Ricky Ponting returns to commentary box after health scare

Two-time World Cup-winning former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, who was rushed to the Perth hospital during the third day of the first Test between Australia and West Indies after a health scare, has returned back to his role as the broadcaster of the match. Ponting described his experience as a ‘scary moment’ as he made his way back to the commentary box on the fourth day of the game, on Saturday.

Ponting had to undergo medical examinations before he went back to his hotel room on Friday. After complaining of feeling dizzy and nauseous to his colleagues from the commentary box – Justin Langer and Seven’s head of cricket Chris Jones, he was driven to the hospital by the team’s doctor Leigh Golding.

“I probably scared a lot of people yesterday and had a little scary moment for myself, to be honest. I was sitting in the comms box halfway through the stint and got a couple of really short, sharp pains through my chest. I tried to stretch it out and get rid of it and probably didn’t give too much away when I was on-air. But I had a couple of those sort of incidents, got through the stint, got up, went to walk to the back of the commentary box and got a bit light-hearted and dizzy and grabbed the bench,” said Ponting on The Channel Seven’s broadcast.

“I mentioned to JL on the way out, he was commentating with me, that I’d had these pains in my chest. Chris Jones heard me as well, and basically, those two just grabbed me straight away and got me out of there, and 10 or 15 minutes later I was in the hospital getting the best treatment I possibly could,” Ponting further said.

I feel great, I’m all shiny and new: Ponting

Australian cricket has had a rough year in terms of heart health as the world of cricket has lost some of the finest cricketers from Australia who were legends of the game. After Ponting’s former cricket academy mentor Rod Marsh passed away, the world of cricket lost the iconic spin bowler Shane Warne in March 2022, and Andrew Symonds in May 2022.

“I feel great this morning, I’m all shiny and new. But I think the bottom line is the fact I was willing to share it … as people of our age we’re probably a little bit reluctant to share much and talk much about our health especially, and that’s really a good learning curve for me yesterday, especially with what’s happened over the last 12 or 18 months with really close people around us,” Ponting added.