2) Allan Border was a champion batsman and it did not matter where Allan was playing. Border never believed in things like ‘home advantage’ and ‘settling to overseas conditions’. Border scored 5,743 runs at 45.94 from 86 Tests at home and 5,431 runs at 56.57 from 70 Tests overseas. The stats show that he enjoyed batting on the foreign soil much more than at home
3) In 1980, Allan Border became the first player to go past 150 in both innings of a test match, when Border smashed an unbeaten 150 and 153 against Pakistan. The record still stands and he remains the only player to achieve this
4) Allan Border was a player who exuded the pride of Australia and made the Australian cricket team his home for almost all his cricketing career. It was as though he knew a code, the code being the Baggy Green cap, something Border has defended for most of his playing career
5) Allan Border was dismissed for four against England at WACA in 1979-80. Border was furious with himself as he returned to the dressing-room. He later wrote in his autobiography: “I opened the door with a bad-tempered, hip and shoulders shirtfront, threw my bat onto the floor, ripped off my gloves, kicked them as far as I could and unleashed a scathing verbal attack on Poms in general and their cricketers in particular.”
Allan went on and on; in his words, Allan “exhausted his vocabulary”. It was only then Allan realised that he had returned to the England dressing room. One can never tell whether the incident motivated him to do better, but he scored 115 in the second innings as Australia won by 138 runs
6) Allan Border was a tough task master. England’s Robin Smith had got a mouthful from him during the Trent Bridge Test in 1989. Poor Robin Smith asked for Border’s permission to call the 12th man to have a glass of water on the field. The reply from Border almost sulked him into tears. Border replied, “What do you think this is? A f**king tea party? No, you can’t have a f**king glass of water. You can f**king wait like the rest of us.”
7) Allan Border has the highest average (56.57) overseas for any batsman who has scored over 5000 runs outside his country
8) Not a natural leader, nor a man of frills, Allan 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
9) While most of the modern day players chase fame, Border was one who wanted to be successful ahead of fame. He remains to be one of the players who was against the so-called ‘washbag culture’ of being rewarded for doing anything special
10) Border’s other five-wicket haul came against West Indies as well (all his four-wicket hauls came against them). At Bourda in 1990-91 Border had already dismissed Desmond Haynes after Australia had scored 348. Then, after West Indies had reached 529 for five, Border took out Jeff Dujon, Gus Logie, Curtly Ambrose, and Courtney Walsh in the span of nine balls.
Alan Border finished with five for 68. In fact, he picked up 19 wickets against West Indies at 24.31 — an average better than those of Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, or Keith Miller
11) Allan Border remains the only Australian captain to have ever taken a 10 wicket haul in tests
12) The India-Australia rivalry in cricket is usually referred to as the Border-Gavaskar series. The Test series usually takes place once every three years
13) Allan Border earned the tag ‘Captain Grumpy’ after Allan set his sights on winning the 1989 edition of the Ashes. Of course, Allan can sometimes be a miserable person to deal with. However, the fact that he did it out of pure determination to win the Ashes back was something that can be seen as forgiving. Australia went on to claim the 1989 edition of the Ashes 4-0
14) When Allan Border walked out to bat against New South Wales at The Gabba in 1993-94 he saw a young, Glenn McGrath with trousers that did not go down below his shins. Border decided to go under the skin of the youngster: “Hey mate, why are your pants so high? Are you expecting a flood or something?”
A furious Glenn McGrath unleashed a bouncer. Border calmly responded, mentioning that McGrath resembled Jethro Bodine from The Beverly Hillbillies, and continued to call him “Jethro” throughout the innings, which lasted for four-and-a-half hours. McGrath was so angry that he went red, but could not utter anything more than a grunt and an almost-predictable bouncer.
Then Border came out with “I know you can grunt, but can you speak?” McGrath was so worked up that he could not utter another word till Border was there (he was the last man out). However, McGrath had the last laugh when he dismissed Border in the second innings for 11, and NSW won by eight wickets.
15) Allan Border is known for one of the most dramatic moments in a cricket World cup when he took Gatting’s wicket in 1987 WC final, which led to a batting collapse and a win for Australia
16) Allan Border was the skipper when India played host to only the second Tied Test match in Test cricket’s illustrious history. The Australians picked up the wicket of Maninder Singh when the scores were tied in the fourth innings
17) Allan Border played his final Test against South Africa and became a selector afterwards. In his honour, players are now awarded the Allan Border medal for being the best.
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