Widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder ever to play the game, Gary Sobers was knighted for his services to cricket in 1975.

And in 2000, the Barbadian legend was selected as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the century.

Still an outspoken figure in the game, Sir Garfield answered your questions on the state of play in West Indies cricket.

The West Indies have started well against Sri Lanka. How heartening is that to see?

It's particularly good to see that Brian Lara is making runs again. There have been a lot of controversial things said about him over the last couple of years, and it seems that every time that Brian fails the West Indies lose and he gets all the blame. So it's good to that it's coming off for him again. I believe the West Indies suffered a bit of a collapse on Tuesday, but it's good to see that they're making some runs.

David D, UK

Does Brian Lara's knock in Sri Lanka represent the start of a new era for the player?

It's very difficult to say. Brian has always had the ability and been a good player, and we all do have the odd bad season. He has also had a bit of bad luck with injuries, and maybe these have contributed to his downfall. But it's good to see him making runs, and I'm sure he will continue to make runs as long as he's playing for the West Indies.

Pete Sanderson, UK

Why do you think spin bowling has replaced pace as the dominant wicket-taking form in the Caribbean?

One can only believe that because the players have tuned to spin bowling for so long, now that the ball is beginning to turn and the spinners are starting to flight the ball and get some movement out of it, they are unaccustomed to it. But I'm sure as they go on you'll find that again they'll back into the spin, they will start to play it, and the fast bowling will return.

I think it's what you practice. Against the fast bowlers you get tuned to it, and practice makes perfect. They haven't had many spinners in the past 20 or 30 years, and now that it's coming back, they're struggling to get used to it.

Ian, England

What do you think of the current England side, and do they have a hope in India?

It's very difficult for me to comment on the England side because I haven't seen a lot of them play. I don't really follow cricket as I used to, and if I do I follow the West Indies from home. I think England can do well in India, but India is always a very difficult team to beat at home.

Nirav Patel, US

How does the current Australian team compare with the great Australian teams of yesteryear?

I think the current Australian team is very good, but I think it's very difficult to compare them to past West Indies teams - particularly the one that Clive Lloyd captained for so long, and were champions for 15 years. I thought that was a great team and very difficult to better. But the Australian team is good.

They're the type of team you enjoy watching - they go out there and they try to win, and that was what was so good about the west Indian team. When you get a team that thinks like that they're always going to be on top. Australia have so many great players at the moment that they can pick eleven out of about 26 players.

The West Indies at that stage had a similar thing, but it was very difficult for anyone else to get in. When you look through the West Indies team in those days, when they had Holden, Roberts, Garner and Croft, they still had people like Sylvester Clark and Wayne Daniel and all of these other fast bowlers on the sideline that couldn't get in. That is what made them so strong. They had good substitutes, which is what Australia have at the moment.

Richard Sullivan, England

As a great all-rounder yourself, who would you rate as the best all-rounder playing Test cricket at the moment?

It's very difficult because I don't think there are a lot of them around, Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis. A lot of people probably don't rate Kallis in that respect, but I think that Pollock and Kallis are probably two of the best.

I can't think of an all-rounder in the England team at the moment, nor can I think of one in the West Indies team. People talk about Carl Hooper, but I'm not sure. If you go through the Test teams it's difficult to see past Pollock, whom I think is the best in the world today.