Dennis Keith Lillee, the former bowling magician of Australian cricket team was born on 18 July, 1949 in Subiaco, Western Australia and was known for his fiery temperament, ‘never-say-die’ attitude and popularity with the fans. Lillee was an extremely quick bowler and by the time of his retirement from international cricket in 1984 he had become the then world record holder for most Test wickets showing 355 batsmen the way back to pavilion.

Lillee made his debut in the first-class cricket at the age of 20 in 1970 and impressed with his raw pace. His Test debut happened in the sixth Ashes Test at Adelaide. Lillee was selected as Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year for 1973.

In the England tour in 1975 at the inaugural World Cup he captured eight wickets in five matches, including 5/34 against Pakistan at Leeds. He along with Jeff Thomson maintained a powerful and fiery bowling pair that caused panic in the opposite side. Lillee took 37 wickets in six Tests against New Zealand in 1980-81 and was the leading bowler in the World Series Cup for the second successive season.

Bowling as a first-change, Lillee had an uneventful tour of New Zealand in March and April 1982 before suffering a serious knee injury in the first Ashes Test at the WACA Ground in November of the same year. This forced him to miss the rest of the series and Australia’s 2–1 victory, which reclaimed the Ashes. Returning to the team for the latter stages of the World Series Cup, Lillee was no longer an automatic choice to take the new ball. Nevertheless, his 11 wickets in six ODIs helped Australia win the tournament with a victory over New Zealand in the final.

Throughout his Australian career Lillee was also famous for his partnership with wicketkeeper Rod Marsh. The scorecard entry ‘c Marsh b Lillee’ appeared 95 times in Tests, a partnership record between wicketkeeper and bowler still unbroken.

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Allan Robert Border the former Australian cricket captain who also once held the record of scoring maximum runs in test cricket was nicknamed as “A.B.”. He played 156 Test matches for Australian side, a record that was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh. This left hand batsman also achieved sporadic success as a part time left arm orthodox spinner and had amassed 11,174 Test runs including 27 centuries.

Born in Cremorne, a North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Border Border

became part of the under-age cricket teams and also played for Mosman Baseball Club, where he developed his fielding and horizontal bat shots. Border made hisTest debut by scoring 29 and was run out for a duck in the second innings while attempting a single.

His first Ashes tour was in 1981 where Border established his position in the squad. Sir Leonard Hutton called 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.

Allan Border became the captain of the Australian team in 1984-85 season against West Indies in Adelaide, which Australia lost the match, which was followed by draw. The tide turned somewhat when draw, and then a win in the last two Tests.

The victory in the 1987 World Cup proved to be a turning point and heralded the start of more prosperous times for Border. In 1987–88, under his captaincy, Kangaroos defeated New Zealand for its first Test series victory in four years.

Border’s first Ashes win as captain came in 1989. Australia won 4–0, its first victory in a Test series abroad since 1977. Australia reinforced its superiority over England with a convincing 3–0 win in the 1990–91 Ashes series.Border finished his long lasting career by leading the first Australian team to play a Test series against South Africa after their return to international cricket.

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