NOV20

Classroom lesson · Sport · 🇧🇧 Barbados

Cricket

Barbados's national passion — home of Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all-rounder

A cricket match being played on a lush green ground in Barbados under a blue sky

Photo · Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.

What is it?

Cricket is far more than a sport in Barbados — it is a national passion. Children grow up playing cricket in streets, parks, and on the beach, and the island has produced some of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game. The most celebrated is Sir Garfield Sobers, widely considered the greatest all-round cricketer who ever lived.

Tell me more

Sir Garfield Sobers was born in Barbados in 1936 and became a legend of world cricket. In 1968 he hit six sixes in a single over — a feat that had never been done before in first-class cricket and made headlines around the world. He was so exceptional that Queen Elizabeth II knighted him on the pitch at the Barbados Kensington Oval in 1975.

The Kensington Oval in Bridgetown is one of the most famous cricket grounds in the world. It has hosted matches for over 130 years and is known for its passionate crowd, who cheer, sing, and celebrate with a Caribbean energy that makes cricket there feel like a festival.

Barbados has contributed more players per capita to the West Indies cricket team than almost any other island. The team formed by the Caribbean nations plays under the name 'West Indies' and has won the Cricket World Cup twice. For Barbadians, every cricket match is an opportunity to celebrate together.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why do you think some sports become central to the identity of a whole country or island?
  2. 02Sir Garfield Sobers achieved something no one had done before. What does it take to break a record that has stood for a long time?
  3. 03The West Indies team is made up of players from many different islands. What are the advantages of countries working together in sport?
Try this

Classroom activity

Create a trading card for Sir Garfield Sobers. One side should have a drawn portrait and his name; the other side should list his nationality, his most famous achievement, the year he was knighted, and one sentence saying why he is remembered. Compare your card with a partner's to check you have the same facts.

More about Barbados

Other things that make Barbados special

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