West Indies captain Roston Chase will fly home to Barbados tonight to attend Sir Garfield Sobers’ state funeral, leaving the team camp in Trinidad between the first and second Tests against Pakistan.
Chase revealed his plans in the post-match press conference after West Indies beat Pakistan by 90 runs at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Monday, wrapping up the first Test in four days.
“If I’m going to go home tonight and go to the funeral tomorrow, I think that it would be a good gesture. It will be a great privilege and honor for me to go home and attend the funeral of the great Garfield Sobers.”
Roston Chase, post-match press conference, July 28, 2026
The victory fell on what would have been Sobers’ 90th birthday. The margin of victory was 90 runs. Chase did not treat either as coincidence.
Before the series began, Chase had told ESPNcricinfo that Sobers’ death on July 17 was deeply felt across the dressing room and that the team wanted to go out and make him proud. Three days later, his team delivered a performance built entirely around that promise.
Sobers represented the West Indies in 93 Tests between 1954 and 1974, scoring 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78 with 26 centuries and taking 235 wickets. He held the world record for the highest individual Test score of 365 not out for 36 years. He was the first player to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket, a versatility across three bowling styles no Test cricketer has matched since. Wisden named him one of its five cricketers of the twentieth century.
The Barbados government, led by Prime Minister Mia Mottley, arranged for the Barbadian members of the squad to fly from Trinidad to Bridgetown immediately after the match. Apart from Chase, white-ball captain Shai Hope, vice-captain Jomel Warrican, Justin Greaves, Kemar Roach, Joshua Bishop, and assistant coach Floyd Reifer are all travelling home for the funeral. Cricket West Indies President Dr. Kishore Shallow and CEO Chris Dehring will also attend.
Mottley, speaking on the Mason and Guest Cricket Show, said someone had joked with her that the team would win in four days and come home for the funeral. She smiled at the time and said she wished. When the fourth-day result came through, she made the call and completed the arrangements.
Captain Leaves Camp Mid-Series to Bury the Greatest All-Rounder
The Roston Chase Sobers funeral journey begins today, July 29, at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, starting at 10:00 AM local time. The ground houses the Garfield Sobers Pavilion. The ceremony includes a guard of honour, a cricket bat salute from the cricketing fraternity, and a national tribute delivered by Prime Minister Mottley. Regional heads of state and CARICOM leaders are in attendance. Sir Clive Lloyd, Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Andy Roberts, Sir Richie Richardson, and Brian Lara are present.
Sobers’ body lay in state at Parliament Buildings on Monday and at the Kensington Oval pavilion on Tuesday, where thousands filed past to pay respects. The man who died at 89 in his home in Highgate Gardens, eleven days before his 90th birthday, is being given the kind of farewell Barbados reserves for national heroes.
The second Test between West Indies and Pakistan begins on August 2 at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain. Chase and the Barbadian contingent will return to Trinidad after the funeral. West Indies lead the series 1-0 and cannot lose it.
Jayden Seales took five wickets in the second innings as Pakistan were bowled out for 120 chasing 211. Justin Greaves, named Player of the Match, took 5-27 in the first innings, including five consecutive wicket maidens. All 40 wickets in the match fell to seamers.
For the Legend With Love 🖤
Historic win for the team on Sir Garry’s 90th. #WIvPAK pic.twitter.com/2yLXAkXQ6a
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) July 28, 2026
Insider Read
There is a version of “we had a chat about trying to make him feel special” that reads like a throwaway line in a press conference. It is not.
In professional cricket, pre-match team talks that invoke a deceased figure are a calculated risk. Every dressing room handles it differently. Some captains avoid it entirely because grief is unpredictable. A player dealing with personal loss can either channel it into focus or collapse under the weight of emotion. There is no middle ground at Test level. The ball does not care about your feelings. A lapse of concentration for half a second against a seamer bowling at 140 clicks can end your innings or your tour.
What Chase did was more specific. He did not just acknowledge Sobers’ death. He asked his team, before the match started, to actively play for a dead man. That is a conversation that happens behind closed doors, usually led by the captain or the senior group, and it only works when the dressing room trusts the captain enough to follow him into that emotional space. If the trust is not there, it becomes hollow motivation. If the trust is there, it becomes fuel that no amount of tactical planning can replicate.
The fact that it worked, that the team delivered a four-day victory with a margin matching Sobers’ age, does not make the gamble less real. Chase would have known, sitting in that dressing room before the toss, that if the emotional charge backfired and the team lost focus, the conversation about dedicating the match to Sobers would have looked naive in hindsight. Captains carry that kind of risk alone.
That he then chose to leave camp and fly home for the funeral tells you where his head was throughout this match. He was not just captaining a Test. He was carrying a duty that extended beyond the boundary rope.
Also Read:
Shai Hope: “Play for the Great Man”
West Indies Draw on Sir Garfield Sobers’ Legacy as World Cup 2027
Brian Lara Stadium Hosts Its First Ever Test
West Indies vs Pakistan Test Series 2026: Where to Watch
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