Australian cricket great Ricky Ponting returns to Perth stadium after heart scare
Ricky Ponting has revealed short, sharp pains in his chest led to him being taken to hospital before getting the allclear to return to Optus Stadium for commentary 18 hours later.
Ponting was a welcome figure back at Perth’s main stadium on Saturday morning, after sending a scare through the cricket fraternity late during Friday’s play.
After feeling discomfort during his stint and light-headed after it, Ponting raised his concerns with colleague and former teammate Justin Langer before he was taken straight to hospital.
“I was sitting in the comms box halfway through the stint and got a couple of really short and sharp pains to my chest,” Ponting recalled on Seven.
“I tried to stretch it out and get rid of it, and probably didn’t want to give too much away when I was on air.
“I had a couple of those incidents, got through the stint, got up and went to walk to the back of the commentary box and got light-headed and dizzy and grabbed the bench.
“I mentioned to JL on the way out, who was commentating with me, that I had had these pains in my chest.
“[Executive producer] Chris Jones heard me and just reacted straight away and got me out of there 10 or 15 minutes later.”
Ponting said he had a “relaxing” afternoon in hospital and a good sleep, and was returning “all shiny and new” on Saturday morning.
But the 47-year-old Test great said he had been put on high alert after a horror year in Australian cricket, with Shane Warne and Rod Marsh dying from shock heart attacks and Ryan
Campbell also placed into an induced coma.
“The bottom line is, the fact that I was willing to share it with JL and then your mate looks after you [is important],” Ponting said.
“As people of our age, we are a little reluctant to share much or talk about our health and that is a good learning curve for me yesterday.
“Especially with what has happened in the last 12-18 months to really close people around us.”
Ponting’s situation had earlier prompted current Test skipper Pat Cummins to send his best wishes.
Langer also highlighted the importance of raising the alarm.
“If Ricky Ponting comes to me and says something is not quite right, then you know something is not quite right,” Langer said.
“It’s a great lesson for everyone that after our 12 months it has become very public with Rod Marsh, Shane Warne of course and Ryan Campbell.
“When someone says they have something going on, it’s good to talk up and it’s good to see the little fella not being the tough guy, not being the ice man, and reaching out.”