Former captain Allan Border revealed on Friday he is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, the latest blow to befall former Australian cricketing legends in the past three years.
The 68-year-old has gone public seven years after being diagnosed with the illness and said he and a doctor friend both agreed it would be “a miracle” if he makes 80.
“No way am I going to get another 100, that’s for sure,” Border told Newscorp.
“I’ll just slip slowly into the west.”
Border had told only one person of his diagnosis: former team-mate Dean Jones, who died of a heart attack in 2020.
Jones was the precursor of a terrible time for Australian cricket.
Former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh and spin king Shane Warne died within days of each other in March 2022, both from heart attacks.
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Two months later Andrew Symonds -- a member of two World Cup-winning sides -- was killed in a car crash.
Border, who spoke at Warne’s memorial service, said he had been happy to keep the news to himself over the past seven years but a friend had told him last week many of his close associates had noticed his shaking.
“I’m a pretty private person and I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me sort of thing,” he said.
“Whether people care you don’t know. But I know there’ll come a day when people will notice.”
Border, though, showing the same rugged determination that he had as skipper -- yielding the 1987 World Cup and an Ashes series win over England in 1989 -- said he was in a better place than many other people.
“I get the feeling I’m a hell of a lot better off than most,” said Border, who scored 27 centuries and 63 half-centuries in 156 Tests.
“At the moment I’m not scared, not about the immediate future anyway.
“I’m 68. If I make 80, that’ll be a miracle.
“I’ve got a doctor friend and I said if I make 80, that’ll be a miracle, and he said, ‘That will be a miracle.’”
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