Allan Robert Border is a former
Australian cricketer.
A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. 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 still retains the world record for the number of consecutive Test
appearances of 153 and the number of Tests as captain. He was primarily a left
hand batsman
but also achieved sporadic 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 2005). 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
Allan Border
parlayed three shots and a fanatical zeal about not giving away his wicket into
the most durable career that cricket in his time had known. At his retirement
he had featured in more Tests, more consecutive Tests, more Tests as captain
and more catches than any other player - and a batting average of 50 as well.
His underused left-arm spin once brought him 11 for 96 against West Indies, and
he was also an artful one-day player with a deadly arm from short midwicket.
Not a natural leader, nor a man of frills, he came reluctantly to the captaincy
in a dark age for Australia after Kim Hughes' tearful resignation at Brisbane
in 1984-85, but eventually applied himself to the task as proudly as to his
batting. From the World Cup win in 1987 and regaining the Ashes two years
later, Australia crusaded under Border until in 1993 they came within one ball
of conquering the world by beating West Indies. After he retired from Test
cricket he played in Queensland's maiden Sheffield Shield win, was named 12th
man in Australia's Team of the Century, coached Australia A, and became a selector
in 1998. He resigned his post in Trevor Hohns' panel in 2005 in favor of
pursuing his media interests, particularly as a pay-television pundit, but he
returned a year later to assist the new chairman Andrew Hilditch. Four months
after re-joining him suddenly stepped down again due to expanding business
commitments. His importance to the game is recognized annually when the
Australian Player of the Year receives the Allan Border Medal.
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