My Dear Friend Garry Sobers

Sir Garfield Sobers, who passed into the ages on July 17, would have turned 90 today, July 28.
Former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam remembers a dear friend who he believes was 'undoubtedly the greatest cricketer the world has ever seen.'

I mourn my friend Garry Sobers, undoubtedly the greatest cricketer the world has ever seen.

I had the great privilege of not only playing against and under him, but also of counting him as a dear friend, right from the day when I dismissed him with the first ever ball I bowled to him in a benefit match at Manchester.

I fondly remember countless conversations I had with him, the times we feasted on South Asian food, which he loved, and the magnificent batting and bowling that only he could display.

The first time I met him was in 1959. The previous year, Pakistan had visited the West Indies for five Test matches. I was not part of that series, but it was memorable -- the West Indies won 3-1, but two triple centuries were scored. Hanif Mohammad made 337 in the first Test, and Sobers made 365 not out in the third.

In early 1959, the West Indies toured Pakistan and played three Test matches. Sobers had become very famous in Pakistan after his world record score of 365 against us. I was selected in the squad of 16, but I couldn't play in the Tests because I had a bad shoulder. But we used to interact with him in the evenings and at parties.

I first bowled to him when I went to England as part of the Pakistan Eaglets, a team of young, promising players that used to tour England every year to get a taste of the conditions there.

We were in Manchester and Fazal Mahmood, our national team captain, had a benefit match in Manchester. He asked me to play in that game, for his club --- and in the opposing team was Garry Sobers! They also had the great Rohan Kanhai.

They batted first, and when he was on 34, Mahmood brought me to bowl -- and the first ball I sent down, I clean bowled him!

It was a leg-break, and he went to drive me through the covers and was bowled between bat and pad. I was not even 18 years old, and I was thrilled.

After the game, Sobers, who was just about 23 then, came to me and started chatting with me. He was impressed with my performance, very complimentary. We became very good friends over the years, meeting and playing against each other on various tours.

The Greatest Innings And A Lasting Friendship

I was part of two Rest of the World Series under Garry in 1970 and 1971, in England and Australia. I got to know him even better then; apart from his amazing talent, he was a genuinely good human being, always cheerful and happy and helpful.

In Australia, he was magnificent. That Rest of the Team had Sunil Gavaskar, Bishan Bedi and Farrokh Engineer; from Pakistan we had Zaheer Khan and Asif Masood apart from me. We played five Test matches, and the World XI won 2-1.

The third Test at Melbourne was most memorable because Garry played possibly the greatest Test innings of all time and I was his partner in the middle for some time during that knock.

Sobers had been troubled by a toothache, and Dennis Lillee had got him out for a duck in the previous Test in Perth, where the World XI were bowled for 59 in the first innings and lost by an innings.

At breakfast in Melbourne, before the match, there was a newspaper on the table, with an article by Richie Benaud. Benaud wrote that before batting, Sobers should go and practice in the nets before facing Lillee. Sobers joined me at the table. I quickly turned the paper so he would not be able to see it.

But he must have read the article and was very, very quiet, for the first time on the tour. I asked him if everything was OK. He quietly looked at me and said: "Inti, I'll tell you after the match."

In the first innings, Sobers was again dismissed by Lillee for a duck. Lillee took 5/48 and we were bowled out for 184. Tony Greig made 66. Gavaskar and I were the joint second-highest scorers with 38 each. No one else touched double figures. Australia took a lead of 101.

In the second innings, Sobers played an innings the like of which I have never seen, before or after. He simply destroyed Australia with 254 amazing runs. He smashed Lillee all over; the Melbourne Cricket Ground was bigger then, but he hit the ball so hard that no fielders had a chance to stop the ball. I made 15 and batted with him for many overs.

We had eight ball overs in that series, and he'd take a single off the seventh ball because he was hungry for the strike, to smash the bowling. He told me, "just stay with me, we're going to win this match."

Lillee had close-in fielders for Sobers on the off-side, and Garry easily and regularly cut or drove the ball past them to the boundary.

Don Bradman, watching the match at the ground, said it was the greatest innings played in Australia.

Due to his batting, we overturned the lead and set Australia a target of over 400 and won with much to spare. My friend Bishan Bedi took four wickets, I picked up three.

When Lillee came in to bat, I was bowling, and Garry came to me and said: "Inti, give me just an over." He took the ball from me and bowled a very fast, short ball and Lillee backed towards the square leg umpire, and Garry told him: "You should be willing to take it as well."

Master Of All Skills

In England, I used to play for Surrey and Garry played for Nottinghamshire. Whenever he came to London or I went to Nottingham, we used to go out for meals because he loved our kind of food --- Pakistani and Indian.

Some people compare Jacques Kallis to him but, no disrespect to Kallis, Garry was far superior, because he was the master of every skill of a cricketer.

As a bowler, Garry was a very fine quick bowler; he also used to bowl very, very good finger spin and wrist spin.

He was a fearless fielder close-in, and took some fantastic catches off the bowling of Bedi and me.

As a human being too, he was fantastic. He was a great mover on the dance floor, used to dance and sing very well. He used to party, but my memory is that he used to take Test matches very seriously, he would never drink before Tests.

I remember Rohan Kanhai and I had our birthday celebration in Melbourne when we were playing for the World XI. Garry was married to an Australian lady, Prue.

Kanhai used to love to cook, like me. Kanhai had a Sri Lankan friend, a doctor, who had a huge house. This doctor used to invite and entertain cricketers.

Kanhai and I cooked food for about 60 persons for our party and invited Garry and Prue too. An Australian wine firm learned about our party and sent two cases of champagne for the party! Garry used to love to party, but he was very serious about his cricket.

I bowled a lot to him in London and Nottingham, in home and away matches, but never got him out. I batted against him many times, and he never got him out!

I last met Garry around 10 years ago. I was director of cricket at the Pakistan Cricket Board and had gone to Barbados for some meetings. I rang him up. He came to my hotel and we had a good time, talking about cricket and life. That was the last time I met him.

I requested him to write the foreword to my autobiography, which I'm writing right now, and he graciously sent a very nice note for it.

Unfortunately, Garry will never see my book, but he has an important place in it -- for he was, without doubt, the greatest cricketer of all time, a great human being and, more than all that, a very dear friend to me.

As told to Rohit Mahajan