Statue of Garfield Sobers
| Statue of Garfield Sobers | |
|---|---|
 The Statue of Sobers outside Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados | |
| Artist | Karl Broodhagen |
| Year | 2002 |
| Type | Sculpture |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Subject | Garfield Sobers |
| Location |
|
A statue of the Barbadian cricketer Garfield Sobers is situated outside the Kensington Oval cricket ground in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Initial plans for a statue of Sobers had begun in 1977 when it was proposed by the Jamaican cricketer Maurice Foster.[1] The Barbadian government then had a policy opposing statues of living people.[1] Foster proposed the bottom end of Broad Street, a prominent thoroughfare into Bridgetown.[1] It was eventually erected on a roundabout named for Sobers in Wildey and unveiled by the Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur and Sobers himself.[1] On 19 November 2006, prior to the 2007 Cricket World Cup it was relocated to its present position outside the Kensington Oval cricket ground in Bridgetown and unveiled on 28 April 2002.[1][2]
The statue was sculpted by Karl Broodhagen and his son Virgil from bronze.[2] It is 12 ft in height.[3] Sobers' biographer David Tossell describes the statue as depicting Sobers "clubbing the ball down the ground".[1] The statue was cast at the Morris Singer foundry in Lasham in Hampshire and given to High Commissioner of Barbados, Peter Simmons, upon its completion.[3] It took a team of two people six months to make.[3] It was expected to take four weeks to reach Barbados by sea.[3]