Ponting allays health concerns after hospital visit following chest pains

By Sports Desk December 03, 2022

Ricky Ponting says he is feeling "shiny and new" after the former Australia captain's health scare on Friday.

Ponting was taken to hospital after suffering chest pains while he was commentating for Channel 7 on the third day of Australia's first Test against West Indies at Optus Stadium.

The legendary 47-year-old was back at work on Saturday, when he expressed his gratitude to his ex-Australia team-mate Justin Langer and those who gave him the best possible hospital treatment in Perth.

He told Channel 7: "I probably scared a lot of people yesterday and had a scary moment for myself. I was sitting in the comms box halfway through the stint and got a couple of really short and sharp pains to my chest.

"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 and went to walk to the back of the commentary box and got lightheaded and dizzy and grabbed the bench.

"I mentioned to JL [Langer] on the way out, who was commentating with me, that I had had these pains in my chest and Chris Jones [executive producer] heard me and just reacted straight away and got me out of there.

"Ten or 15 minutes later, I was in the hospital getting the best treatment that I possibly could. I feel great this morning, I am all shiny and new this morning.

"I think the bottom line is, the fact that I was willing to share it with JL and the fact that your mate looks after you, I think as people of our age, we are a little reluctant to share much or talk about our health.

"I think 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.

"My little mate looked after me and got me down there and I'm back, shiny and new this morning."

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