AB’s battle, Australia’s big Test

In all probability the Australians will sport black armbands at The Oval today to mourn the recent death of exwicketkeeper Brian TaberThe armbands will make spectators at The Oval and television viewers remember Taber who was part of Australiarsquos 1972 Ashes squad although the younger rsquokeeper Rod Marsh kept in all five TestsThere is someone else whom they need to think about today as wellmdashAllan Border former Asheswinning captain who recently revealed he is battling Parkinsonrsquos diseaseBorder 68 is not there in person to egg them on but Pat Cummins amp Co wonrsquot do themselves any harm by being aware of the grand moments Border provided to Australian cricketLetrsquos throw in some humour for starters May they be reminded that Border was so caught up with the frustration of being dismissed LBW by Ian Botham for four at Perth in the 197980 series against England that he entered the opposition dressing room by mistakeHe flung his bat on the ground and blurted out some expletives at the opposition he thought umpire Max OrsquoConnell should have given him the benefit of doubt only to discover that he was in an empty England dressing roomHe made up for his poor show by scoring a hundred in the second innings and played a part in Australiarsquos 138run winBorder one of the many rookie players Australia picked during Kerry Packerrsquos World Series Cricket held his own when the big guns returned He batted at No 3 in that Greg Chappellled side at Perth and had no easy time against Bob Willis Graham Dilley and Botham angling balls away from him The GrayNicolls double scoop bat fetched Border 115 runs His century came after a threeinnings sequence of 1 7 and 4 but it was the 24yearoldrsquos third Test hundred for the year 1979 after his 105 against Pakistan at Melbourne and 162 at ChennaiAlso Read Cricket quite the gentlemanrsquos gameBorder was also part of the 1981 Ashes which went Englandrsquos way He scored consecutive centuries across the fifth and sixth TestsBy the time the next Ashes were played on English soil Border had taken over the captaincy from Kim Hughes The 196 at Lordrsquos in 1985 was a matchwinning effort but David Gowerrsquos Englishmen who had won a series in India earlier in the year proved too good for Borderrsquos developing sideAnother Ashes loss was endured in 198687 but in 1989 Australia had the ammunition to gun down a brittle England side and they didBorder was buoyed by the fact that his side was a World Cupwinning outfit And by then he had got over the temptation of quitting as captain He also decided that he was not going to be matey with the opposition ldquoWe were ruthless and the English guys didnrsquot like itrdquo Border wrote in Cricket As I See It published in 2014Australiarsquos dominance over the old enemy stayed till England reclaimed the urn in 2005 and Border who ended his career in 1994 was proud of the fact that he led Australia to Ashes wins in 1989 199091 and 1993 The lastmentioned series was Shane Warnersquos first Ashes And Test cricket changed when Border summoned Warne to bowl in the opening Test at Manchester where Warne bowled his magic ball to Mike GattingAB as Border is known among colleagues and teammates stayed a mentor of sorts to the spinning genius Richie Benaud once revealed how Border and Warne chatted over an Italian meal after Warne hadnrsquot bowled well in the first Test of the 1997 Ashes At the dinner table Border emphasised that Warne had to get back to where he was and explained how he should do it while Benaud Lillee and Warnersquos parents listened in Warne did exactly that and ended up with another successful Ashes campaignBorderrsquos toughasteak attitude was seen in his batting and captaincy Ask the West Indians who formed the best team of his eraIn 198384 nine months before he became captain Border played two innings at Trinidad which will live in memory He batted for more than 10 hours for his unbeaten 98 and 100 not out in a rare drawn Test against the West IndiesldquoTerry Alderman was on 21 when I hit a straight drive to the fence to bring up my 100 and take us to 9299 At this stage there were 35 of the mandatory final 20 overs to go Viv Richards strolled over shook my hand and called the match off There was no possibility of a result Terry and I had grafted our way to an overall lead of 86 but Viv paid me the compliment of allowing me to complete the century before he acknowledged a draw A very sporting gesturerdquo Border wrote in An Autobiography 1986That was on March 21 1984 when Richards as mentioned in Beyond Ten Thousand 1993 exclaimed ldquoGet your century man and letrsquos get out of hererdquoItrsquos a pity that Border who lifted Australian cricket from nearimpossible situations didnrsquot have the pleasure of beating the West Indies in Test cricket That honour went to his successor Mark Taylor who inherited a fine side that Border nurturedIndeed Border gave Australian cricket in writer Mike Cowardrsquos words ldquothe kiss of liferdquoAustralian cricket is in a somewhat healthy state but Border is battling like he was when his country needed more than just grit and determination Like then he knows what he is up againstmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello end your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper