Barbados will bid a final farewell to one of its greatest sons and its most legendary sporting icon with a State Funeral after National Hero The Right Excellent Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers died on Friday morning, just over a week before his 90th birthday.

Within hours of his death around 9 a.m., Prime Minister Mia Mottley declared Friday a Day of National Mourning and announced that national flags would be flown at half-staff until his interment, confirming that the holder of the nation’s highest accolade in life would receive the highest tribute in death with a State Funeral.

In a national address, Mottley described Sir Garry’s death as a moment of profound loss for Barbados, the Caribbean and the wider cricketing world.