The Albany Gazette - Australia cricket great Border reveals he has Parkinson's

The 67-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.

The former skipper said he had been happy to keep the news to himself but a friend had told him recently that 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, who skippered Australia to the 1987 World Cup and an Ashes series win over England two years later -- said he was relatively fortunate.

"I get the feeling I'm a hell of a lot better off than most," said the former batsman, who scored 27 centuries in 156 Tests.

"At the moment I'm not scared, not about the immediate future anyway.

"I'm (nearly) 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'."

(U.Gruber--BBZ)