Especially because it salutes the memory of a lost brother taken too soon.

Test cricket great Border, 69, is a beer man rather than a spirit scoffer but once a year a nip of Wild Turkey bourbon whiskey goes straight down the hatch followed by a wave of nostalgia in a toast to his late brother Brett.

More than 30 members of his extended family get together annually to salute Brett’s memory following his passing 15 years ago.

Border has just returned from a family pilgrimage to the sleepy NSW coastal town of Urunga as he joins me for lunch at the Boatshed Restaurant at Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel.

“He was 49 when he died of lung cancer – too soon,’’ Border said.

“Brett used to love Wild Turkey so everyone has to drink it in the toast when we get together.

Down the hatch. The cousins finish off the bottle. There’s a huge cheers for Brett.

“It (his death) was hard, especially because he was the youngest (of brothers Mark, Allan and John).

“He was a free spirit. He ended up driving a delivery truck at Port Macquarie and was happy as Larry. We got on like a house on fire. It was like opposites attract.

“If Brett had $100 he would be happy to have a crack at getting rich at the pokies. If I lost $100 on the pokies I’d be inconsolable.

“He was a very good cricketer – smaller than me but a fine leg-spinner batter.’’

Speaking of spare cash, I can’t help but ask Border what he makes of the crazy rise in cricket payments from the days when his last Cricket Australia contract was worth $90,000 to the mega-millions of the Indian Premier League.

“It’s funny but I saw some figures on television the other night that proved Mitchell Starc earned more for the first over he bowled in the Indian Premier League ($79,107) this year than I did on my first two Ashes tours of England – and that over went for 12 (laughs)!

“I was looking back at some of my contracts the other night – we got $3500 to tour Sri Lanka for six weeks.’’

Much as he has been a Gabba icon Border stood by his stance that the time is right to knock the venue down and replace it with a state-of-the-art stadium for the 2032 Olympics which can be the home for AFL and cricket.

“I would make the Gabba the Olympic village, knock it down and put housing there. Victoria Park has a lot going for it. The Western Freeway is close,” he said.

“There’s three train stations nearby and green space all around like the MCG and Perth. That makes a difference. It’s close to the city. I feel it’s a no-brainer.

“The Gabba is the fifth best cricket stadium in Australia. When the new Hobart ground gets built it will be sixth. It would struggle to get Tests.’’

Border still enjoys a laugh which is its own statement on his resilience because he is in the middle of a well-publicised battle against Parkinson’s disease which has sabotaged his golf game but not his zest for a decent chat.

Our lunch starts at 12.30pm and floats quietly along to 4pm on the back of some fascinating stories I’ve never heard before.

My favourite comes after Border speaks about his children and mentions eldest daughter Nicole who works in mental health and studied psychology (“she’s got about seven letters after her name’’).

We both note the contrast between the role of psychologists in sport these days compared to Border’s hard-nosed era when, if you had a mental problem, you were urged to “take a cement pill.’’

“Towards the end of my time (Queensland Bulls coach) John Buchanan brought in (psychologist) Phil Jauncey who had worked for the Broncos,” he said.

“I found him really good but when we did the initial testing I was not letting him inside my head.

“I would just lie in the tests. If they said ‘favourite colour’ I would say green even though it was blue. I did not want any psych inside my head telling me what I should do.

“I was 40. I had my go. In the end they broke us down into categories like Thinkers and Feelers and I wondered whether my category was right because I lied with the answers. Sports psychology is much bigger now. A lot of really great players are a bit fragile.’’

Border is renowned for his lack of pretence and today his modesty stretches all the way down to his lunch order.

I’m desperately hoping he orders the $84 T-bone because I will do the same if he is so bold.

But pragmatism rules as Border concludes there’s not much a $84 T-bone can do that $45 eye fillet can’t so he orders the cheapest steak on the menu, prompting me to hastily retreat to a cheaper rib fillet, all the while inwardly cursing myself for being such a wimp.

Border rates his steak a “high 8’’ out of 10 – the kitchen may have craved for a nine but they must remember this was from a man who, in a recent documentary, gave his own epic cricket career nothing more than a solid seven.

Our lunch is as long as many T20 games yet Border, who drove, does not touch a drop of alcohol.

At the three hour mark he momentarily wavers by saying “I might try a ..’’ but corrects himself with “no actually I better stick with ginger beer.’’

“I still have a beer pretty regularly at the Hope and Anchor Hotel in Paddington with (old friend) David Cook or (former Bronco) Steve Renouf but one thing I have found with Parkinson’s is one beer feels like two and five like 10 so I normally have two beers tops,” he said.

After our first hour at the table Border has a surprise as I invited his old mate Pat Welsh, the Brisbane media great and godfather to Nicole, to join in.

Soon Border makes both our eyes water – not through nostalgia but how he had three colonoscopies in two days then reveals blood tests will decide whether he can continue to eat bread, quipping “what’s left in life if you can’t eat bread?’’

“I seem to spend half my life at the doctors. You do go through stages where you think “why me?’’ But a lot more people are getting it these days. Parkinson’s affects people in different ways. Some people get rigid. Mine is the shakes,” he said.

“I don’t play golf as well as I used to. I could have a good drive then I will hit six inches behind the ball with my next shot and the divot will move the ball. Then I will hit a decent chip on … but four putt because I get the shakes a bit. I get a bit agitated when I play golf.’’

Pat chips in with a few stories of his own including the tale of how he was on stage when Border paid $1400 at an auction at a Bulls Masters event for a shirt signed by Ian and Greg Chappell and Pat Rafter who were sitting at his table.

“I said on stage ‘why would he pay so much for a shirt signed by two cricketers he was as good as? Couldn’t he have got them to sign his napkin?’,’’ Welsh said.

“I reckon his only chance of finishing in (wife) Jane’s good books after that purchase was to get Rafter to hand deliver the shirt to her … otherwise he was in big trouble.’’

Border smiled. He has spent a rich life facing challenges on and off the field … and somehow finding a way to overcome them.