I see your point mate, but we are selecting a whole team, and it is smart selecting to leave Sobers for six, if you want three of these fellows in as well
In that case he should not be in this list and we could have a separate one for number six or for an all rounder.
By the way, not many people are aware of why Sobers batted lower in the order for West Indies. Sobers himself never wrote about it or talked of it till his last book, an autobiography published in 2000 I think. He mentions that when Worrell became the skipper in 1960-61, he had a talk with Sobers about batting at number 5 or six - frankly for somewhat non-cricketing reasons. Worrell had noticed (in any event it was well known in the cricketing world) that there was a problem between Sobers and Rohan Kanhai and it could be seen even on the ground when they were batting together.. He felt that this was detrimental since they were the two batting stars in the West Indian middle order. Sobers mentions that this was true and it was because Kanhai was very jealous of Sobers's success.
Worrell suggested to Sobers that he bat at number 5 or six with kanhai batting at number three, so that by the time Sobers came into bat, Kanhai had, on most occasions, already made a substantial contribution to the teams cause even if he was still in when Sobers came in at number six. Worrell stated that since Sobers was such a versatile player, he was better suited for the job as he could go for a quick aggressive knock if the team was in a very solid position at the fall of the sixth wicket, and also had the defense and the technique to build the innings with the lower order in case the team was in strife. Kanhai meanwhile, would have been involved in three partnerships for the 2nd, 3rd and the 4th wickets.
Sobers is kind to Kanhai by not trying to belittle him by saying that Kanhai also felt his batting being given greater importance by his batting three places above his left handed team mate.
Sobers agreed and continued batting at that number all his career long after Worrell had gone from the scene and he himself had become the skipper..
