Cricket legend Sobers pays tribute to his good friend Raynor

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Sir Gary Sobers, one of world cricket’s most iconic figures, has paid tribute to arguably the finest all-rounder Bermuda has ever produced.

The Barbados all-rounder, who piled up 8,032 runs in 93 Test match appearances for the West Indies over a 20-year period, has described late Southampton Rangers and Bermuda cricketer Sheridan Raynor as a legend in his own right.

Raynor, 78, died just over a week ago in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he had spent the final months of his life. He suffered a stroke in December of last year and slipped into a coma after striking his head and never regained consciousness prior to his death.

During his many visits to Bermuda in the past, Sobers acquired an appreciation for the late cricketer’s talents and humble demeanour both on and off the pitch.

“So much has passed between the time since I played against him, but Sheridan was a really nice fellow and a very good cricketer as I remember,” the West Indies legend told The Royal Gazette. “He was a very good batsman who had a lot of class.”

Sir Gary said Raynor was a fun loving individual who had a great passion for the gentlemen’s game.

“We shared a lot of jokes together and spent time together and he was always one of these jovial fellows who loved the game very much,” he added.

Sobers first toured Bermuda in the early 1950s as a member of Sir Everton Weeks’ West Indies squad. He then returned a decade later as a guest player for English county side Yorkshire and in the late 1970s and early 1980s featured in the former Bacardi Double Wicket competition.

It was during that glorious era for Bermuda cricket, the legendary West Indies cricketer, who broke the record for the highest Test score (365) at age 21, got to rub shoulders with some of the Island’s elite players such as Raynor.

“I played quite a bit of cricket in Bermuda years’ ago when Bermuda was very proud about their cricket and played very hard to win,” Sobers recalled.

“It was very unfortunate at the time Sheridan was playing that they (Bermuda) didn’t have the opportunity to play in the West Indies like they did lately because they had so many other good players then like Clarence Parfitt, Dennis Wainwright, Rupert Scotland and Charles Daulphin, who was one of my best friends.”

Raynor was the first batsman to score 1,000 runs in the Western Counties, first to score a century in Cup Match on a turf batting strip (1971) and in 1961 became the first Bermuda batsman to score a century against first-class opposition (Cricketers Club of London).

He also shared in a famous 253 -run opening partnership with star wicketkeeper Wainwright while playing for Bermuda against an English County XI on a tour of the UK in the 1960s. Raynor hit an unbeaten 114 while Wainwright carried his bat for 129 runs.

Raynor, who was inducted into the Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, is also remembered for the polished century he stroked at Somerset Cricket Club while playing for Bermuda against a Yorkshire side that included Test greats Geoff Boycott, Freddie Trueman and guest player Sobers during the same decade

The late Somerset Cup Match skipper will be laid to rest tomorrow following a home going service at St Paul AME Church in Hamilton.

“Bermuda has lost a great person in Sheridan because he really was a wonderful person, a really nice man and a very good cricketer,” Sobers said. “I send my sympathy and condolences to his family.”

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