Allan Border      

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 favour 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 he suddenly stepped down again due to expanding business commitments. His importance to the game is recognised annually when the Australian Player of the Year receives the Allan Border Medal.
Greg Baum

• July 27, 1955
  AB the baby
  • Allan Border is born in Sydney to John, a wool classer, and Sheila.
    
• January 29, 1977
  First-class debut
  • Makes his first-class debut for New South Wales against Queensland at the SCG. Scores 36 in his only innings in the match.
    
• December 29, 1978
  No. 6 in Test No. 1
  • Makes his Test debut at the MCG in the third Test of the Ashes series. Bats at No. 6 in both innings, scoring 29 in the first and a duck in the second.
    
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• March 15, 1979
  First century, then hell
  • In his fourth Test, scores his first Test century. His 105 comes batting at No. 3 in the second innings against Pakistan at the MCG. Wisden describes the six-and-a-quarter-hour innings as notable for his footwork but when he falls, Border is the first victim in Sarfraz Nawaz's memorable spell of 7 for 1, which delivers Pakistan victory.
    
• September 11-16, 1979
  Home from home
  • In his first Test outside Australia, makes 162 and 50 against India in Madras. His chances of a double-century are cut short when he is run out backing up at the non-striker's end, with Graham Yallop's straight drive ricocheting off the bowler's hand and crashing into the stumps.
    
• March 18-23, 1980
  Two times 150
  • Completes a remarkable double of 150 not out and 153 against Pakistan in Lahore.
    
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• June-September 1981
  Ace in Ashes
  • Embarks on his first Ashes tour. Australia lose 3-1 but Border proves his class, finishing the tour as comfortably the leading run scorer from either side. The tour ends with a remarkable string of 123 not out at Old Trafford, and 106 not out and 84 at The Oval.
    
• 1982
  Wisden wizard
  • Is named Wisden Cricketer of the Year for his efforts during the 1981 Ashes.
    
• December 1984
  Hughes' tears, his cheer
  • Is handed the Australian captaincy after Kim Hughes' tearful resignation. Is a reluctant leader and in his first match as captain, Australia suffer a 191-run defeat at the hands of West Indies in Adelaide.
    
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• June-August 1985
  First Ashes as captain
  • Leads Australia to England for the first time and his team suffers a 3-1 defeat. Is the team's best batsman by a stretch, second only to David Gower for the series, and in particular he stars in the victory at Lord's. Scores 196 in the first innings and keeps Australia on track in their final chase of 127, when they lose six wickets.
    
• September 18-22, 1986
  Twice in a blue moon
  • Captains Australia in only the second tied Test in the game's history. Scores 106 in the match against India in Madras.
    
• November 8, 1987
  Top of the world
  • Captains Australia to their first World Cup triumph when they beat England in the final at Eden Gardens. Makes valuable contributions with both bat and ball, scoring 31 and then picking up two key wickets in England's chase.
    
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• December 14, 1987
  First double
  • Scores the first of his two Test double-centuries when he compiles 205 against New Zealand at Adelaide Oval.
    
• June-August, 1989
  Dust to dust, Ashes to Australia
  • Returns to England as captain and becomes the first Australian leader since Bill Woodfull in 1934 to win back the Ashes in England. The touring party isn't given much hope at the start of the series, but dominates England throughout the tour. Border's own form is solid without being the star of the show: he puts a typically high price on his wicket and scores six half-centuries at an average of 73.66.
    
• December 17, 1989
  Bowlers' best friend
  • Breaks Greg Chappell's world record for most catches by a non-wicketkeeper in Test cricket. Achieves the milestone when he holds a catch off Merv Hughes to dismiss Sri Lanka's Rumesh Ratnayake in Hobart.
    
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• January 16, 1990
  Australia's winningest captain
  • Less than a month after breaking Chappell's catch record, he takes another record from the same man. With the win against Pakistan at the MCG, his 49th Test as captain, breaks Chappell's Australian record of 48.
    
• January 3, 1993
  Hello Sunny
  • Against West Indies at the SCG, Border drives Carl Hooper to mid-on to become just the second man in Test history to score 10,000 runs. Sunil Gavaskar is the only man to reach the milestone before Border.
    
• February 26, 1993
  Bye bye, Sunny
  • Passes Gavaskar's 10,122 runs to become the highest scorer in Test history. Does it with a lofted sweep for four to deep midwicket off Dipak Patel in front of a very small crowd in Christchurch.
    
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• June-August 1993
  England, lovely England
  • Returns to England for the third time as captain and again leads Australia to an Ashes victory. Is the star at Headingley, with an unbeaten 200 in the innings win, just days before his 38th birthday.
    
• March 25-29, 1994
  Au revoir, Allan
  • Plays his final Test and fittingly drops anchor to bat out a draw in Durban. Finishes with a record 156 Tests, including more Tests as captain (93) than any other player - a record that stands 15 years later.
    
• 1998
  Ruthless captain = ruthless selector
  • Joins Australia's selection panel and is involved in the decisions to sack Steve Waugh as one-day captain and move Ian Healy and Mark Waugh into retirement. Resigns in 2005 before again becoming a selector briefly during 2006.
    
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• 2000
  The name that stands for excellence
  • Is honoured with the first presentation of the Allan Border Medal, awarded to Australia's best player throughout the previous year.
    
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• 62 not out v England, Melbourne, 1982-83
  • In one of the most memorable Tests of all time, Border nearly delivers Australia victory. Needing 292 to win, Australia are 9 for 218 when Border and Thomson embark on a last-wicket partnership of epic proportions. They leave 37 runs to be found on the last morning. Although the match can be over within moments, 18,000 spectators go to the MCG to see that Thomson is rarely in trouble, and Border never. When Australia are within four runs of victory, Thomson edges Ian Botham. Of the 70-run stand, Thomson manages only 21, and in a display of grit we would soon grow familiar with, Botham finishes unbeaten.
    
• 98 not out and 100 not out v West Indies, Port-of-Spain, 1983-84
  • Border stands between Australia and defeat against an attack led by Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall at Queen's Park Oval. He bats 5 hours 49 minutes in the first innings, and another four and three-quarter hours in the second, offering not a single chance. The last 160 minutes of those come in company of Nos 10 and 11, Rodney Hogg and Terry Alderman, to salvage the draw. Twice Border resurrects Australia from 50 for 4 and 41 for 3. The second-innings effort comes after they have fallen behind by 213 and have to bat out over an hour of the fourth day and all of the fifth. Off the last ball of the match, he completes what is left unfinished in the first innings, a century.
    
• 196 and 41 not out v England, Lord's, 1985
  • This is Border's match. He scores 43% of his side's runs, and leads them superbly to maintain Australia's unbeaten run at Lord's. His 196 in the first innings, helping Australia recover from 24 for 2 and 101 for 4, is his highest Test score, and he displays a command and range of shot that few contemporaries can equal. The only time he seems at all disconcerted in the match is when, with 10 required for the win, a statement is read out asking spectators not to run on to the pitch at the finish. True to style, he sees Australia through, after they are 65 for 5 in a chase of 127.
    
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• 8 and 146 v England, Old Trafford, 1985
  • England made all the running in this match, but Border organises a prolonged defensive effort on a sluggish pitch to come out with a draw. After a first-innings batting failure, and having fallen behind by 225, Australia are in again by noon on the fourth day. England spinners prise out four batsmen by close, and Border concedes that a last day of rain would not go amiss. He is accommodated: only three overs can be bowled before lunch, and he makes the most of that reprieve, batting for 5 hours 43 minutes, giving England no further hope.
    
• 11 and 163 v India, Melbourne, 1985-86
  • Another of Border's heroic efforts to save a Test. The pitch is turning enough for Australia to lodge a protest, having fallen behind by 183 on first innings, with almost two days to go. That they are not beaten on the fourth day is down to Border's skill in playing spin, and his fortitude. By close he has batted for 228 minutes, but Australia are 8 for 228. India are reluctant to attack him - despite forecast of rain, and he puts together a 115-minute partnership with No. 11 Dave Gilbert, scoring 65 out of 80 on the last morning. Still, with two sessions to go and only 126 to get, India are only 2 for 59 when whether intervenes at tea.
    
• 7 for 46 and 75; 4 for 50 and 16 not out, v West Indies, Sydney, 1988-89
  • On a bare and slow pitch expected to become a raging turner, West Indies are 1 for 144 and the game is slipping out of Australia who will have to bat last. Border, who has never taken more than four wickets in a first-class innings, then embarks on an all-round performance seldom surpassed by any captain, destroying West Indies with 7 for 46, including the wickets of Richardson, Richards, Hooper, Logie and Harper. His fourth-wicket partnership of 170 with centurion Boon gives Australia a big lead, but his bowling is further called upon to keep Haynes down to 143 in the second innings, and the target to 80. Fittingly enough, Border hits the winning runs.
    
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• 200 not out v England, Headingley, 1993
  • On a pitch not to England's liking, Australia lead in this match all through. Border walks in at 216 for 3, and adds a cold-blooded 105 with Boon, already set by then. His first double-hundred in England is always intended to be psychologically brutal. He is not building an unassailable total so much as grinding down the will to resist. In the course of an innings lasting 569 minutes he equalls Sobers' total of 26 Test centuries - only Gavaskar and Bradman have more - and shares an unbroken stand of 332 with Steve Waugh. England simply shrink in awe from a total of 653 for four, conceding the Ashes with the innings defeat.
    
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