The Border Years by Gideon Haigh
Melbourne: Text Publishing, 1994 ISBN 1875847065
Gideon Haigh, on his website, describes this book as a "quickie about Allan Border's life and career, on the occasion of his retirement from international cricket. Nice pics." That is a very accurate summation of this book. As time has passed the legacy left to Australian cricket by Allan Border has become more obvious, but The Border Years is a pithy summary of the cricketing life of one of the true greats as he left the playing field.
What I enjoyed about this book - reading it in the summer of 2022 - was that it reminded me not so much of the tropes that we remember now about "Captain grumpy" or how he often came out at number 5 to save an innings teetering on disaster, but of his early pre-captain days, when he was an attacking left-hander with plenty of aggressive shots, making his mark in a team of greats.
This book also began a conversation with my eldest son, a cricket tragic, that (I hope) opened his eyes to another period of Australian cricket, and how so much has changed in the game both of us love.
This is a short coffee-table style book, and the writing, while interesting, is perhaps not up to the thoughtful and provocative best that Haigh can be. But good for an hour or so on the sofa at a rented house at the beach.
Why did I read it then you ask? Well how often can you pick up a book at an op-shop for three dollars that has been signed by the great man himself?
Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell
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