Ardingly played host to the legendary West Indies cricketer, Sir Garry Sobers, on Monday, June 9th.  The visit was a coup for the college: Ardingly is one of just half a dozen UK schools that the veteran sportsman is visiting from his home in Barbados, where he is dubbed National Hero.

Sir Garry (71), gave a special presentation to the school’s cricketers, parents and staff, who include former England captain Norman Gifford and the Sussex pro, Chris Waller.

Sir Garry said that he hoped to welcome the Ardingly touring team to Barbados soon. He also said how much he loved being in Sussex. As a boy he had longed to come to England and sat glued to a radio (“not ours we were too poor to have one”) listening to cricket commentary from here.

Sir Garry reminisced about touring Australia in a Rest of the World team that included current Ardingly College cricket coach Mr Gifford. Sir Garry described “Giff” as: “A very good, competitive player.”

After the presentation, Mr Gifford said: “Sir Garry was my idol and it was an honour to play with him.  I am really delighted to have him at Ardingly. The students tonight have had a legend here and realized just how great a man Sir Garry is.”

Cricket has been played at Ardingly College since 1864. The sport’s popularity has grown so much in recent years that the senior school now fields six teams.  At the time of writing the U14s, U15s, 2nd XI and 1st XI are all unbeaten in their regular fixtures. The prep school also has a very strong 1st XI, with six county players in Year 8.

Over recent years, a number of players have gone on to play at a senior level.  The most recent is Ben Brown, who plays professionally for Sussex Sharks and is the England U19 wicket keeper.

During his presentation, Sir Garry was asked to compare today’s cricketers with those from his era. He replied that comparisons were difficult but he expressed admiration for Botham, Lara, Tendulkar,  Kapil Dev, Waugh and Ponting. He pointed out that conditions were not the same now as for his heroes, Bradman, Hutton, Weeks and Tyson.  In those days, batsmen faced bowlers from 18 yards away rather than the current 22 and as wickets were uncovered they were often damp and dangerous.

The students learned that Sir Garry had actually represented Barbados in five different sports, not only cricket but also football as a goalkeeper, golf, table tennis and more recently, dominoes.

Headmaster Peter Green said: ”This was great opportunity for our students to learn from a man who has always been an ambassador for his country and for sport.”

Also with Sir Garry was fellow Barbadian and former West Indies cricketer Gregory de Lisle Armstrong (58), as well as Don Gooding, who organizes school netball and hockey tours to Barbados.