Bradman vs Border

[Devil Fish]

Guys, just curious as to why the medal is called the Alan Border Medal & not The Bradman Medal. Surely Don is that far ahead of everyone the medal should've been named after him? Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[pluga_4]

Guys, just curious as to why the medal is called the Alan Border Medal & not The Bradman Medal. Surely Don is that far ahead of everyone the medal should've been named after him? Maybe I'm wrong?

everything in that case should be named after the don.

border at the time of the naming of the medel, held the record for most test runs in cricket, most test appearances and odi appearances and longest serving captain in both forms of the game. also, these modern day players probbaly looked up to someone like a guy like border and remember his efforts on the cricket field.

i don't mind the name of the award in ab's honour and wouldn't mind retrospective awards either.

 

[king_Brown]

Alan Border -

*Was the first Aussie to play 100 test matches

*He has made 10.695 runs from 147 games (No other Aussie had made this many runs at the time)

*Captained more tests than any other captain has so far.

*He was given the Order of Australia (AO) in 1989

Maybe these facts/Stats have something to do with the reasoning behind the name of the Alan Border medal.....

 

[Sedat!]

Border is one of the most criminally underrated sportsmen in Australian history. He was a wonderful player who single-handedly won back the respect for Australia from the international cricket community with his heroic deeds on the field of battle. To average over 50 over almost 20 years of international test cricket against 7-8 of the greatest ever Windies pacemen, not to mention the likes of Botham, Willis, Kapil Dev, Imran, Wasim Akram, Hadlee, even Allan Donald late in his career, puts his career into real context compared to the easy ride that today's batsmen encounter.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Bradman has the medal for best young player named after him. I'm sure Don would've wanted a medal like that named after him, than the medal for best player, as that was the type of man he was. I'm sure they would've asked him.

 

[Squizza]

Alan Border -

*Was the first Aussie to play 100 test matches

*He has made 10.695 runs from 147 games (No other Aussie had made this many runs at the time)

*Captained more tests than any other captain has so far.

*He was given the Order of Australia (AO) in 1989

Maybe these facts/Stats have something to do with the reasoning behind the name of the Alan Border medal.....

Even Pidgeon made more runs than that in one knock!

 

[king_Brown]

Even Pidgeon made more runs than that in one knock!

LOL! My bad mate

10,695 runs!

 

[POBT]

I heard that the ACB had tried previously to strike a medal in Bradman's honour for the most outstanding Test player but his preference was that his name be attached to up and coming talent. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that it was his (or his family's) preference to have the Bradman award given to the outstanding young player rather than as a B & F type award.

 

[crudbucket]

The Bradman medal is awarded to the player of the year in the South Australian competition, the equivalent of Victoria's Ryder Medal.

 

[nicho_magic]

everything in that case should be named after the don.

border at the time of the naming of the medel, held the record for most test runs in cricket, most test appearances and odi appearances and longest serving captain in both forms of the game. also, these modern day players probbaly looked up to someone like a guy like border and remember his efforts on the cricket field.

i don't mind the name of the award in ab's honour and wouldn't mind retrospective awards either.

good explanation. Before i read this post i agreed with devil fish, but now i agree its better to be called the AB medal

 

[Star]

Border is one of the most criminally underrated sportsmen in Australian history. He was a wonderful player who single-handedly won back the respect for Australia from the international cricket community with his heroic deeds on the field of battle. To average over 50 over almost 20 years of international test cricket against 7-8 of the greatest ever Windies pacemen, not to mention the likes of Botham, Willis, Kapil Dev, Imran, Wasim Akram, Hadlee, even Allan Donald late in his career, puts his career into real context compared to the easy ride that today's batsmen encounter.

Great post

AB was my childhood idol

A further anecdote. Jeffrey Dujon often said he was the player he admired the most as he saw what Border copped off the worlds most lethal bowlers yet he came back for more and was very difficult to dislodge.

 

[crazy_big_al]

Border is one of the most criminally underrated sportsmen in Australian history. He was a wonderful player who single-handedly won back the respect for Australia from the international cricket community with his heroic deeds on the field of battle. To average over 50 over almost 20 years of international test cricket against 7-8 of the greatest ever Windies pacemen, not to mention the likes of Botham, Willis, Kapil Dev, Imran, Wasim Akram, Hadlee, even Allan Donald late in his career, puts his career into real context compared to the easy ride that today's batsmen encounter.

Thats is gold. I love it. Border is great.

 

[sandeano]

Ian Chappell said that every current day player should say a little thank you to Kerry Packer each night before they went to bed in gratitute for what he'd done for modern-day cricket.

During the 1980s any Aussie fan should have say a little thank you every night to Alan Border for almost single-handedly keeping together a rag-tag team and making them competitive.

As far as sportspeople go Border will always be my hero. The amount of times he dragged the sorry arse of Australian cricket out of the fire against some truly ferocious attacks must never be forgotten.

The real shame was that he was no longer there when they finally defeated the Windies in a series. He deserved that. But the years of success under Taylor, Waugh and Ponting can all be traced back to the foundations laid by Alan Border.

 

[Copernicus]

Ian Chappell said that every current day player should say a little thank you to Kerry Packer each night before they went to bed in gratitute for what he'd done for modern-day cricket.

During the 1980s any Aussie fan should have say a little thank you every night to Alan Border for almost single-handedly keeping together a rag-tag team and making them competitive.

As far as sportspeople go Border will always be my hero. The amount of times he dragged the sorry arse of Australian cricket out of the fire against some truly ferocious attacks must never be forgotten.

The real shame was that he was no longer there when they finally defeated the Windies in a series. He deserved that. But the years of success under Taylor, Waugh and Ponting can all be traced back to the foundations laid by Alan Border.

Just wanted to bump this thread, as AB was my hero growing up. Anyone else in the same boat?

Not the most glamourous batsman cricket has ever seen, but by geez was he tough.

 

[Kim Hagdorn]

Yeah they don't come much tougher than Border, one of the greats.

 

[dan warna]

Concur.

Border was Iron in an age when Australian cricket was butter.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Bradman was merely a great batsman. Border was a great cricketer.

 

[CHIEF SMACKAHOE]

Bradman was merely a great batsman. Border was a great cricketer.

ok now that's just silly. as great as border was he was still nothing compared to the don

 

[The Passenger]

no bother with it being the Border medal.

if you're just gonna name everything after the best, then every cricket medal would be called the bradman medal... though in saying that the only bradman medal i know of in any competition is for best young australian cricket. it's as though every person who has ever been handed the responsibility of a naming an individual cricket medal has thought "i don't wanna name it after bradman because it's too obvious"....

sydney grade's best player is the bill o'reilly medal. player of the season for NSW is the steve waugh medal....

 

[Illinois Nazi]

ok now that's just silly. as great as border was he was still nothing compared to the don

Border took more wickets.

 

[dan warna]

concur. Border is a great. Bradman is the greatest.

 

[Plugger35]

Got no problem with the medal being named after Border rather than Bradman, he is the best Australian batsman I've seen in my time watching cricket, virtually carried Australian cricket on his shoulders in the dark days of the mid to late 1980s.

He might not have had the elegance or flair of some other batsmen but if you wanted someone to bat for your life then Border was your man. Always put a high price on his wicket and was as tough as they come, one of the few batsman that could hold his own against the awesome Windies attacks of that era.

 

[frankc]

Border is one of the most criminally underrated sportsmen in Australian history. He was a wonderful player who single-handedly won back the respect for Australia from the international cricket community with his heroic deeds on the field of battle. To average over 50 over almost 20 years of international test cricket against 7-8 of the greatest ever Windies pacemen, not to mention the likes of Botham, Willis, Kapil Dev, Imran, Wasim Akram, Hadlee, even Allan Donald late in his career, puts his career into real context compared to the easy ride that today's batsmen encounter.

This is absolutely spot on. He faced a higher quality of bowling over his career compared to others and was good in all conditions.

 

[dan warna]

This is absolutely spot on. He faced a higher quality of bowling over his career compared to others and was good in all conditions.

In border's era there was Boycott, Gavaskar, miandad and the master blaster himself Viv Richards who averaged consistently above 50. By the measure of that era he was in an elite category.

Today by example in the test arena, Sri Lanka have 3 batsman averaging above 50, Australia under Waugh had 4 or 5, we currently have 3 (although warner's is distorted and hussey's may not end up at 50), India have had 4 or 5 in the past few years, england have a couple. Averaging 50 isn't the mark of greatness in comparison to ones peers as it was in say the 1980s.

Gavaskar, boycott, miandad and richards along with Border are considered all time greats.

How many of todays batsmen will be considered all time greats in 20 years time? sachin? kallis? punter? lara? compare that with the number of players who average above 50.

 

[Kyptastic]

Since (at the time) the award was for the best Australian player in both Test and 50 over cricket, it was appropriate to name it after a player who was a legend in both forms.