By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The world’s greatest all-rounder the game has ever produced Sir Garfield Sobers will arrive in Sri Lanka on October 20 on the invitation of Sri Lanka Cricket.

Sir Garry will be a guest of Sri Lanka Cricket during his one week stay here and will be a guest of honour at the second Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies to be played at the P Sara Oval from 22-26.

The ongoing series is played for a trophy named after Sir Garry and Michael Tissera of Sri Lanka. These two cricketers were the rival captains when Sri Lanka played West Indies in an unofficial test match at the P Sara Oval in 1967.

“We are honoured to have Sir Garry as our guest. We will treat him like a king,” said Sri Lanka Cricket interim committee chairman Sidath Wettimuny who is very excited by the fact that Sir Garry had accepted the invitation.

Initially there were some doubts as to whether the West Indies cricket legend who is 79 years old would attend, but Wettimuny stated that Sri Garry had confirmed that he will be coming.

“We have several programs lined up for him as well as for the Test match. Sir Garry and Michael Tissera will be present in the middle at the time of the toss and he will also be hosted to a special dinner,” said Wettimuny.

Wettimuny also stated that SLC was planning to invite the Sri Lankan players who appeared in the 1967 unofficial test.

As Sir Garry was also the coach of the Sri Lanka team for the 1983 World Cup in England, Wettimuny who was a member of that side said that the players who represented the country at that World Cup would also be invited for the occasion.

Sobers, a former captain scored 8032 runs (avg. 57.78), took 236 wickets (avg. 34.08) and held 109 catches in the 93 Tests he played for West Indies.

(Sri Lanka Cricket)