Ricky Ponting says he feels ‘all shiney and new’ after ‘scary moment’

Ponting was taken to the hospital after chest pains, dizziness and lightheadedness.

“I probably scared a lot of people yesterday and had a scary moment for myself,” Ponting said on Channel 7.

“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 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. 10 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, but I think the bottom line is, the fact I was willing to share it with JL and 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 and I think that is a good learning curve for me yesterday, especially with what has happened in the last 12-18 months 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.”

Justin Langer, who took Ponting to the hospital said: I knew if Ricky Ponting comes to me and says something is not quite right, well, you know something is not quite right. I think it is a great lesson for everyone.”

“That after our 12 months, it has become very published, with Rod Marsh and Shane Warne, of course, Ryan Campbell, when someone says they’ve got something going on, then talk up.

“And it was good to see the little fella not being the tough guy, not being the Ice Man, and reaching out to his friends. And as Ricky said, we got some great care for him yesterday afternoon.”