Editing Allan Border (section)

===Stubborn resistance===
In 1981, Border made his first [[Australian cricket team in England in 1981|Ashes tour]] and scored a half-century in each of the first two Tests.<ref name="testlist" /> "Border alone of the established players came through with reputation enhanced";<ref name=Wisden/> in the Fifth Test at [[Old Trafford (cricket ground)|Old Trafford]] when he batted with a fractured left finger. He reached a century in 377 minutes, the slowest Test hundred by an Australian, and remained unbeaten on 123 as Australia lost the match.<ref>Christison, pp. 33–34.</ref> In the final Test at [[The Oval]], Border scored 106 not out and 84. During this latter sequence, he defied the English bowlers for more than 15 hours to score 313 runs before he was dismissed. Overall, he totalled 533 (at 59.22);<ref name="testlist" /> this prompted Sir [[Leonard Hutton]] to call him the best left-handed batsman in the world and resulted in his selection as one of the [[Wisden Cricketers of the Year]] in 1982.<ref name=Wisden/><ref>Christison, pp. 35–36.</ref>

Border's 1981–82 season was mixed. Against Pakistan, he made only 84 runs in three Tests, but against the West Indies, he scored a century and three half-centuries in 336 runs (at 67.20) to help Australia draw the series.<ref name="testlist" /> On the tour of New Zealand, his three Tests brought only 44 runs at 14.67. After having the winter off, Border returned to Pakistan but was unable to repeat his performances of two years earlier. He scored 118 runs at 23.60 as Pakistan won all three Tests.<ref name="testlist" />

After failing in the first three Tests of the 1982–83 Ashes series, Border's place in the Australian team was in jeopardy{{citation needed|date=June 2008}} as Australia led the series 2–0.<ref name="testlist" /> Border's effort in Australia's loss in the Fourth Test at the MCG is one of his best remembered Test innings. Australia had lost nine wickets and required 74 runs to win when [[Jeff Thomson]] joined Border at the crease. Border, batting at 6, came in at 4–141, with Australia chasing 292, and took 40 minutes to get off the mark, before finishing the fourth day on 44 not out, with last man Thomson on 8 not out. The chances of what would have been an extraordinary victory grew during the final session of the fourth day, by the end of which Border and Thomson had put on 37 – exactly half of the runs required. 18,000 spectators attended the final day's play (the MCG opening the ground to spectators free of charge, and the spectators turning up despite knowing that they might see no more than a single ball bowled) as the pair slowly accumulated runs, before a juggling catch (Geoff Miller at second slip taking a chance fumbled by Chris Tavare at first) dismissed Thomson when Australia were three runs short of the target. Border was left on 62 not out. Border then scored 89 and 83 in the Fifth Test at Sydney to secure a drawn match and Australia regained the Ashes. His series figures were 317 runs at 45.28 average.<ref name="testlist" /><ref>Christison, pp. 36–37.</ref>