‘Shai Hope is class’: Sobers

KINGSTON, Jamaica: West Indies batsman Shai Hope has come in for effusive praise from the legendary Sir Garry Sobers, who said the 25-year-old was “class”.

Sobers –- widely recognised as one of the game’s greatest all-rounders with 8032 runs and 235 wickets in 93 Tests for the Windies –- was immediately impressed by Hope the first time he saw him, when he spent a few weeks coaching the Windies side.

In his conversations with the young batsman, Sobers told him he could “add another string to your bow”.“I saw him when the president (of Cricket West Indies) asked me to come down and do some coaching with the team for four or five weeks,” Sobers told Sky Sports. “The first time I saw him, I said, ‘Pfft, this is class! This is class’.”

However, Sobers noticed a few things in Hope that he could help make better. “He had one shot that I didn’t want to take away from him because he played it all the time,” said Sobers. “[He] was hitting the off-spinners, trying to hit them through mid-off and that kind of thing.”

“Never take away what a player has. Try to help him with the others or try to help him to play that shot better. After about two or three weeks watching him, I just said to him, ‘Shai, that’s your shot, don’t lose it.

“If you went over to the off stump a little bit, do you know how many runs you could score through there? They can’t put anybody else there, only two. Try it, if you can’t do it, put it away, play the way you play but just give it a try in the nets, practise it and see how it works for you.’”

He said it’s about improving players, not taking away something that comes naturally to them – something Sobers believed modern coaches were guilty of. “The coaches today just say, ‘No, bad shot. Don’t do that. Do this and do that’,” said Sobers. “I believe some of the coaching now is wrong, I don’t know why.”