by SYDNEY, April 22, Reuter - Australia's veteran captain Allan Border, who
has broken a swag of records during his marathon test career, indicated on
Thursday he may not retire next year after all.
Border, 38, who leaves on his fifth Ashes tour to England this weekend,
had previously said he would retire from the game after next year's tour of
South Africa.
"That always seemed to be an obvious time to give it away," Border said
in an interview with The Age on Thursday.
"But then I think to myself: "You're a long time retired', and while
you're still enjoying it, and competing well, and you're in the team because you
deserve to be there, why not keep going?"
Border, speaking in the same week old rival Ian Botham announced his
probable departure from the game later this year, has played more tests, made
more runs, taken more catches and led his country more times than any player
in cricket history.
The left-hander has notched 10,262 runs, last month becoming the most
prolific run maker in test cricket when he passed India's Sunil Gavaskar
against New Zealand in Christchurch.
"If I have a nightmare run in England, and start embarrassing myself, and
something happens -- it might be an injury -- to change the thought process,
I might call it all off then," Border was quoted as saying.
"All things going according to plan, I'd like to play out next summer,
and make a decision then," he added.
Border led Australia to a thumping 4-0 victory over England on the last
Ashes tour in 1989 and retained cricket's oldest prize by winning 3-1 at
home in 1991.
But the Australians arrive in England after a disappointing summer, going
down to 2-1 to the West Indies at home and drawing 1-1 against New Zealand
in a three-test series last month.
Border said his one wish on the England tour was "just to retain the
Ashes."
"The Poms (English) have been waiting on this for two years. A lot of their
players are just chomping at the bit to get to us. Basically it's just a series
to win, do it in style, and get on with the job from there."
Border, fined and reprimanded for two incidents of dissent with umpires
during the five-test series against the West Indies, said he expected no
problems with English umpires.
"The English umpires are brilliant. They don't take any crap, you can
actually talk to them and they've all played at a high level," he said.
"They have a greater understanding of the frustrations than our blokes
...
they've got a greater feel for the game."
REUTER REG MP RJK
--
Department of Computer Science, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706