A borderline case

If MTV were to hand out awards for post-Bradman Australian batsmanship, Greg Chappell would be voted Best Male Artist, Dougie Walters Most Popular, Norm O'Neill Best Newcomer. Dean Jones (210 v India) might win Best Single and Mark Taylor (839 v England) Best Album. Only towards the tedious middle part of the ceremony - when the compère slips backstage, the audience drifts into a coma and the Most Outstanding Career Achievement gong is announced - would the two men who have ruled the roost for the last 20 years get a mention: Allan Border and Steve Waugh.

By most criteria, this seems entirely reasonable. Unlike, say, Shane Warne, neither Border nor Waugh has fired the imagination of teenagers or triggered a renaissance in stoic middle-order batsmen. But how many Tests did Neil Harvey or Greg Chappell, for all their peachy precision, actually win or save for their country? It is politically incorrect to say so, but a question mark hangs over Chappell's mettle against the mightiest: in six Tests against the West Indies attacks of the late 1970s and early `80s he averaged 29. He retired immediately before Australia tackled 10 straight Tests against those same fire-breathers - a move which, in hindsight, seems a little gutless and which Border or Waugh, even when incapacitated by deep-vein thrombosis, would never contemplate.

So who has made the greatest contribution to Australian batting since Bradman: Border or Waugh? It is a bit like debating whether you feel safer with Dunlop or Goodyear. Comparing size quickly proves deflating: in Tests, both average over 50, and both have totted up 27 centuries and more runs than George W Bush has eaten apple pies. In the pyjama caper, both average in the low thirties and have hit three hundreds, including one unforgettable masterpiece of the genre apiece: Waugh's 120* against South Africa in the 1999 World Cup, Border's 127* against the West Indies in the first final of the 1984-85 World Series.

Both average more as captain than as a mere player. Both average considerably more abroad - by 10.63 in Border's case, and 10.25 in Waugh's - than at home. Both are ruthless when it comes to filling up on all-you-can-eat buffets from English pie-chuckers. Style and panache cannot split them either: on that count Peter Toohey beats them both hands-down.

It falls, like Perth millionaires counting their skyscrapers, to tally their matchwinning or game-saving innings to see who emerges on top. Between 1984 and 1986, Border single-handedly saved Australia from defeat in four Tests: his 98 and 100 at Trinidad, both not out; his 146 not out at a murky Manchester; his phenomenal 163 out of 308 (including 77 for the last wicket with Dave Gilbert) against India; and his twin centuries at Christchurch three Tests later. To that can be added two momentous, and arguably matchwinning, solo efforts - 196 at Lord's in 1985, 113* at Faisalabad in 1988 - and two inspired losing hands, his 152* v New Zealand in 1985-86 and his 62* in the Boxing Day Ashes Test of 1982-83, when he and Jeff Thomson almost hoodwinked a last-wicket victory.

Waugh too has played several crucial innings, notably his 157 at Rawalpindi in 1998-99 and his 164 v South Africa in 1993-94. His 177* at Headingley in 1989 was a freewheeling classic; 11 years later, his back-to-back hundreds against West Indies were virtually error-free. But only one Waugh innings - his 200 at Sabina Park when Australia regained the Frank Worrell Trophy in 1994-95 - matches up to Border's back-catalogue of epics. Even then, Australia won by an innings and 53 runs; Waugh, in theory, could have made a duck and they would still have got home.

Partly, Waugh is a victim of circumstances: a great Prime Minister should be rated a great Prime Minister, no matter how capable his deputies or how prosperous the times. But here's a telling stat. Border's record in the second innings of Tests when Australia trailed in the first innings was 2689 runs at 53.78; Waugh's is 788 runs at 29.19. Border, the man for a crisis, hit eight centuries under those circumstances; Waugh has made none.

That is why he still has some catching up to do.

Ian Healy
ace wicketkeeper, played with both
Border was a better-performed player in his entire career, though he lost his cut shot in the latter years which cost him a big attacking weapon. Waugh was a slow starter but he shelved his early aggressive nature for one of unrelenting concentration, coupled with the instincts to still hit boundaries. Therefore, they are opposites, with AB slowing at the end and Steve at the start, though we haven't seen his finish!
Border: 8 Waugh: 7.75

Angus Fraser
England fast bowler, bowled to both
Border wasn't pretty to watch. It's not how, it's how many, would have been his principle. The tougher the fight, the more he liked it. Technically, Waugh is more correct, but there are areas where he is limited (bouncers). The strengths that stand out most are his determination and concentration. Neither gets a10 because all batsmen are compared to Bradman. A nine has the Tendulkar/Lara genius.
Border: 8 Waugh: 8

Mark Ray
Australian journalist and photographer
Border was a great batsman. Like Waugh, he made runs when his team needed them, but he was a better all-round player. He once made two 150s in a Test in Pakistan, and his 98* and 100* against West-Indian pace in `84 were high points of modern batsmanship. Waugh's has been the most difficult wicket to take in world cricket for some time. He was a spectacular player early on but narrowed his game to ensure he made the runs his team needed.
Border: 9 Waugh: 8