Allan Robert Border (born 27 July 1955) is an Australian former international cricketer and current cricket commentator. 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.
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.
Border was one of the 55 inaugural inductees of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, Allan Border was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as a "sports legend".
In 2016, Border was a recipient of the Queensland Greats Awards. In a fan poll conducted by the CA in 2017, he was named in the country's best Ashes XI in the last 40 years.
Early years
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. 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.
Throughout his early years, Border played in cricket teams two or three years older than his age group. He also played for Mosman Baseball Club, where he developed his fielding and horizontal-bat shots. Aged sixteen, he made his début for Mosman in Sydney Grade Cricket as a left arm orthodox spinner and batted at number nine. He won selection for the 1972–73 Combined High Schools team in the intrastate carnival. During this time, he was coached by Barry Knight, a former England international.
Cricket career
Border accumulated more than 600 runs in grade cricket in 1975–76, and at the start of the following season, he made two consecutive centuries to earn selection for NSW. In the absence of a number of Test players, Border made his debut against Queensland at the SCG in January 1977. He compiled 36 and took the last three catches of the match, as his team claimed victory. He then returned to England and played for East Lancashire Cricket Club in the Lancashire League, scoring 1191 runs at 56.71 and taking 54 wickets at 18.60.
right|thumb|This is the complete graphical representation of the test cricket record of Allan Border. Individual innings are represented by the blue and red (not out) bars; the green line is his career batting average. Current as of 8 January 2019.
Test debut during WSC
In 1977, the breakaway professional competition World Series Cricket (WSC) signed many players who were then banned from first-class and Test cricket, thus leaving many vacancies in the Australian team. Border started the 1978–79 season with his maiden first-class century, 135 against Western Australia at Perth, and followed up with 114 against Victoria at the SCG. After Australia lost the first two Tests in the Ashes series, Border was selected for his Test debut at the MCG. Making a nervous start, he took more than half an hour to score three runs. In the following Test at Sydney, he was in a "lonely class of his own" by top-scoring in both innings with 60 not out and 45 not out as Australia lost the match and the Ashes. He used his feet to the spinners as his teammates struggled to cope with the turn. However, after scores of 11 and 1 in the Fifth Test at Adelaide he was dropped for the Sixth Test. Border made 85 and 66 not out as Australia squared the series with a victory in Perth. In his second Test series, he had topped the batting aggregates and averages with 276 runs at 92.00. The first tour, to England for the 1979 Cricket World Cup, ended with Australia being eliminated in the first round. Border scored 59 runs in two innings.
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, and made more runs (1,070) in his first year as a Test cricketer than anyone before. In the off-season, Border married Jane Hiscox, and moved to Brisbane to begin playing for Queensland. 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).
Border's 1981–82 season was mixed. Against Pakistan, he made only 84 runs in three Tests, but against the West Indies, he scored a century and three half-centuries in 336 runs (at 67.20) to help Australia draw the series.
New era
Australia hosted Pakistan for a five-Test series in 1983–84. Border scored 118 and 117 not out in the Second and Third Tests respectively, and averaged just under 86 as Australia won the series comfortably.
After a drawn First Test, 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. 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." "He'd proved himself as the one man who could stand up to them," wrote Knox.
Australia lost the final three Tests, but Border ended the series with 521 runs at 74.73. This was twice as many runs as the next best Australian.
Reluctant captain
alt=|thumb|316x316px|Allan Border in [[Wellington,1986]]
After a short successful tour of India, Australia faced the West Indies again in the 1984–85 season. as he resigned as captain during a press conference. Despite Border's limited captaincy experience and stated indifference to taking the position, he replaced Hughes for the Third Test at Adelaide, which the Australians also lost: it was their sixth consecutive defeat to the West Indies. He distinguished himself in the one-dayers, though, by savaging an attack comprising Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Winston Davis and Viv Richards for 127 not out off 140 balls at the SCG. Knox, who was present that day, described him as "the finest all-round one-day cricketer of his time, alongside Viv Richards", in spite of the fact that "his reputation is built on stodge and defiance". 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.
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.
Australia continued to struggle during the 1985–86 season, when New Zealand defeated them in a Test series for the first time. Despite Border's unbeaten 152 in the second innings, Australia fell to a heavy defeat in the First Test at Brisbane. Although they bounced back to win the Second Test, New Zealand took the Third to take a two-one series victory.
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. Border expressed his dismay at Australia's inability to perform under pressure.
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. 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. The other two Tests were drawn, and Border finished the tour with 245 runs at 81.66.
1987 World Cup
thumb|upright|Border with the [[Cricket World Cup trophy.]]
Australia's unexpected victory in the 1987 Cricket World Cup proved to be a turning point and heralded the start of more prosperous times. In 1987–88, Australia defeated New Zealand for its first Test series victory in four years. Border hit 205 in the drawn Second Test at Adelaide, his highest Test score The Bicentennial Test against England at Sydney was drawn, then Australia won its inaugural home Test match against Sri Lanka. Border's contribution for the five Tests was 426 runs at 71.00 average. His bowling figures are the best for a match (and second best for an innings) by an Australian captain. Previously, he had taken 16 wickets in 99 Tests. Receiving the player of the match award, Border said, "there will be batsmen all around the world shaking their heads in disbelief when they see the result".
Harder edge
<blockquote>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.</blockquote>
The 1989 Ashes tour was Border's first major series win as Test captain. He had consciously fashioned a more aggressive approach to the captaincy. Australia won 4–0, its first victory in a Test series abroad since 1977 (apart from a one-off Test in Sri Lanka) and Australia's best result in England since The Invincibles tour of 1948. Border set the tone for the series with attacking innings of 66 and 60 not out in the First Test. In all, he made six half-centuries to end with 442 runs at 73.66. for his part in helping Australia regain the Ashes.
In the 1989–90 season, Australia played Tests against New Zealand (1), Sri Lanka (2) and Pakistan (3). Australia won twice, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It was the first home season in six years that Australia went undefeated. The season ended with a one-off Test in New Zealand, which Australia lost by nine wickets to concede the Trans-Tasman Trophy. Border ended the season with 328 runs at 41, with five half-centuries.
Australia reinforced its superiority over England with a convincing 3–0 win in the 1990–91 Ashes series: the three victories were by eight, nine and ten wickets respectively, and Border compiled 281 runs at 46.83.
Missed opportunities
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. Border scored 275 runs at 34.37. losing only the Sixth Test to end Border's streak of 18 Tests against England without defeat. The series was sealed at Headingley in the Fourth Test when Border made 200 not out. His 533 runs for the series came at an average of 54.12. The Australians then claimed the Trans-Tasman Trophy with a comfortable 2–0 victory over New Zealand at home in late 1993. Border scored 105 in the Third Test on his home ground at Brisbane. It was the last of his 27 Test centuries. Border's final Test innings was an obdurate 42 not out that helped secure a draw in the Third Test at Durban. Border had a modest time with the bat, accumulating 298 runs at 33.11. He also distinguished himself as a fielder, especially in his early days as a catcher at what Knox rated "the hardest position, the wide third-to-fifth slips." The Australian cricketer of the year now receives the Allan Border Medal, with the inaugural award having been won by Glenn McGrath in 2000. The Neumann Oval in Brisbane has been renamed Allan Border Field and is occasionally used by Queensland as an alternative home ground to The Gabba. and named twelfth man in Australia's "Greatest ever ODI Team", and an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1989. was named Queenslander of the Year in 1994, and received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000. He was named an Australia Post Legend of Cricket in 2021.
In 2009, Border was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.
A bronze statue of Border created by Linda Klarfeld was unveiled at The Gabba on 7 December 2021.
As at 2018, Border works as commentator for Fox Sports Australia.
In June 2023, Border revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2016.
References
Sources
- Knox, Malcolm. "The artful stodger." Cricinfo, April 2009.