Former Australian captain and widely regarded as one of the greatest Australians to have ever played the sport Allan Border has revealed that he has Parkinson's disease. Border is set to turn 68 in the coming July. Notably, the disease is, in fact, a disorder of the nervous system that curtails movement. It is being reported that he had been diagnosed with the disease way back in 2016.
"I walked into the neurosurgeon's and he said straight up, 'I'm sorry to tell you but you've got Parkinson's'," Border said. "'Just the way you walked in. Your arms straight down by your side, hanging not swinging.' He could just tell," Border told Newscorp.
"I get the feeling I'm a hell of a lot better off than most. 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,'" he added.
Border has represented Australia in 156 Test matches along with 273 ODIs. He made 11174 runs in the game's purest format at an average of 50.56 with the help of 27 centuries and 63 half-centuries. In the 50-over format, Border accumulated 6524 runs at an average of 30.62 riding on 3 tons and 39 fifties. His remarkable first-class career saw him score over 27,000 runs from 385 matches. He played 93 Test matches as captain and was the first batter to score 11,000 runs.
Other than all his heroics in Test cricket, he was also the captain of the Australian ODI side that won the World Cup in 1987. Ever since he hung up his retiring boots, he has been working in different capacities and had a stint as an Australian selector and also as a commentator.
"No way am I going to get another 100, that's for sure," Border said. "I'll just slip slowly into the west."