The former West Indian legend Garry Sobers is one of the greatest all-rounders of all time. His stats suggest that he could solely play as a batter or bowler for any team. Today is one of the momentous days in Sobers’ career as he achieved his highest score in Test cricket against Pakistan on this day in 1958.
Sobers shock the visitors
The third Test of the series at Kingston started with Pakistan winning the toss and electing to bat first. West Indies had an initial success in the form of Hanif Mohammad’s dismissal but the Pakistan team had quickly recovered in the first innings which is a courtesy of a partnership between Imtiaz Ahmed and Saeed Ahmed. Imtiaz went on to score a century and played a crucial part in guiding his team to a total of 328.
In reply to this, West Indies got off to a compact start. Openers Conrad Hunte and Rohan Kanhai added 87 runs for the first wicket. This was consolidated by Gary Sobers when he came in to bat. Hunte and Sobers applied themselves brilliantly and stayed on the wicket for a long time. Pakistan tried various bowlers but all their efforts went in vain, as the West Indian duo was in no mood to relent. The two made the first innings total made by Pakistan irrelevant as they went past that mark with much ease.
The Barbadian pair of Hunte and Sobers added 446 runs for the second wicket and their stand also became West Indies’ highest partnership for the second wicket in Tests. Gary Sobers stayed unbeaten until West Indies declared the first innings with 790/3 on the board. His unbeaten 365-run knock became the highest individual score by a West Indies in Test cricket until it was broken by Brian Lara in 1994.
The massive lead in the first innings helped West Indies exert enough pressure on Pakistan which resulted in their disintegration in the second innings. The visitors could only score 288 runs in the second innings and lost the match by an innings and 174 runs. This win gave West Indies a comfortable 2-0 lead in the series.
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