1966

1966
A hundred between lunch and tea by Garry Sobers set up the victory at Headingley that fetched West Indies the honours in a series he dominated with bat, ball and coin. He scored 722 runs at 103.14, took 20 wickets, and won all five tosses. In this match, Sobers took a five-for that forced England to follow on. In the second innings he took three more but it was Lance Gibbs, who did most of the damage, taking his best figures against England - 6 for 39. According to Wisden, Gibbs used "pace and skillful variations of flight rather than prodigious spin"

1966....THE SUMMER OF SOBERS

were you sober

What makes Sobers numbers even more impressive is that there have been only 31 other instances of a player scoring 700+ runs in a series. And Sobers chipped in with 20 wickets for good measure. Aubrey Faulkner once scored 732 runs in a series against Australia and took 10 wickets, and that pales in comparison to the Sobers series.

Lance Gibbs took 21 wickets in that series with 3 five-wicket hauls and a ten-wicket haul, and his name is a mere afterthought.

he must be Guyanan

We did win the World Cup in that year though. Come on, I'm English...I'm going to try and cling on to that small crumb of comfort. (especially considering it's probably the only time that we will ever win it!)