Allan Border Cricket Career

[Regulo Akers]

AllanRobert Border AO[1] (born 27 July 1955) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team, and led his team to victory in the 1987 Cricket World Cup, the maiden world title for Australia. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test matches in his career, a record until it was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh. Border formerly held the world record for the number of consecutive Test appearances of 153, before it was surpassed in June 2018 by Alastair Cook, and is second on the list of number of Tests as captain.[2]

He was primarily a left-hand batsman but also had occasional success as a part-time left-arm orthodox spinner. Border amassed 11,174 Test runs (a world record until it was passed by Brian Lara in 2006). He hit 27 centuries in his Test career. He retired as Australia's most-capped player and leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs. His Australian record for Test Match runs stood for 15 years before Ricky Ponting overtook him during the Third Ashes Test against England in July 2009.[3]

Born in Cremorne, a North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Border grew up with three brothers in the nearby suburb of Mosman. His father John, from Coonamble in rural New South Wales, was a wool classer and his mother Sheila was the proprietor of a corner store.[8] The family had a spacious backyard for playing games, and Mosman Oval, the home of district cricket, football, hockey and baseball clubs, was across the street. Border attended North Sydney Boys High School, and earned his leaving certificate in 1972.[9][10]

Recalled for the First Test against Pakistan at the MCG, Border batted at No. 3 and hit his maiden Test century as Australia reached 3/305, chasing 382 for victory. Border's dismissal for 105 triggered a major collapse of seven wickets for five runs as the other batsmen were unable to cope with the swing of Sarfraz Nawaz. Australia lost by 71 runs.[23] Border made 85 and 66 not out as Australia squared the series with a victory in Perth.[24] In his second Test series, he had topped the batting aggregates and averages with 276 runs at 92.00.[25]

This was followed by a three-month-long, six-Test tour of India, on which Australia failed to win a single match. Border scored 521 runs at 43.42 in the Test series, including 162 in the First Test at Madras,[25] where he displayed excellent footwork and handled the Indian spinners much more effectively than his teammates.[10][27] As a result of his performances in India, he was one of only three players to retain their places for the 1st Test against West Indies at Brisbane in December 1979, and the 1st Test when the WSC players returned to the official Australian team. In the next test against England at Perth Border scored 115 in the second innings to secure victory and in doing so passed 1,000 Test runs. He had done so in only 354 days, the fastest ever by an Australian,[29] and made more runs (1,070) in his first year as a Test cricketer than anyone before.[10] He was unable to maintain this form, however, and ended the season with 317 runs at 31.70 in six Tests against England and the West Indies.[25]

In 1981, Border made his first Ashes tour and scored a half-century in each of the first two Tests.[25] "Border alone of the established players came through with reputation enhanced";[10] in the Fifth Test at Old Trafford when he batted with a fractured left finger. He reached a century in 377 minutes, the slowest Test hundred by an Australian, and remained unbeaten on 123 as Australia lost the match.[32] In the final Test at The Oval, Border scored 106 not out and 84. During this latter sequence, he defied the English bowlers for more than 15 hours to score 313 runs before he was dismissed. Overall, he totalled 533 (at 59.22);[25] this prompted Sir Leonard Hutton to call him the best left-handed batsman in the world and resulted in his selection as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1982.[10][33]

After a drawn First Test,[36] Border played two classic innings in the Second Test at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. In poor light and on a bouncy wicket, Australia had slumped to three for sixteen when Border came to the crease. He finished unbeaten on 98 in a total of 255.[37] The West Indies took a 213-run lead and then reduced Australia to three for 55 late on the fourth day. Border again resisted, but Australia slumped to nine for 238, just 25 runs in front, when Terry Alderman joined Border. Together, they batted for 105 minutes to save Australia from defeat and, in the words of journalist Malcolm Knox, "earn the most miraculous draw."[38] Border struck the final ball of the match for a boundary to reach 100 not out, having resisted the bowling for 634 minutes in the match.[39] "He'd proved himself as the one man who could stand up to them," wrote Knox.[38]

In April 1985, Australia's prospects were weakened when plans were announced for a team of Australians to tour South Africa, in defiance of the Gleneagles Agreement. Seven players, originally selected for the 1985 Ashes tour, had signed for the Hughes-led "rebel" team and withdrew from the squad.[43] The disloyalty of the players affected Border deeply: journalist Mike Coward described his going into a "depression" and noted that, while he eventually forgave the players involved, he never forgot.[44]

Australia was defeated three-one by England, with the team's only success coming in the Second Test at Lord's, where Border hit 196.[43] His unbeaten 146 in the second innings of the Fourth Test at Manchester saved Australia from another defeat. In all, he amassed 597 runs at 66.33 in the series, and 1,355 first-class runs at 71.31 for the tour, including eight centuries, making him easily Australia's best batsman.[25][45]

During the subsequent three-Test series against India, the tourists dominated but failed to force a result, and the series was drawn. In the Second Test it took a last-wicket partnership of 77 between Border (who scored 163) and David Gilbert to deny India victory.[46] Border expressed his dismay at Australia's inability to perform under pressure.[citation needed]

On the subsequent tour of New Zealand, Border's form remained good: he scored 140 and 114 not out in the Second Test, before Australia lost the Third in Auckland, thus losing another series.[47] Over the course of the extended summer, Border scored four Test centuries, but the continued poor form of the team pushed him to breaking point.[25] After another loss in an ODI on the tour, he threatened to quit as captain if performances failed to improve.[citation needed]

The ACB recognised that a lack of support had caused the downfall of Kim Hughes as captain. The process of rebuilding the Australian team was complicated by the unavailability of the players who had gone to South Africa. Furthermore, there was no obvious replacement if Border quit (or was dropped) as captain. In an attempt to share Border's workload, and guide the rebuilding of the team, the ACB decided to appoint a permanent coach for the team. Former Australian captain Bob Simpson was sounded out, and he accompanied the team on the 1986 tour of New Zealand as an observer. He accepted the position and his first tour with the team was to India later in the same year.

I made a personal choice to have a harder edge as captain, be more stand-offish towards them [the English] ... It was a hard thing to do and they all got the shits, but it was all part and parcel of what I wanted to achieve.[54]

Going into the 1991 tour of the Caribbean, Australia was optimistic that its improved team was good enough to inflict the first series defeat on the West Indies for more than a decade. However, after a good start, Australia's performances tailed off, and the West Indies won two-one.[60] Border scored 275 runs at 34.37.[59]

Australia, the pre-tournament favourite, was knocked out of the group stage of the 1992 Cricket World Cup and finished fifth. On the 1992 tour of Sri Lanka, which Australia won one-nil, Border recorded his only series victory on the subcontinent as captain. His 106 in the Third Test at Moratuwa ended his four-year spell without a century.

The Fourth Test in Adelaide produced the closest definite result in Test-Match history. Australia slumped to eight for 102 in pursuit of the 186 runs needed to give them a series victory, but the lower-order batsmen rallied and took the side to within one run when Craig McDermott was given out by a controversial decision. Knox recorded Border's reaction:

Sitting in the dressing room he clutched a lucky cricket ball in his hands. Finally we were going to beat them. Finally Border was going to beat them. Two runs short, Walsh got Craig McDermott with a lifter. The keeper caught the ball, but the cameras caught Border. He sprang to his feet and hurled his ball into the floor. An entire career's worth of frustration captured in a single gesture.[38]

The one-run loss made the Fifth Test at Perth the decider: Australia was unable to regroup after its Adelaide disappointment and succumbed to the pace of the West Indies attack on a traditionally fast and bouncy wicket. Australia was crushed by an innings within three days, Border recording the first pair of his first-class career. It was a poor end to a modest season in which he scored 298 runs at 33.11. His failure to defeat the West Indies was the biggest disappointment of his career:[44] he retired one year before it was finally done.[38]

Border is commonly agreed not to have been an especially attractive or flamboyant cricketer, and accordingly he is remembered more for his rugged graft and admirable fight than for any aesthetic depth. He also became a less aggressive player because in his early days as a captain, he had next to no supporting cast with any experience in international cricket. His batting style has been faithfully described by Malcolm Knox:

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