Ponting admits his embarrassment over retiring hurt against Windies

Perth, Dec 17(ANI): Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has said that he was embarrassed at having to retire hurt for the first time in his career during the third Test against West Indies at the WACA Ground in Perth.

Ponting was hit above his left elbow while trying to duck out of a fiery 146km/h delivery from fast bowler Kemar Roach. But, he bravely batted on through pain for 40 minutes before retiring hurt on 23 runs.

"I was pretty embarrassed walking off the ground yesterday, but I had to do what I had to do with the game in the position that it was, and me not wanting to get in the way of our momentum in the game," The Courier Mail quoted Ponting, as saying.

"I could have kept batting yesterday, but I just wouldn't have been able to hit the ball off the square pretty much, so that was why I decided to come off. I've got some different strapping and tape on it designed to take a lot of the load away from certain areas around the elbow joints," he added.

Ponting further said that he decided to retire hurt and get treatment, as there were other batsmen who could play better at that point of time.

"It hit me on the outside of the elbow, right on the end of the bone, where a lot of the tendons and muscles actually join on. So, I think that was why a lot of my muscles around my forearm went into a sort of spasm and tightened up," Ponting said.

"It was okay for the first five or 10 minutes after it happened, but it kept getting worse from there and it got to the stage where I couldn't function properly," he added.Scans subsequently cleared Ponting of any serious bone damage. (ANI)