Australian cricket legend Allan Border has Parkinson’s and says it will be a miracle if he lives to 80.
The first player in history to score 11,000 Test runs, Border has revealed he was diagnosed with the disease in 2016 but had been hiding it from the public eye for seven years.
“I’m a pretty private person and I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me sort of thing,” the 68-year-old told Newscorp.
“Whether people care you don’t know. But I know there’ll come a day when people will notice.”
Border’s trusted Fox Sports colleague Steve Crawley told Border at dinner last week that his good friends had already noticed.
“I get the feeling I’m a hell of a lot better off than most,” Border said.
“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.’
“No way am I going to get another 100, that’s for sure. I’ll just slip slowly into the west.”
One of 55 inaugural ICC Cricket Hall of Fame inductees in 2009, Border carved out one of the all-time great cricket careers.
After debuting in 1978, the tenacious, stubborn left-hander racked up 27 hundreds and 63 half-centuries in the Baggy Green.
He reluctantly took over from Kim Hughes as Test captain in the summer of 1984-85 and is credited for reviving Australia’s fortunes during one of the country’s leanest periods in the sport’s history.
Border skippered Australia to an improbable 1987 World Cup one-day title triumph in India and Pakistan before leading Australia – famously as Captain Grumpy – to an even more unlikely Ashes series win in England two years later.
The national sporting treasure retired after a 16-year, 156-Test career in 1994 with a phenomenal 50.56 batting average before serving as a respected long-term national selector.
Big A
Roar Rookie
I thought as much Ace - i was trying to be nice to ya - have a good day mate.
Ace
Roar Rookie
Might have to try my 80's Big A
Big A
Roar Rookie
Wow Ace 1954 - i'm guessing that makes you in your mid 60 's - thank you for sharing - remember listening to Alan McGilvray with his pencil knocking on the book for every time the ball hit the willow, so much for today's technology
Ouch
Roar Rookie
Sad news. Love AB.
The Knightwatchmen who say Nii
Roar Rookie
In that case, I'm glad my father didn't live too much longer ... he was 85 years 200 days when he died just over a year ago, so he had a good innings, and his mind and intellect were still in good working order. My brother and I got our love of cricket from my mother's side of family, but being a dairy farmer, if my father had played cricket, I'm really sure he would have been good at milking the bowling ...
Wes P
Roar Rookie
Warne called him the godfather of Australian cricket. That's some accolade and not inappropriate. AB was the bridge between the Chappell Marsh Lillee era and the Waugh Taylor epoch. He almost single handedly stood up for Australia against everyone. Not great. Merely a legend.
Dougs
Roar Rookie
Sorry for your father. It is important to know though that Parkinson's disease actually is a cause of dementia in some people. Parkinson's dementia is an outcome in some people. It is related to Lewy bodies which appear in people with dementia and people with Parkinson's. My father in law died after having had Parkinson's for well over a decade. He had Parkinson's dementia for the last few years of his life. It was awful. The stupid doctors who originally saw him never alerted us to the fact that dementia was something that some people got as well.
Curmudgeon1961
Roar Rookie
Same at that seasons Adelaide Test with our best side again. Our top order incl Chappell's etc out and he held out against those WI bowlers. All at his head and chest. What a great player and team man. He doesn't make many best Australian XIs but he is in mine
jamesb
Roar Guru
I haven't commented on the cricket tab for a while. However after reading the news about AB, I just want to wish him all the best. As a kid, I started following cricket when he was captain. As a player, Border was tough as nails, and he is not going to give up that easily to Parkinson's. And you never know what happens with medicine in the future. Suffice to say, the medical fraternity has learnt alot from producing the Covid vaccine, and who knows, it could lead to other breakthroughs in other diseases like Parkinsons.
Ace
Roar Rookie
Indeed Big A.. it's not just saying that they were the days because they were so good and we will never see the same again from the West Indies Incidentally, my memories go back further to 1954-5 when Australia played them in the Caribbean Some huge scores by both teams. In the last test OZ lost 2 for 7 and declared around 700 odd. Amazing games Now that is showing my age
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
He was always one of my favourites from when he came through in the late 70s. An iconic figure for his toughness and resilience, I wish him the best for his current health issues.
Big A
Roar Rookie
and then there was Viv Who faced the might of Lillee & Thomson with just a baggy maroon - incredible memories - it's only now we realise how lucky we were to grow up watching these champions
The Sports Lover
Roar Rookie
I have no doubt he would average 5-10 more runs in today’s game. No doubt Rellum. I remember during the Windies touring team of 84/85 an innings I saw Border play that I have never forgotten. It was a day night ODI at the SCG. Windies batted first and set up a reasonable total. Our turn to bat and as usual we were about 3 for 27 off about 10 overs (I'm going on memory alone here so forgive me if the fact checked numbers are slightly different). I'd just knocked off work and set myself up on the fence. Border strode to the crease with his team in deep trouble again. He got down to business and belted about 124 runs against the fiercest night attack you could imagine. Australia won the game.
Lord Ted Said
Roar Rookie
Ive always said that if you needed an all-time eleven to play Mars for the survival of the planet, Allan Border is the first person inked. The comments above about his courage, commitment etc are all spot on but it’s always struck me that he wore a helmet with just a couple of Perspex tabs running down the side a couple of inches. No visor or grill. And against a relentless collection of the nastiest quicks for twenty years. Now i do realise that when he started playing first class and test cricket helmets weren’t a thing, nor were they made to todays specifications, but he wore them seemingly begrudgingly, not wanting to concede anything to these heathens. Don’t make ‘em like they used to…
Big A
Roar Rookie
AB, there will never be another one like him - if there were two blokes that you'd want togo in to bat for you if you life depended on it - AB & Chappelli - they don't make 'em like that any more
The Knightwatchmen who say Nii
Roar Rookie
My father had Parkinsons for the last 7 or 8 years of his life. You don't die from Parkinsons, it's not like cancer. The potential danger is that if, for example, you are all alone, and you take a fall, you can't get up, and then can't eat, drink or go to the toilet etc. It's vital you are not alone very long, the more advanced it gets. As someone who had a loved one with Parkinsons, terrible as it is, it is nowhere near as bad as things like dementia or Alzheimer's.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Thanks BS. Great story. Apparently pass the parcel in Belfast in the 1970s was a lot more exciting!
3 R M
Roar Rookie
I have a very similar story with him though it was an lb (imo)after I gave him some chin music and an out swinger, around about the same time. He belted me out of the park the next ball. Got to have a good chat with him years later at a pub with beers in hand and thanked him for that experience he gave me as a teenager. Great bloke that will give his time and willingly engage with people even though he is such an icon. The contact that he had through those sponsorships in QLD is something the players don't do nearly as much now with packed schedules which is a shame. Tommo made it all the way to Mt Isa in the mid 70s.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Australia owes a terrific debt to AB. Not just the cricketers and supporters. He was at times the only brightness in the dark.
Rellum
Roar Guru
One of our greatest. Lead through one of our worse periods as a cricketing nation. Helped bring through a great crop of young batsmen then a young Warne. I have no doubt he would average 5-10 more runs in today's game.