Cricket.- Garry Sobers & Colin Cowdrey

Cricket.- Garry Sobers & Colin Cowdrey

Black and white photograph depicting Sobers and Cowdrey tossing the coin prior to the Lord's Test Match England v West Indies in 1966, boldly signed in blue ink by both Sobers and Cowdrey to a light portion of the image, in excellent condition, 10 x 8".

***The second Test at Lord's was a drawn match. One of the great partnerships of Test cricket took the match away from England after they appeared to be on the way to a straightforward victory. Sobers and Holford came together with West Indies just nine runs ahead with five second innings wickets down. In 320 minutes, they put on an unbeaten 274, with Sobers making 163 and Holford, in just his second Test, 105. Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, Kt, CBE (24 December 1932-4 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952-1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950-1976) and England (1954-1975). Universally known as Colin Cowdrey, he "delighted crowds throughout the world with his style and elegance", and was the first cricketer to play 100 Test matches, celebrating the occasion with 104 against Australia in 1968. In all he played 114 Tests, making 7,624 runs at an average of 44.06, overtaking Wally Hammond as the most prolific Test batsman, and taking 120 catches as a fielder, breaking another Hammond record. Cowdrey made 22 Test centuries (an England record until 2013) and was the first batsman to make centuries against the six other Test playing countries of his era. Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, (born 28 July 1936), also known as Gary or Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974, and is widely considered to be cricket's greatest all-rounder. 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 would hold until 1972. He would also captain 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 fourth 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. Sobers was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975 for his services to cricket