Barbados said goodbye to Sir Garfield Sobers on 29 July, with a state funeral at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown that drew cricketing royalty, political leaders and global icons to the ground that carries his name.

Sobers, widely regarded as cricket's greatest all-rounder, died on 17 July aged 89. His coffin, draped in the flag of Barbados, was carried from the Parliament Buildings on a gun carriage. On arrival at Kensington Oval — the island's principal cricket ground, home to a pavilion named in his honour — the coffin passed through a guard of honour formed by raised cricket bats (BBC Sport).

Sir Clive Lloyd, who captained the West Indies to dominance in the 1970s and 1980s, called Sobers "the greatest all-round cricketer the world has ever known" in his eulogy. Lloyd described him as "a man who lived in the hearts and minds of Caribbean people and who became a source of inspiration to millions throughout the world." Brian Lara and Desmond Haynes — two more batting giants of West Indies cricket — also spoke at the service of thanksgiving.

Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley attended, as did Rihanna, the Barbadian music superstar whose presence underlined how far Sobers' reach extended beyond the boundary rope. Reverend Canon Guy Hewill read a message from King Charles during the service.

The numbers alone tell why the island stopped. Sobers played 93 Test matches — the longest, five-day format of international cricket — between 1954 and 1974. He scored 8,032 runs and took 235 wickets. In 1958, aged just 21, he made 365 not out against Pakistan, a Test record that stood unbroken for 36 years. A decade later, playing for Nottinghamshire in English county cricket, he became the first player to hit six sixes off six balls in a single over in a first-class match. Wisden, cricket's oldest and most respected reference almanac, named him among its five cricketers of the 20th century.

The send-off spanned three days. Sobers' body lay in state at the Barbados parliament on Monday and at Kensington Oval on Tuesday, allowing members of the public to pay their respects before the 10 a.m. funeral service. He will be laid to rest at Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens in the south of Barbados.

Among the mourners were West Indies Test captain Roston Chase and vice-captain Jomel Warrican, who had completed a Test victory over Pakistan the day before. Their presence connected two eras — the Sobers generation that defined West Indies cricket and the current side still trying to rebuild that legacy.

For a small island nation, Sobers was more than a sportsman. He was proof that Barbados could produce the very best the world had seen, at a time when the Caribbean was still finding its voice on the global stage. The raised bats, the gun carriage, the prime minister and the pop star — each detail reflected the scale of what he meant to the place he never left behind.