04 March,2010 09:15 AM IST | | Correspondent
When Sir Garry Sobers was dismissed caught and bowled by policeman cricketer Ghulam Guard for 25 in the Mumbai Test of 1958-59, he walked off telling the cop: "That was the most famous arrest you will ever make." Sobers scored a century in the next innings.u00a0
Sobers, who was never known to be an early sleeper, played for South Australia (an association which Sir Don Bradman headed) in the 1960s. In his autobiography, he writes: "I would watch the cricket for 10 or 15 minutes and then go to sleep on the massage table. He (Bradman) would come in and wake me up, saying, 'South Australia are in trouble today, son. You will have to go out there and make a hundred.' Amazingly, every time he said that to me, I did; I went out and scored 100."
According to Tony Greig in the DVD Cricket in the 1970s, when Sobers scored his 254 for Rest of the World against Australia in 1971-72, the entire Melbourne Cricket Ground stood up to applaud except one person -- his then wife Pru, who was about to leave him.
Bradman went on to describe the innings as the best he had ever seen. And when Sobers was finally dismissedu00a0 -- caught by Doug Walters off Greg Chappell, the television commentator said: "I will say no more, just listen to that crowd."
During the Lord's Test in 1973, Sobers met an old friend Reg Scarlett. He drank till 4 am and decided against sleeping in the fear of not waking up. So he went to the hotel and drank some more. A cold shower got him ready for the Test match. Resuming his innings on 31, he went on to score a hundred.
