ALLAN BORDER (CAPTAIN)
If I wasn’t playing well, I hated it. I hated getting out in stupid ways, and that was when the fuse could blow. I was the same if the team wasn’t playing well. Brad Pitt says in the movie Moneyball, ‘I hate losing. I hate losing more than I even want to win.’ I reckon I’m exactly the same.
—’A.B.’ ON DEFEAT
Full name: Allan Robert Border
Nickname: A.B.
Birthdate: 27 July 1955
Birthplace: Cremorne, New South Wales
Major teams: Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Essex,
Gloucestershire
Role: Middle-order batsman
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Slow left-arm orthodox
TESTS: 156
Test debut: v England at Melbourne, 29 December 1978 –
3 January 1979
Last Test: v South Africa at Durban, 25–29 March 1994
Test runs: 11,174
Highest score: 205
Average: 50.56
Test centuries: 27
Catches: 156
Test wickets: 39
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS: 273
Runs: 6524
Highest score: 127*
Average: 30.62
Strike rate: 71.42
ODI centuries: 3
Catches: 127
ODI wickets: 73
Allan Border deserves to be regarded as one of the toughest cricketers to have ever played the game—in any team, from any era and for any country. When Australia played the West Indies at the peak of their powers in the 1980s and ’90s—and they seemed to be touring Australia every summer back then—‘A.B.’ was their main target by virtue of his being the team’s captain and grittiest batsman. The West Indies’ pace attack operated back then with the belief that if the opposing team’s head was cut off, the body would follow; and it really was the case that if you nailed Border, you nailed Australia. However, I doubt whether they ever found an opposing captain who proved to be as stubborn or as resilient as Border. And it wasn’t only the West Indies, because every team had their fire-breathing dragons: Pakistan boasted Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, England had Bob Willis, India Kapil Dev, New Zealand rolled out Richard Hadlee, and South Africa unveiled Allan Donald. Border slayed them all. No bowler could ever claim that Border was his bunny and honestly think anyone would believe him. I once read that though the fiery West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose refused to talk to the Australian team—at all—but he always reserved the greeting ‘Morning, skipper’ whenever he saw Allan. I think that says volumes about Allan.
While A.B. openly admits he wasn’t a natural leader, he led by example. If the old Australian Cricket Board had based his payments on the number of bruises and chipped fingers he copped during a series, Allan would be a very wealthy man. As a kid I watched his battles on television and it was inspiring to see him standing his ground and leading by example. It made me want to get out there and help him. When I bowled at the old drum behind dad’s machinery shed every afternoon, I always pretended it was Allan throwing me the ball and giving me the instructions to ‘rip and tear’. It remains a special moment in my life when that dream was actually fulfilled, because in my first Test against the Kiwis at Perth in 1993 he did just that and I was walking on air.
In later years when he was dubbed ‘Captain Grumpy’ by the media—because he took no joy in being congratulated for a big score in a lost Test—I told people he deserved to be known as ‘Captain Courageous’ because what his critics seemed to forget was he’d carried the hopes of the nation for so many years. He had the burden of building Australia—a team he captained to seven series losses straight after being made captain when Kim Hughes resigned and subsequently went on a rebel tour of South Africa—into one of the best teams in the world, and he did. Under his guidance the Aussies won our first World Cup in 1987, and there was a ticker-tape parade throughout the national capitals when Border’s men won the Ashes in 1989. Border has admitted in the early years of his captaincy there were concerns for his mental state as he found himself in some dark places. There was one occasion when he was asked at a press conference how he felt and Allan responded with, ‘How the f— do you think I feel?’ I can only imagine that having to do what he did for such a sustained period of time can get to you. He gave his blood and sweat for Australia, and even in the brief time I played under his captaincy I appreciated he expected nothing but the best from his men, and I had no problem with that.
I have named Allan as my team’s captain because, well, he deserves it. He was the constant in the Australian team, captaining Australia in 93 consecutive games in a decade. In that period, I understand England had eight captains, New Zealand seven, India and Pakistan six, the West Indies five, Sri Lanka four and South Africa, who were eventually readmitted, had two. He suffered more losses than he enjoyed victories, but the team and the culture he handed to his successor, Mark Taylor, was one that led Australia to a golden era. Allan’s place in Australian cricket is acknowledged by the Allan Border Medal, which is presented to that nation’s best cricketer every year. The Australian Cricket Academy is based at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane and since 1996–97, India and Australia have contested the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the prize for some of the most intense matches in the modern era. I’m pretty certain both men—Sunil Gavaskar was India’s warrior—wouldn’t want it any other way.
ADAM GILCHRIST
[My father] always used to encourage me, particularly at the end of [practice] sessions to just hit the ball. I would do some technique work but he always threw an extra 20 at the end and he’d say ‘just slog it now, just go for it’. And that’s what it’s about. The most fun part of batting is seeing a ball, lining it up, trying to hit it in the middle and for one split second you and only you in the whole world know that you’ve got it. That’s a really enjoyable feeling.
—’GILLY’ ON THE JOY OF SIX
Full name: Adam Craig Gilchrist
Nickname: Gilly or Churchy
Birthdate: 14 November 1971
Birthplace: Bellingen, New South Wales
Major teams: Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia, Deccan Chargers, ICC World XI, Kings XI Punjab, Middlesex
Role: Wicketkeeper-batsman
Batting style: Left-hand bat
TESTS: 96
Test debut: v Pakistan at Brisbane, 5–9 November 1999
Last Test: v India at Adelaide, 24–28 January 2008
Test runs: 5570
Highest score: 204*
Average: 47.60
Strike rate: 81.95
Test centuries: 17
Catches: 379
Stumpings: 37
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS: 287
Runs: 9619
Highest score: 172
Average: 35.89
Strike rate: 96.94
ODI centuries: 16
Catches: 417
Stumpings: 55
As wicketkeeper, Adam was the most important bloke on the field for me and the other members of the fast-bowling attack when he joined the Australian team in 1999. He was crouched behind the stumps for most of my career and our rapport was built quickly upon a deep sense of trust. On those days when it felt like I was bowling on quicksand and the ball was coming out of my hand like a sponge, I’d seek his counsel because ‘Gilly’ saw my action day in, day out and could tell what I was doing wrong. His observations made him an invaluable ally. Some might say he didn’t have the acrobatics of a Rod Marsh or the finesse of Ian Healy, but he was a tremendous wicketkeeper—it’s important to remember most of his career was spent keeping to Shane Warne. That was a job that would have challenged any keeper because each and every ball Shane bowled was a hand grenade with the pin pulled out. While he took some incredible catches, I have no doubt Adam will be remembered by historians—and those who saw him play—as the game’s greatest wicketkeeper-batsman of all time. He provided Australia with a luxur
y no other international team had (although some might say Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara came close), in being a destructive force—a wrecking ball—at the crease. Whether it was in the Test whites or coloured clothing of the one-day arena, he scored his runs quickly and brutally. I think it says plenty that the fact he scored 81 per 100 balls in Tests and 96 in one-day internationals puts the likes of the great West Indian Viv Richards in the shade. His career is summed up in some savage innings, including his 149 off 104 balls in the 2006 World Cup final in Barbados. In that match he slammed 13 fours and 8 sixes after taking a tip from his batting coach Bob Meuleman to wear a squash ball in his glove to allow him to hit straighter. Unfortunately, that final was also my last game so I never had the chance to apply that technique to my own batting. He didn’t reserve his big hitting efforts to the 50-over game—his 57-ball Ashes century at Perth meant he missed equalling Viv Richards’ world record by one ball. However, he does hold the record for the most sixes in Test cricket—he blasted 100 of them in his 96-match career—and they weren’t slog shots, they were masterful strokes and he hit them so sweetly it was always a pleasure to watch him at full cry.
Adam was given his chance to play Test cricket a few days shy of his 29th birthday and he didn’t need much time to establish himself as having a cool head in a crisis. In only his second Test he was sent out to bat when Australia was in serious trouble against Pakistan at 5–126; the team was 243 runs short of victory. The Pakistanis boasted pace aces Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar but they were all but hit out of the game by Gilchrist who, as the man picked to replace a crowd favourite in Healy, needed to win over the public. He and Justin Langer peeled off 238 runs in 59 overs and while Langer was dismissed just before Australia reached the target, the savagery of Adam’s 149 runs from 163 deliveries sent out a powerful message. The feeling we in the Australian team developed about Gilly after that was that if we were in trouble and he could stay out in the middle for an hour, he’d steady the ship. If Australia was travelling well we knew he’d twist the knife in the opposition’s belly by playing his shots and keeping the scoreboard ticking over, each run taking the game further away from our opponents.
Apart from his statistics, Adam also left a great legacy for the game through his respect for cricket. He gained universal applause for deciding to walk in the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup after being given not out when he tried to sweep Aravinda de Silva’s second ball. Australia was 0–34 after five overs and everyone looked stunned when, after the umpire Rudi Koertzen turned down the appeal by saying the ball had hit Gilchrist’s pads, he walked back to the pavilion. It was sportsmanship at its best. His decision had no impact on the result, even though Ricky Ponting was dismissed in the next over and Matt Hayden not long after that; we won the match and ultimately the final against India. However, Adam won the respect of the cricket world for what’s rightly remembered as a magnanimous decision when it was within his rights to continue batting. It summed up the behaviour of someone I consider a good bloke.
SHANE WARNE
Playing cricket, I was always about strategy, tactics, reading people, all that sort of stuff. When you sit at a poker table and you don’t know anyone, you’ve got to work out ten people straightaway. You’ve got to work out who’s the pro, who’s there just for the fun, doesn’t really care if they lose, who’s been saving up for a year to play in the tournament. You can pick on them a little bit. And I think with poker, there are two different things. I know basic mathematics and probability … but then there’s instinct. I’m a bit of both. I know the basic probability: position, pot odds, that sort of thing. But I’m instinctive, too.
—’WARNEY’ ON LIFE AS A POKER STAR
Full name: Shane Keith Warne
Nickname: Warney
Birthdate: 13 September 1969
Birthplace: Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria
Major teams: Australia, Victoria, Melbourne Stars, Hampshire, ICC World XI, Rajasthan Royals, Rest of the World XI
Role: Bowler
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Leg-spin
TESTS: 145
Test debut: v India at Sydney, 2–6 January 1992
Last Test: v England at Sydney, 2–5 January 2007
Test wickets: 708
Best bowling in an innings: 8/71
Best bowling in a match: 12/128
Five wickets in an innings: 37
10 wickets in a match: 10
Average: 25.41
Strike rate: 57.4
Economy rate: 2.65
Catches: 125
Test runs: 3154
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS: 194
Wickets: 293
Best bowling: 5/33
Five wickets in an innings: 1
Average: 25.73
Strike rate: 36.3
Economy rate: 4.25
Catches: 80
ODI runs: 1018
I don’t know what more I can add to the millions of words that have already been written about Warney, but here’s my offering: Shane Warne was, without a doubt, a cut above every cricketer I can think of. I believe he has had as big an impact on the game as Don Bradman, although off the field he may have felt more comfortable with The Don’s peer—and playboy—Keith Miller, who legend suggest may even have been able to teach Shane a few things. In saying that, I have little interest in what people might think of what Warney has or hasn’t done off the field. I stand by him as a highly regarded friend. As far as bowling is concerned his skill level was incredible. He had a vast array of deliveries and while they confounded the best batsmen in the world, what really amazed me about Shane’s bowling was his unerring accuracy. His ability to hit the same spot ball after ball after ball was testimony to his mental strength and competitive nature. Those two traits combined make him cricket’s answer to Halley’s Comet that’s visible to the naked eye every 75 or so years—a phenomenon. Most leg-spinners bowl knowing they have to buy their wickets, but Shane was never dominated and he was also deep into the mind craft side of the game, and by that I mean he could think a batsman out. He plays the professional poker tour these days, and if he can ‘read’ his opponents in the casino just as he did the batsmen’s body language when he held court with the six-stitcher he’ll be a card shark. He tormented the best in the business and I guess that came from Shane’s firm belief that if he had the ball in his hand he was in control of proceedings. I’m well aware some may call that attitude wishful thinking, but the statistics and scorecards note it definitely worked.
Nine years after we retired I have no doubt that Shane and I were lucky to have been thrust together by destiny or chance or the stars aligning as members of the Australian bowling attack because we were at opposite ends of the spectrum as far as bowlers go (and individuals for that matter). We were mates and everything clicked—and it helped that we also had control over the ball because that made the batsmen we bowled to sweat bullets. It pleases me to think that while people always consider blistering pace bowlers as the most formidable pairings—Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee always come to mind—a bloke with skinny legs and a basic haircut and a guy with bleached hair and bling played 104 Test matches together and took a combined total of 1001 wickets (Warney took 513 and I bagged 488) and of those matches Australia suffered only 18 defeats. It pleases me to have been a part of something so special. I don’t know if I would have taken the same number of wickets had Shane not been in the team and I guess it’s debatable whether we would have won so many matches if Shane had successfully pursued an AFL career with St Kilda. Steve Waugh once suggested that in Shane and me he had ‘four men’, meaning we could tie up an end or take wickets. It made us, in his words, ‘attacking and containing’ bowlers, which is a rare commodity. One thing I know we did was build pressure, some called it water torture, but we prided ourselves on giving the batsmen no respite from either end, and something we quickly learned in the early days was that any batsman could crack under pressure—and
by the end of our Test careers there were 1001 occasions when that rang true.
I believe Shane was Australian captain material. He had a tremendous grasp on the game’s tactics and offered what I thought were good strategies. You only need to realise what he did for the English country team, Hampshire, a team that flourished under his leadership, to understand why I believe that. I think he gained the next best honour, albeit an honour with no title, when he was named the Australian bowling attack’s leader. He was the person we all went to for advice, to use as a sounding-board, the bloke who we saw as the man with all the answers. He also knew how to lift his bowlers, because whenever Australia was screaming for something to happen, Shane would summon a miracle with a flick of his wrist and a brilliantly bowled delivery that would leave batsmen questioning all that they had believed was true. The only thing I would advise to those who might find themselves pitted against Shane on the poker tour is this: just remember, as the world’s greatest bowler he always had an ace up his sleeve.
BRETT LEE
The longevity, that’s my proudest achievement. It’s not taking [over] 300 [Test] wickets or 380 one-day wickets for your country … it’s putting your body through so much stress and so much strain and knowing you can come out the other side. I had ten operations, six ankle ops. For some people, one ankle operation is game over. So I endured the comeback time and time and time and time and time again and putting my body through hell—but I’ve enjoyed it.
—’BING’ ON BEING A WARRIOR
Full name: Brett Lee
Nickname: Bing
Birthdate: 8 November 1976
Birthplace: Wollongong, New South Wales
Major teams: Australia, New South Wales, Sydney Sixers, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Otago, Wellington
Test of Will Page 14