THE DAY GARRY SOBERS SCORED A CENTURY WITH A HANGOVER
I was 15 when I saw the great Garry Sobers play for the first and last time at Lord’s. It was memorable in many ways, not least for being a colossal innings defeat for England, greeted with a massive pitch invasion by West Indies fans. It was even more memorable for witnessing Sobers’ last ever century – completed in three parts, the biggest one with a raging hangover.
Cricket’s greatest ever all rounder, recalled to the West Indies team at the age of 37, had scored 31 at stumps on the first day and resumed the next morning after what none of us knew had been an all-night drinking session that only came to an end at 9am. He later said that when he went out to bat at 11 o’clock he could not even focus on the first few balls from Bob Willis, the England paceman.
Sobers had reached 130 by the afternoon drinks interval when his pounding head, shaky legs and rumbling stomach gave up on him and, after a word with the umpires, he retired “hurt” to the pavilion, where he was plied with more restorative drinks.
He returned later, after a maiden century by Bernard Julien, to complete his 150 and remained unbeaten when West Indies declared on 652-8, returning to the pavilion with a standing ovation ringing in his ears. West Indies went on to win by the huge margin of an innings and 226 runs.
I was so happy to see the great man, having spent my school days following his stellar career from afar, including becoming the first man to hit six sixes in an over against Glamorgan in 1968 (when I was ten), and tales of his 365 not out against Pakistan in 1959 – a world record that stood for 36 years.
By 1973 his Test career, sustained despite a gambling addiction and heroic levels of drinking, had already come to an end and he was playing in the County Championship for Nottinghamshire until he was recalled after a spate of injuries.
So I was fortunate to be there for his last hurrah – and it really was a hurrah, greeted by a massive pitch invasion at Lord’s by the West Indian fans, much to the chagrin of Geoff Boycott.
Not that I had a clue at the time about what had gone on behind the scenes: I do remember I was sitting on the grass just beyond the boundary rope with my scorebook (as you could do, incredibly, in those days) and overhearing someone suggest he had had “a dodgy prawn” at lunchtime.
If only they had known the truth…
Martin Williamson remembers the day for CricInfo:
Batting at the highest level is hard enough, but doing so with a raging hangover adds another dimension to the challenge. At Lord’s in 1973,
Garry Sobers, one of the greatest players to have graced the game, did just that, and what’s more, scored what turned out to be his 26th and final Test hundred.
Sobers had been left out of the West Indies squad for the three-Test series in the second half of the 1973 English summer. He was almost 37, increasingly hampered by knee problems, and it was generally believed his international career was behind him. By early July his form for Nottinghamshire was very ordinary – 436 runs at 36.33 and 12 wickets – but when a string of injuries left the touring side short, he was asked to help out. He scored fifties in the second innings
at The Oval and
Edgbaston, and also picked up three wickets in each game with the new ball.
West Indies headed to Lord’s for the third and final Test with a 1-0 series lead, thanks to a big win at The Oval.
Rohan Kanhai won the toss, batted, and by the close of the first day West Indies had reached 335 for 4 with Sobers unbeaten on 31.
Sobers was known as someone who was likely to be in the mood for a party, even during a major match. “I rarely went to bed at a normal time because I am one of those people who can have four or five hours’ sleep and still wake up fresh,” he admitted. “It was well known I liked a drink after play. My philosophy was that life is for living… I played hard and drank reasonably hard on occasions. I had to make sure those late nights could continue by maintaining a consistently high level of performance.”
While most of the West Indies team returned to the Clarendon Court Hotel, Sobers headed out with Clive Lloyd for a meal and from there hooked up with an old friend, the former West Indies spinner Reg Scarlett, and the pair headed out for a night on the town. They ended up at a nightclub, and as they made ready to leave in the early hours, Sobers said he “realised I had long gone past the need to sleep”. He persuaded Scarlett to come back to the hotel, where the two of them settled down in the bar to reminisce.
“We drank until about 9 o’clock, then I got a cold shower, walked up to Lord’s, got my pads on and walked out as the umpires called play,” he said. “I took guard, but all I could see as Bob Willis ran up was arms and legs. The first five balls I missed, and I could hear Kanhai and everyone else up in the pavilion laughing. Anyhow, the sixth ball hit the bat.”
As his head slowly cleared, he found he had other problems, as “churning pains” started in his stomach. As he neared his hundred they were bad enough for him to consider retiring, but he feared it would break his concentration. He was not helped by the sunshine beating down from a clear blue sky. “I read afterwards that I showed great maturity in playing myself in steadily before proceeding with grace and power,” he said. “Little did they know.”
He completed his century and soldiered on until the afternoon drinks interval, when he turned to Charlie Elliott, the umpire, and said: “I’m not feeling well, can I go off?” Elliott was bemused. “Go? What for? I haven’t seen you get any injury.” An increasingly desperate Sobers replied: “Charlie, I’ve held this in for 50 minutes, I can’t hold it any longer. Put down whatever you like. I gone…” And with that he headed back to the dressing room, unbeaten on 132.
Inside the pavilion, Kanhai asked what was up and Sobers told him that his stomach was “giving him hell”, adding: “The only thing that’ll help me now is a port and brandy mixed.” The drink was duly produced and he downed it in one. “Bring him another brandy and port,” Kanhai said. “But make it a big one this time.”
Sobers had almost two hours to rest while
Bernard Julien and Keith Boyce added 76, and by the time Julien was dismissed for his maiden first-class hundred, Sobers was ready to return. He duly completed his 150 before Kanhai declared on 652 for 8.
Sobers’ sufferings were not apparent to those watching, and the newspapers merely referred to his “minor stomach ailment”. In the Guardian John Arlott wrote that the innings had “all the panache in attack and style in defence which makes him as handsome a batsman as we have ever seen… the splendour of his innings lay in the arc between cover point and mid-off”.
Faced with hostile bowling and a noisy crowd with a large West Indies support, England were blown away and lost by an innings and 226 runs inside four days. “Soon after lunch thousands of West Indians were dancing around the outfield to celebrate victory after a match that was embarrassingly one-sided,” noted Wisden. Sobers, his knee again a problem and perhaps a little weary for other reasons, eschewed the new ball and bowled a few gentle overs in each innings.
