Life's like that: Real life anecdotes : Thread # 2 - Page 12

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The man who could do everything

In the month he turns 80, Super Sobers stories from around the world

July 2016

Sobers and Wadekar, nearly 40 years on from their disagreement over the toss in the Test that India won in 1971

Joseph "Reds" Perreira, West Indian radio commentator :-

Garry Sobers and Ajit Wadekar went out to toss the coin in Port-of-Spain in the 1971 [second] Test match. There were no match referees back then. Up went the toss. There was a gentleman by the name of Ken Laughlin who went close to the square and faced the crowd and hit his chest to indicate West Indies had won the toss. He always used to do that, as he was a bit of a personality.

Sobers turns to Wadekar and says, "Ajit, I'll let you know what I'm doing." Ajit tells him, "No, Garry, I won the toss. I'll tell you." Sobers, the gentleman that he was, did not want to make a big issue and told Wadekar they should go up to the dressing room. He conceded to Wadekar eventually, and West Indies ended up losing the match. So it was a good toss for India to win, so to speak.

As a batsman, Sobers was not all attacking and dominating. In Port-of-Spain against England in 1967-68, the match seemed to be heading for a boring draw. Having elected to bat England had made 568. West Indies were forced to follow-on after making 363. They had to bat the whole final day. They seemed to be going strong till around the tea break. Suddenly West Indies were eight down for 180.

Sobers was joined by Wesley Hall. There was still a whole session to go. The men were involved in this very tense, nail-biting partnership. All you had to come was Lance Gibbs, who was not known for his skills as a batsman. But Sobers was able to jockey the bowling, take as much of the strike as possible, especially during the early part of the partnership. At this stage [David] Brown and [Jeff] Jones were bowling short and hostile from round the wicket and over the wicket. The game ended in a draw with Sobers unbeaten on 33 - probably one of the slowest innings of his life. Hall came in not out on 26. At the end of the day Hall told the journalists, "Well, I wouldn't have worried about myself. I was just worried about the young man at the other end - would he have lasted?" He evoked instant great, great laughter.

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John Parkin, former Nottinghamshire batsman, and the non-striker during the six sixes
After he had hit six sixes at St Helen's in Swansea we went into the bar, where Garry was pinned into a corner by the Glamorgan committee members. All of them wanted to talk about the six sixes, but Garry did not want all that. He was not that sort of person. He told us players, "Come on, lads, let us go back to the old tavern." Garry Sobers was not interested in world records, he was just interested in playing. He did not want to make too much of a fuss about the record. He wanted to keep it simple. That to me is the greatness of the man.

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Mike Procter, former South Africa allrounder
He is such a likeable guy. In 1970, in the first Test at Lord's between Rest of the World and England, he was our captain. He was just so natural. Sobey played out of his skin: he scored 180-odd and took so many wickets [eight]. I knew him from county cricket, but just to see him play like that against the best in the world, as England were then, he was unbelievable. He got wickets with seam, with spin. In the end we won. And the best part came when at the end he just said, "Okay guys, see you at Trent Bridge." It was like nothing had happened.

At The Oval, in the final Test, on a turning pitch we needed about 20 runs chasing 200-plus [284]. I was privileged to join him at the end. He was again so natural, dealing with the bowling on a very, very difficult wicket. He did not exaggerate his shots, just played them, knocked off the winning runs and away he went. His attitude was unbelievable.

All interviews by Nagaraj Gollapudi except McDonald, Dexter, Baksh and Nicholas, who wrote in

Courtesy © ESPN Sports Media Ltd.