I would like to dedicate this book to my family and friends, who’ve been rock solid through the good and bad times Contents Preface 1 THE AUSTRALIAN WAY 2 CAPTAINCY 3 THE TWENTY20 REVOLUTION 4 THE MODERN GAME 5 BATTING 6 COACHING AND QUEENSLAND 7 TOURING 8 THE PATHWAY 9 POLITICS 10 THE GREATS Epilogue Looking back by Dene Border Acknowledgements About A.B. Preface I PLAYED MY last Test match for Australia 20 years ago, although it certainly doesn’t feel like it was that long ago. It was 29 March 1994, South Africa versus Australia in the third Test of a series, a dull, boring draw during which I grew frustrated with the home team’s tactics and then batted out the last day with that firmly in my mind, almost out of spite for the way South Africa had played its first innings. I made 42 not out in 225 minutes, and walked off the Kingsmead ground at Durban knowing it would be my last innings in a Test for my country. I hadn’t formally announced my retirement from international cricket, but I knew that this was the finish line, and I’ll go into the story behind that in this book. I played a couple more one-day internationals on that tour, and I played two more seasons with Queensland in the Sheffield Shield and domestic one-day competitions before I stopped playing cricket entirely, thus beginning the cricketing afterlife. Fortunately, it’s been a busy time since then. When you are a professional cricketer, the game engulfs your life and the travel schedule is relentless, so filling that void is difficult for a lot of players, and I vowed to keep active and busy. I’ve been a national selector, in two stints, and I was on the board of Cricket Australia for several years, as well as several short stretches in cricket coaching. Currently I sit on the board of Cricket Queensland and the Brisbane Heat franchise that competes in the Big Bash League, and I’m a cricket commentator for Fox Sports, which keeps me active in the summer, and more recently I’ve also joined the ABC Radio team as an analyst. The media work is my staple, and there’s an irony in that, because as a player, I never, ever saw myself going into the media. As a matter of fact, I knocked back Channel Nine at the first approach 20 years ago, which may not have been my best decision! But I was uncomfortable with the idea I’d formulated that as a media commentator you had to be a strident critic. That wasn’t for me; I didn’t like the idea of jumping from one side of the fence to the other. But I realised over time that a commentator doesn’t need to be potting players relentlessly, and that positive points can always be made. If criticism is justified, it’s delivered. It took me a long time to realise this, but I’ve now been with Fox for a decade or more and I really enjoy it. When ABC Radio came asking, once again I was reluctant. My first thought was, ‘How can you talk about cricket all day?’ But the reality is different, because you do 30-minute brackets, and it’s amazing how the anecdotes and circumstances bounce up around a cricket match when you put your mind to it. I’ve enjoyed working with the likes of Jim Maxwell, Drew Morphett, Geoff Lawson and the redoubtable Kerry O’Keeffe on air. Coaching wasn’t a career path for me. I took an under-19 Australian team away on a tour of Pakistan and went to a World Cup, but in truth I was an old- school type of coach, and at the time there was a move towards more modern coaching. To be brutally honest, I don’t believe my communication skills were quite right to be a good cricket coach, and I recognised that fairly quickly. My family has been a strong focus, and the four children my wife Jane brought into the world have had different views of me in a sense. Dene, our eldest, saw the tail end of my cricket career, but Nicole, our second, was young when I retired, and with the third and fourth, Tara and Lachlan, who never saw me play, I’ve made a conscious effort to be just Dad. I’ve been blessed with my family. Jane is a very capable individual and she’s always had her own life, which is crucial. She’s been a wonderful support for me, allowing me to earn my living from cricket. Nowadays Dene works as a currency trader with Macquarie Bank and lives in Singapore, playing some cricket, too. Nicole has completed a degree and works in public health, employed by the Cancer Council in Queensland. Tara, who has a media and communications degree, was successful in dance aerobics and works in that field, while Lachlan is studying exercise and sport science at university, and also playing some cricket. They’re great kids. When I stopped playing, I knew I’d need projects to drive me and occupy me, because I didn’t want to become the stereotypical fat ex-cricketer, which is a constant battle. Early on I trained myself up and ran a half-marathon at Noosa, which was tough. It was a nice, flat track and a gorgeous day, and at about the 10-kilometre mark I was thinking, ‘This is a walk in the park!’ But at about 18 10-kilometre mark I was thinking, ‘This is a walk in the park!’ But at about 18 kilometres I started to feel the pinch, and an old guy ran up alongside me and commented, ‘Only 4 k’s to go!’ My mind started ticking over; I was extrapolating how long it would take me, and I ended up shuffling the last few kilometres, groaning the whole way, literally. There were 80-year-olds bolting past me, but I did ultimately feel a sense of achievement. Nevertheless, I’m not about to go on the running circuit! Trekking has become a passion for Jane and me, because we can do it together. We did Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the European Alps, which covers parts of Switzerland, Italy and France, over 14 days, with every step a picture postcard. We also did a trek in Corsica off the south of France, and we’ve done some walking in Tasmania and the 223-kilometre Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory. The Milford Track and the Routeburn Track in New Zealand also made a fun trip, and we threw in the coast-to-coast walk in England, from west to east. A few years ago I took Dene away and we walked the Kokoda Track in New Guinea along with the rugby league legend Mal Meninga and a few others with a group called Executive Excellence. That was a great experience. It was Dene’s 21st birthday, and it was a wonderful father–son experience. Dene drew a sense of perspective from it, because there were boys younger than him who had fought and died at Kokoda. I see it as a really Australian thing to do, and it’s no wonder that thousands walk that track every year. Jane and I walked from Sydney to Brisbane for charity in 2002, raising more than a million dollars for children’s cancer and juvenile diabetes charities. We took our inspiration from Ian Botham, who has done a few walks including John o’Groats to Land’s End, the extremities of Scotland and England, and raised a lot of money for charity. It was an Ashes year, so Jane and I started at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and headed up the old Pacific Highway doing 30–40 kilometres a day, taking 31 days and arriving at the Gabba for the Australia versus England Test match. We walked at a brisk pace, and we did some preparation. I also taped my toes and heels to make sure my feet would survive—it’s not like wandering around a shopping centre for an hour or two. Some of the people we had come along with us weren’t so diligent, though, and Merv Hughes was a classic. When I rang Merv and asked him to walk with us for a couple of days, he was keen to do it, but I did warn him, ‘Mate, do some training, and get some decent shoes and socks.’ There was a pause, after which he offered, ‘Mate, it’s walking, isn’t it? How hard can it be?’ Well, Merv turned up with an old pair of Puma Sheffield cricket shoes, definitely not ideal for