Australian cricket great diagnosed with meningitis

“Damien Martyn, the champ from WA, fantastic batsman … unfortunately took ill on Boxing Day and currently is residing in a Queensland hospital and he is in for the fight of his life,” Hardie said.

“I’d like everybody to certainly have their best wishes and positive thoughts for Marto. God give him strength.

“Let’s hope he can pull through because it’s really serious.”

Regarded as one of Australia’s most gifted stroke-makers, Martyn scored 4406 Test runs at an average of 46.37. He debuted as a 21-year-old against the West Indies in 1992 and retired after the second Test of the 2006-07 Ashes series in Adelaide.

Martyn scored an unbeaten 88 off 84 balls in Australia’s 2003 ODI World Cup final triumph, batting with a broken finger in a match-winning partnership with captain Ricky Ponting. He played 208 ODIs and scored 5346 runs at 40.09. He was a regular in of one of history’s most dominant limited-overs teams.

Since retiring, Martyn has held various commentary positions and maintained a social media presence, posting on X as recently as December 24 about the Boxing Day Test.

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.