On this day in 1973, former West Indies all-rounder Sir Garry Sobers made his ODI debut against England at the Headingley, Leeds. Incidentally, this remains his only ODI match of his career. The left-hander batted at number six after his team had lost four wickets for 132 runs. West Indies had won the toss and elected to bat first.
After batting for five balls, Sobers couldn’t score a run and got out on the sixth ball of his innings to Chris Old. The former’s dismissal led to a batting collapse and the team went from 133/5 to 181 all-out with only Deryck Murray (11) and Vanburn Holder (10) managing to cross double-figure scores. For the Three Lions, Old and Derek Underwood took three wickets each.
For the visitors, skipper Rohan Kanhai was the highest scorer with 55 runs to his name. Defending a modest target of 182 runs, the Caribbean side fought back with the ball in hand. Holder, Keith Boyce, Bernard Julien took two wickets each while Sobers and Lance Gibbs took a wicket each. Despite their best efforts, the Men In Maroon lost the match by one wicket.
Even though the Barbados-born player could play only one ODI, he enjoyed a stellar career in the longest format of the game. After playing 93 games, the 88-year-old recorded 8032 runs to his name. He hit 8032 more runs in the five-day format than what he could muster in the then 60-over format. Having made his debut against England at Kingston, Jamaica in 1954, he played his last Test against the same side at Port of Spain, Trinidad 20 years later.
Sobbers is the first West Indies cricketer to score a triple hundred in Tests. He scored 365 against Pakistan in 1958. Notably, this was the highest individual score in Tests, broken by Matthew Hayden and Brian Lara later on in their respective careers.