According to Wikipedia (see here):

The Right Excellent Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers (28 July 1936 – 17 July 2026), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, was a Barbadian cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled and aggressive batsman, a versatile bowler and an excellent fielder, he is widely considered to be cricket’s greatest ever all-rounder and one of the greatest cricketers of all time.

Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, Sobers made his first-class debut for the Barbados cricket team at the age of 16 in 1953, and his Test debut for the West Indies the following year. Originally playing mainly as a bowler, he was soon promoted up the batting order. Against Pakistan in 1958, Sobers scored his maiden Test century, progressing to 365 not out and establishing a new record for the highest individual score in an innings. His record was not broken until Brian Lara scored 375 in 1994. Sobers was made captain of the West Indies in 1965, a role which he held until 1972. He also captained a Rest of the World XI during their 1970 tour of England.

Overall, Sobers played 93 Tests for the West Indies, scoring 8032 runs at an average of 57.78, and taking 235 wickets at an average of 34.03. He has the fifth-highest batting average in Test cricket in the list of cricketers with more than 5,000 runs. In his 383 first-class matches, he scored over 28,000 runs and took over 1000 wickets, having spent time with South Australia and Nottinghamshire towards the end of his career. Sobers was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975 for his services to cricket. He became a dual Barbadian-Australian citizen through marriage in 1980. By an act of Parliament in 1998, Sobers was named as one of the eleven National Heroes of Barbados. In 2009, Sobers was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Yesterday, I learned of Garry Sobers passing. I am a cricket fan and admire great cricketers. Sir Garry was there – right at the top. When indulging in the pastime of selecting my best ever world Test Cricket XI, he would be the first to be penciled into my team, along with Don Bradman. He was a genuine all rounder who could get into any team on batting or bowling alone. As a bowler he could bowl both fast and different types of spin. Moreover, he was an excellent fielder. Some rate him as a great captain too – leading through example. I began following international cricket in the early 1960’s when Sobers was at his playing peak. He was the first overseas player from that time and for many years after that I could name.

I stand by my long-held belief that in my lifetime there have only been two truly great cricketing sides: Australia 1995-2007 and West Indies 1976-1995. West Indian dominance came after Sobers retired from playing, but it was Sobers who laid the foundation by inspiring a new generation of West Indian greats who was to follow. While having never met the man and only going by reports etc., I found Sobers to be a great man, but also a humble one, who played the game of cricket in the right spirit and was in the top tier when it came to performance, over many years. He will be sadly missed.