“It's incredibly sad news” - Nasser Hussain pens a heartfelt note after Allan Border open us on Parkinson's diagnosis
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has opened up on Allan Border’s public acknowledgment that he is suffering from Parkinson's disease. While admitting that he had known about the same for a couple of years, he termed the Aussie legend’s diagnosis as “incredibly sad news”.
On Friday, Border told Newscorp that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement, back in 2016.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Hussain recalled his fond association with Border while praising the former Australian captain.
He wrote:
“The public acknowledgement on Friday by Australian legend Allan Border that he is suffering from Parkinson's disease is something that I have known for a couple of years - it's incredibly sad news.
“I played a lot with AB at Essex and was an English opponent in three Ashes Test matches; he is one of the great men of world cricket. During his playing days, you could not pick a tougher character to play alongside or against, but actually that persona of Captain Grumpy or Captain Aggressive did not ring true when you shared a dressing room with him. He was such a nice, calm, lovely bloke,” he added.
Best wishes to Allan Border who has revealed he’s been battling Parkinson’s disease 🙏
#Ashes https://t.co/myhW2qCXiX
Hussain also wrote about an incident that proved Border did not like making excuses for failures and took the blame for his mistakes.
The 55-year-old recalled:
“But there was never any bulls*** with him, either. He didn't do excuses, and in one game for Essex I remember him getting out by picking out cover, and one of our lads said 'bad luck' to him as he walked back into the room.
“He shouted back: 'You f***ing Poms. Bad luck? That was a s*** shot, not bad luck. You Poms need to start putting luck out of the equation.' That episode summed him up, he didn't want to blame others, or look for the easy way out when he made mistakes,” he added.
“One of the toughest cricketers ever to play the game” - Hussain on Border
Describing Border as a fighter on the cricket field, Hussain stated that the character of his personality will need to come to the fore now.
The former England captain also opened up on the two sides of Border’s personality while revealing an incident from the start of his career.
He wrote:
“We loved having him as our overseas professional during the late 1980s and early 90s, and I used to travel in the car with AB and Graham Gooch to away games. The pair of them were so friendly and got on so well, but then when they turned up to the first Ashes Test in 1989, AB just completely ignored him - wouldn't speak to him at all.
“For someone like me at the start of my career, I used to think: are there two Allan Borders out there?,” he added.
Concluding his thoughts, Hussain shared his concern for the former Australian cricketer and his family and wrote:
“My thoughts are with him and his family and a lot of people at Chelmsford will be thinking about him as he continues a seven-year fight that he brought into the open on Friday.”
One of Australia’s most successful batters and captain, Border played 156 Tests and 273 ODIs from 1979 to 1994.