Sir Garry Sobers, widely regarded as cricket’s greatest all-rounder, has died aged 89.

The undisputed cricketing great who was born on July 28, 1936, made his first-class debut for Barbados at the age of 16 in 1953, and made his Test debut for West Indies the following year.

It did not take him long to make his mark on the world stage.

Against Pakistan in 1958, Sobers scored his maiden Test century at Sabina Park in Kingston, eventually recording 365 not out, a new record for the highest individual score in an innings. It was a record that was not broken until Brian Lara did so in 1994.

In total Sobers played 93 Tests for West Indies between 1954 and 1974, scoring 8,032 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 players with more than 5,000 runs.

He was also the first batsman to hit six sixes in a single over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket in 1968.

In his 383 first-class matches, he scored over 28,000 runs and took over 1,000 wickets, He was also named one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the 20th century.

Sobers was knighted in 1975 for his services to cricket..

By an act of the Barbadian Parliament in 1998, he was officially designated as one of the country’s national heroes