Quotable Caribbean — The Most Honorable P. J. Patterson, former prime minister, Jamaica

“Garfield Sobers is to cricket what William Shakespeare is to drama, isolated in solitary splendor on a stage apart. It was under Sobers’ captaincy that West Indies defeated every competing nation in the world to assert their primacy and eventual domination … At a time of struggle to carve our own space and identity, he was a model of West Indianness. He was the embodiment of grace, humility and generosity who fully understood the unique role of cricket within the process of integration. Throughout the region, wherever he went, he was readily accepted as “one of us” and felt quite at home. This creative virtuoso brought fame, pride and glory to our Caribbean. He was determined to excel and thereby establish that no pinnacle was beyond our reach.” — The Most Honorable P. J. Patterson, former prime minister, Jamaica