The Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers, greatest-ever allrounder, undoubtedly, greatest-ever cricketer, arguably, is now officially a National Hero of Barbados. At a charming outdoor function yesterday, cricket greats rolled in, senators and members of parliament turned up, and an adoring crowd of about 500 stood by, as a glorious bronze statue of Sobers, lofting magnificently, was unveiled on what will be now known as the Sir Garfield Sobers Roundabout in Wildey, St Michael. The intersection had been blocked all afternoon, and from about 5pm, the music from the Royal Barbados Police Band had lilted. Ted Dexter was there. Sir Everton Weekes was too, as were Senator Desmond Haynes, and the prime minister of Barbados. Brian Lara arrived in a maroon West Indian blazer, light-years removed from his Lenny Kravitz get-up on the flight into Bridgetown only a few hours earlier. With Lara came rain. First, he goes and beats Sobers's world record, and now this. For about an hour, men in tuxedos and women in gowns ran about looking for cover under temporary constructions or trees. It's a game of glorious uncertainties.

But this was to be an innings that couldn't be halted by foul weather. The drizzle continued even as the sun shone deviously on the horizon, but the show went on. He's the gem of Barbados, is Sobers. The nation's officials made sure he would be adequately honoured.

Senator Glyne Murray, the Minister of State, recalled the words of Will Rogers - that "We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." And so they did, many of them.

Stephen Alleyne, president of the Barbados Cricket Association, remembered how at one time every kid in school would walk about with a "turned-up collar and bent-at-the-waist-gait like premature centenarians", just to feel like Sobers. And he remembered the calypsonian Sparrow's reasonable statement that Sobers "is the best cricketer on Earth or Mars".

Prime Minister Owen Arthur came on and asserted that Sobers "is the most famous Barbadian of all time. He is the only Barbadian of whom it can be truly said that his achievements, in his sphere of human endeavour, are the greatest in the entire history of mankind."

And there were the Merry Men, who turned up too do a rendition of The Greatest, a song they wrote in honour of Sobers many moons ago, with all the enthusiasm of a teenage college band.

Garry Sobers, when you call his name,
He is the one and only,
The master of the cricket game.

Sobers's sons swayed and sang along.

Sobers himself was visibly touched. He looked stately, even scholarly, in his thin-rimmed spectacles and white hair, but there were tears welling in his eyes as he watched the statue being unveiled to a sweet display of fireworks, and then took to the mike to thank those who had helped him on this unique cricketing journey. Lara looked equally touched when Sobers recognised him as a man with the ability to join a very, very small club ("three or four players") of all-time greats.

But the evening was really about Barbados as much as about Sobers. On one side of the statue is this inscription. "Cricketer Extraordinaire: National Hero of Barbados. Strict Guardian of our Heritage, firm Craftsman of our Fate." The national anthem played. Everybody stood to attention and then dispersed into the night.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com India. His reports will appear here throughout the Test series.

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