North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) Chairman and former national and international cricketer Dr. Tim Gopeesingh has paid tribute to Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers following the cricket legend’s passing, describing him as, in his view, the finest all-round cricketer the world has ever produced.

In a statement issued Friday, Dr. Gopeesingh said he joined the people of Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and the international sporting fraternity in mourning Sir Garfield’s death, calling him one of only two men who can truly be spoken of alongside Sir Donald Bradman. He recalled that Bradman himself once described Sir Gary as the greatest all-round cricketer he had ever seen, adding that there could be no greater tribute than that.

Dr. Gopeesingh noted that the scorebooks will forever record Sir Garfield’s unbeaten 365, his more than 8,000 Test runs, his 235 Test wickets, and his unforgettable six sixes in an over. But he stressed that even those remarkable achievements only tell part of the story, Sir Gary’s true greatness, he said, lay not simply in the records he set, but in the elegance, courage, brilliance and joy with which he played, as the rare complete cricketer capable of changing a match with bat, ball or in the field.