Review by Arunabha Sengupta
The landscape of cricket literature is lopsided in multiple dimensions.
The books tend to come either in trickles, or thick and fast. They come in all sorts of sizes and qualities. And there seems to be very little correlation between the stature of a cricketer and the excellence of his documented life-story. Strangely, the quality of a cricketer also does not automatically dictate the number of works penned on him.
Much of it is to do with the biographers. Len Hutton’s supreme career was recorded in the rather workmanlike prose of Gerald Howatt, and plenty of excellent lives were summed up in mass-manufactured and factually questionable assembly lines – say for example by men like Dick Whitington and David Lemmon. However, cricketers with shorter international careers, or far insignificant ones, such as Harold Gimblett and Geoff Cope, have been subjects of classic works of cricket writing because of magnificent writers like David Foot and Stephen Chalke.
The number of biographies also varies. While Don Bradman, quite deservingly to say the least, have had nearly 50 works written about him, the number of books on his great rival Wally Hammond can be counted with the fingers, not knuckles, of one hand.
In that regard, I would consider Sir Garfield Sobers quite neglected. Take away Bradman from the equation and there remains little doubt that he is the greatest cricketer the world has seen. Well, perhaps WG Grace of the 1870s comes close. But with books on Bradman and Grace still churned out on a more or less continuous basis, one finds the Sobers shelf quite empty in contrast.
There have been three rather ordinary autobiographies, all ghosted, bearing the Sobers name. And Trevor Bailey did write one laborious biography. In that effort, from the entertainment point of view, Bailey probably resembled his own batting style rather than Sir Gary’s. In my humble opinion, that is perhaps the worst book Bailey ever wrote. If I did not know more about the man, I would have inferred that The Barnacle had not yet got over the misfortune of becoming the first Test wicket of the bowler Sobers.
There have been a few other books dealing with the man. Graham Lloyd wrote a curious volume on the six sixes that he hit off that Malcolm Nash over. Keith Sandiford, the man who penned the volume under discussion here, has done a few more on him. And, just for the sake of completeness, I have to mention Bonaventure and the Flashing Blade, a cricket-linked science fiction novel, to which Sobers himself lent his (mis-spelt) name. He had to be reminded the agreement when he first saw a volume of the rather decent work.
The current work by Keith Sandiford, Sir Garfield Sobers: The Baylands’ Favourite Son, published by the inimitable cricket bookseller John McKenzie, is a rather important addition to the cricket library under the sparse Sobers section. It is special because the subject matter itself makes the author an authority. Sandiford has been a friend of Sobers for more than seven decades, and their friendship goes as far back as the primary school days. Hence, with the book dealing largely with the formative days of Sobers in the Baylands area of Barbados, there could not have been a better man to write it.
Sandiford has already written a volume titled Garry Sobers: Innings by Innings. Heck, he has also written a book dealing just with the partnerships the man had in Test cricket (At the Crease with Garry Sobers). Hence, he has covered all that already. Therefore, the numerous feats of the man as a international cricketer are dealt with rather briefly, almost as introduction to the detailed statistical section which serves as appendix. The statistical section could perhaps have been avoided in these days of online cricket databases. However, it always helps to have the numbers at your literal fingertips.
This volume mainly deals with his growing up. It covers his family and friends, the ones who influenced him, stories of his very young days. It tells us of an endearing episode when the man who was to rule the world with his bat had been in tears as a 10-year-old, vowing never to play the game again. There are tales of his benefactors and supporters, such as Captain Wilfred Farmer, the commissioner of Police and future captain of the Barbados team; and Ronnie Hughes, history teacher and cricket master at school; and so on. It talks about the way a 15-year-old Sobers hit a spellbinding century against the Briggs team,on a track providing disconcerting help to the seasoned spinner of the opposition.
The 68-page volume is full of such rare stories about the man.
Besides, there are some analytical insights which, given Sandiford’s pedigree as a cricket sociologist and statistician, is to be expected. For example where he talks about Sobers and his consistency in spite of being a free-flowing attacking batsman, and his penchant for enjoying long partnerships with tail-enders. There are also nuggets of data which are interesting, such as Sobers sustaining an average of 60-plus for more Test matches (73) than anyone in history.
The paperback edition of the book is available for £15. And a beautiful cloth bound limited edition of 125 copies signed by Sandiford and Sobers is available for £100.
The book can be obtained from John McKenzie Cricket Books, and can be ordered by email at mckenziecricket@btconnect.com
Sir Garfield Sobers: The Bayland’s Favourite Son
by Keith A.P. Sandford
Published by JW McKenzie Ltd.
68 pages + appendix
Paperback : £15.
Limited edition (Signed, 125 copies) : £100