Ricky Ponting has said that he went to the hospital because of short, sharp pains in his chest. After 18 hours, he was given the all-clear to go back to Optus Stadium to commentate. Ponting’s return to Perth’s main stadium on Saturday morning was a relief after he sent cricket fans into a panic late on Friday.
After feeling discomfort during his stint and light-headed after it, Ponting raised his concerns with a colleague and former teammate Justin Langer before he was taken straight to the hospital. “I was sitting in the comms box halfway through the stint, and I felt a couple of short, sharp pains in my chest,” Ponting said on Seven.
“I tried to make it last longer and get rid of it, and I probably didn’t want to say too much on air. “I had a couple of those happen to me. After the shift was over, I got up and tried to walk to the back of the commentary box, but I got lightheaded and dizzy and had to grab a bench.
“On the way out, I told JL, who was commenting with me, that I had been having chest pains. “[Executive producer] Chris Jones heard me and did something right away. Ten or fifteen minutes later, he got me out of there.”
Ponting said that he had a “relaxing” afternoon and a good night’s sleep in the hospital and would be back “all shiny and new” on Saturday.
But the 47-year-old Test great said he was put on high alert after a terrible year for Australian cricket, in which Shane Warne and Rod Marsh died of shock heart attacks and Ryan Campbell was put into an induced coma.
“The important thing is that I was willing to share it with JL and that your friend then looked out for you,” Ponting said. “As people our age, we don’t like to talk about our health too much, and that was a good lesson for me to learn yesterday.
“Especially with what has happened to really close people around us in the last 12 to 18 months.” The current Test captain, Pat Cummins, had earlier sent Ponting his best wishes because of his situation. Langer also talked about how important it is to sound the alarm.
“If Ricky Ponting comes to me and tells me something is wrong, you know something is wrong,” Langer said. “It’s a great lesson for everyone that after 12 months, Rod Marsh, Shane Warne, and Ryan Campbell have made it very public.
“It’s good to talk up when someone says they’re going through something, and it’s good to see the little guy not being the tough guy or the iceman and reaching out.”
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