Allan Border was one of the most determined cricketers in Australian cricketing history. He came into the team when Australia had many vacancies and became their finest captain. Taylor, Waugh and Ponting all reaped the benefits of Border's hard work. "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". He captained in a world record 93 tests, all of them consecutive, making that two world records.
He was also a fine batsman. He never gave his wicket away easily and even when he went through a phase when he scored few centuries, he was still one of, if not
the most consistent batsman in the team. He scored the most career Test runs with 11,174 runs, a record held until November 2005, when it was passed by the West Indian Brian Lara. He also holds the record for the most Test matches played (156) and most consecutive Test matches played (153). Border still holds the record for most consecutive matches. The former record was surpassed by Steve Waugh. He has also scored the most runs as captain (6,623). In addition, he is the only player to have scored 150 in each innings of a Test. He was also one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1982.
In 156 tests (265 innings), he scored a mammoth 11174 runs at an average of 51 with 27 centuries and 63 half centuries. He was also a safe fielder, taking 156 catches and in fact held the record for the most test catches by a non-wicket-keeper, passed by Mark Taylor in 1999. He also enjoyed sporadic success as a part time left arm orthodox spinner. His job as a bowler in my team however, will stretch no further than giving my fast bowlers a breather. He did however take a respectable 39 wickets at an average of 39 at an economy rate of 2.28. He took 1 four-for, 2 five-fors and took 10 wickets in a match one one occasion.
Sunil Gavaskar
Gordon Greenidge
Sir Vivian Richards
Graeme Pollock
Javed Miandad
Allan Border
+ Brendon McCullum
8
Dennis Lillee
Sydney Barnes
Muttiah Muralitharan
.
Really does give you a fantastic top 6. You've won this I think Shrav, quality side.
