In 25 seasons of umpiring it's happened like twice in games I've officiated in, primarily as a bit of a lark by the bowler.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Here’s a night of drinking that didn’t end well on the field the next day: 4th test in the West Indies at Bridgetown in 1991 Australia bowled the west indies out for 149 and went to stumps at 2 for 50 odd on first day. Thinking their team would be batting all the next day, the three front line bowlers, Craig McDermott, Bruce Reid and Merv Hughes went out on a real bender and only got back to hotel in wee small hours of the morning. Australia subsequently got rolled for 134 soon after lunch the next day and those three had to bowl again. To make matters worse they were the only three specialist bowlers as Australia had played 7 batsmen, including both Waughs who would be the back up bowlers, with Healy batting 8. By stumps on day 2, the windies were 2 down and over 200 in front with Richie Richardson out for 99 in and Gordon Greenidge well on his way to a double ton, and it was game, set and match for that particular series with the windies already 1 up before this penultimate match in the series.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Gilchrist was pretty much the first keeper to be given the tag all rounder. There was Dennis Lindsay for South Africa right at the point of the onset of isolation who was supposed to be an outstanding batsman but he faded into obscurity because of the subsequent two decade exclusion.