Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

110 Chapter Fourteen Sixes at Swansea “It’s the place where six sixes were first hit in an over” – a comment frequently made by first-time visitors to the St. Helen’s ground, referring to the record-breaking efforts of Sir Garry Sobers against the occasional left-arm spin of Malcolm Nash whilst batting for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at Swansea during a County Championship encounter in 1968. The Bajan’s batting fireworks occurred on 31 August 1968 as Nottinghamshire were manoeuvring their way to setting the Welsh county a target on the final day of the Championship match, under the ever- watchful eye of the BBC Wales TV cameras. Sobers’ efforts came against Malcolm Nash – the left-arm swing bowler – at the Pavilion End who was undertaking a spell of left-arm spin, knowing that a declaration was imminent. Regarded as the finest all-round player in modern cricket, Garry played in 93 Tests for the West Indies, besides playing golf, soccer and basketball for Barbados. When batting the left-hander regularly unleashed a series of elegant and powerful strokes, and many shrewd judges of the game consider Garry’s innings of 254 for the Rest of the World against Australia in 1971 to have been one of the finest ever played. If his batting was great, then his bowling was superb, with Garry having a variety of styles, bowling two styles of spin – left-arm orthodox and wrist spin – as well as being a potent fast-medium opening bowler. Blessed with such natural talents, Garry had made his first-class debut in 1952/53 at the age of sixteen, before making his Test debut the following season against England at Kingston. In 1957/58 he set a world record for the highest score made by an individual batsman in Test cricket by scoring a superb 365* against Pakistan. Lithe and athletic, Garry always played cricket with a smile on his face, and during the County Championship encounter at Swansea in 1968, the left-handed batsman despatched the 23 year-old from Abergavenny for 36 runs in the space of an over. The first two balls disappeared high over the heads of the mid-wicket fielders and into the crowd sitting in the enclosures, before the third delivery – pushed a little wider on the off-side – was driven by Sobers over long-off and into the seating in front of the historic Pavilion. Nash then dropped the fourth ball a little bit shorter, but Sobers quickly rocked onto the backfoot, and pulled it square of the wicket for another six. The fifth ball was on a good length around off stump, and Sobers again played a lofted straight drive. But he did not hit the ball quite as cleanly as before, and it travelled high and straight towards Roger Davis on the long-