Garfield St Aubrun Sobers was born in Bridgetown on July 28, 1936, but was only five years old when his father, a merchant seaman, died in World War II, leaving his mother Thelma to raise half a dozen children. Young Garry was born with an extra finger on each hand, which was removed during infancy.

Having excelled in several sports as a schoolboy, he was recruited by a local cricket club as a teenager and made his first-class debut at the age of 16 against the Indian tourists at his hometown’s Kensington Oval, the ground whose pavilion would one day bear his name.

Sobers was selected to bat at number nine and spin bowling for a star-studded Barbadian line-up: he was one of eight current or future Test players, of whom no fewer than four would be knighted. He took four wickets in the first innings and three in the second.

And with only one other first-class appearance under his belt, his Test debut came 14 months later, when a 17-year-old was chosen to face England in the final Test in Jamaica in early 1954, after the Windies’ regular left-arm spinner Alf Valentine fell ill. Again, he captured four wickets on debut.

Although the famous ‘Three Ws’ (Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell) were the established middle order, Sobers was elevated to number six on his next Test appearance when he toured Australia in 1955, and soon showed signs of his all-round quality.

Having made 47 in the second Test, he found himself an emergency opener in the fourth, where he hit the first three balls he received, from legendary Australian all-rounder Keith Miller, for four.

Sobers toured England for the first time in 1957 and, despite registering just a half-century in five Tests, lit up Trent Bridge, a ground where he would later shine, with an unbeaten 219 against his future county team, Nottinghamshire.