Garfield Sobers, arguably cricket’s greatest all-rounder, led a special tribute to Muhammad Ali at Lord’s on Friday that coincided with the boxing legend’s funeral.
Cricket’s greatest allrounder Garfield Sobers paid a special tribute to the legendary United States boxer Muhammad Ali at the Macca of cricket Lord’s on Friday that coincided with the boxing legend’s funeral.
Sobers first met the iconic boxer at Lord’s back in 1966 during lunch time of a Test match between England and West Indies and the heavyweight star Ali was in London for the second fight with Britain’s Henry Copper.
It was the second day of the third Test black and white photograph of Ali meetings Sobers in the Lord’s dressing room was displayed on the ground’s giant screens.
Sobers, 79, then rang a bell in the Lord’s pavilion five minutes before the start of the second session of play as a tribute.
Now, thousands of people attended to pay last tribute Ali’s last rite at his hometown Louisville on Friday to say goodbye to him.
Ali died at 74 last week after decades suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and Sobers enjoyed success in London in 1996.
Ali stopped a bloodied Cooper in the sixth round to retain his world heavyweight title.
Sobers (163 not out) and his cousin David Holford (105) shared a second-innings stand of 274 that helped save the West Indies from defeat as they drew the second Test against England at Lord’s.
If three-times world champion Ali — the self-styled “Greatest” — is viewed as boxing’s best heavyweight of all time, Sobers is widely regarded as cricket’s greatest all-rounder.
A left-handed batsman who could bowl in the vastly different styles of fast-medium, orthodox spin and wrist spin, as well as a brilliant fielder, Barbados-born Sobers represented the West Indies in 93 Tests from 1954 to 1974.