The Cricketer Magazine – June 2018

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wife of Leslie Ames, said to me: ‘I see you’ve signed for
Notts. What position can you get them to? [Notts had
finished second from bottom in 1967]. I think I can get
them into the first three,’ I said. ‘Really?’ she said. ‘I know
you’re good but you’re not that good. I’ll give you a bottle
of champagne if you can get them into the first six.”’
Come August bank holiday weekend, Notts were lying
in fifth spot, with one match to go. This was against
Glamorgan at St Helen’s, Swansea. Last month, I sat in the
seats with Nash reliving that first day. Sobers had been
Nash’s hero as a boy. He was not just the best player in the
world but he was also left-handed, like Nash, and able to
instantly convert from seam to spin, which had convinced
the Glamorgan allrounder to be similarly versatile.
“Notts had reached a commanding 358 for 5 by 5pm
on the first day,” Nash recalls, “but I had four of the five
wickets to fall using my two styles and was bowling well.
Garry was on about 40 not out. I had got his wicket a couple
of times before, and as they were now seeking quick runs
before a declaration, I thought I could do so again.”
Sobers was thinking differently. He reflects back on a
dressing-room conversation he overheard when he was
growing up, between two West Indies greats Sir Everton
Weekes and Sir Learie Constantine. “Everton said to
Learie: ‘What’s your version of cricket?’ And Learie said,
‘Well when I go to bat I hit it high up there because there
is no one there to catch it, but I must make sure I clear
the boundary.’ And then Learie said to Everton ‘what
is your version?’ and Everton said, ‘Well, I hit it on the

ground because no one can catch it.’ And I think he only

ever hit two sixes in his life [in Test cricket].

“So that day in Swansea we had a good score and I

had scored a few, and I decided now we need real quick

runs and it doesn’t matter if I get out. So I thought I

would take the Learie Constantine route. And Malcolm

Nash was bowling. We were good friends and he always

believed he could get me out. And there was a little short

boundary on the leg side.”

I had forgotten how short until walking across the

St Helen’s outfield last month. From the left side of the

square where that pitch was located it was barely a chip

for six over midwicket. “Actually it was only a half-chip,”

Nash said. “If they brought the boundaries in it would

have been an under-13 pitch. But we’ve played cricket

here since 1921 so it’s OK. And I’ve hit a few sixes here

myself, of course!

“The first ball I bowled to Garry after tea – left-arm

spin, around the wicket – wasn’t a bad ball, on a length

on the stumps,” Nash continues. “He hit it straight

up there. Over long-on. It went out of the ground and

hit the guttering on The Cricketers.” He indicates the

dilapidated pub beyond the ground’s walls. “I thought

‘Oh, crikey’. But I also thought the best way to bowl and

get him out was to keep pitching it up and let him have

a go at it and hope that he whacks it up in the air. And

that’s exactly what he did, except he didn’t whack it too

short! He put the next one over square leg and it bounced

into the road. Then the third landed up here, over long-

Below

The six sixes, as

reproduced with

YouTube footage

thecricketer.com | 37

SoberS’ Six SixeS | Feature