Considered to be one of the greatest Australian captains of all-time and 1987 World Cup winner Allan Border has shared a devastating news that he suffers from Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement.

Border was the second batter in Test history to go past the 10,000-run mark and the first-ever to play over 150 Test matches. He played for Australia from 1978-1994 and scored 11174 runs in 156 Tests with 27 centuries and made 6524 runs in 256 ODIs with 3 tons to his name.

He also picked 39 Test and 73 ODI wickets with his left-arm spin.

Border went public now, 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.

"I walked into the neurosurgeon's and he said straight up, 'I'm sorry to tell you but you've got Parkinson's. 'Just the way you walked in. Your arms straight down by your side, hanging not swinging.' He could just tell,” Border told Newscorp.

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“I'm a pretty private person and I didn't want people to feel sorry for me sort of thing. Whether people care you don't know. But I know there'll come a day when people will notice. 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 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. Then, two months later Andrew Symonds, two-time World Cup winner for Australia, passed away in a car crash.

(AFP inputs)