Damien Martyn able to talk now, has made miraculous turnaround: Gilchrist

Melbourne, Jan 4 (PTI) Former Australia cricketer Damien Martyn has made a "miraculous turnaround" and is now able to talk after coming out of an induced coma due to a bout of meningitis, according to his former teammate Adam Gilchrist.

Gilchrist said Martyn, who was diagnosed with meningitis and admitted in a Gold Coast hospital recently, is responding to treatment and now able to talk.

"It's been an unbelievable turn of events in the last 48 hours. He is now able to talk and respond to treatment," Gilchrist was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"He will remain in hospital and continue to receive treatment, but the turnaround has been miraculous.

"He has responded extraordinarily well since coming out of the coma to the point where his family feels it's like some sort of miracle," said Gilchrist, who is also a close friend of Martyn.

The legendary wicketkeeper-batter said Martyn's family is hoping that he will be moved out of the ICU soon.

"It has been so positive that they're hopeful he will be able to move out of the ICU into another part of the hospital which is representative of what a great recovery it's been and how quickly it has flipped around.

"He's in good spirits and overwhelmed by the support. There is still some treatment and monitoring to go but it's looking positive.

"His wife Amanda just really wants to say to everyone she is convinced that the love, goodwill and sense of care that they felt from everybody, via messages and via the coverage in the press really helped him." Born in Darwin, the 54-year-old former right-handed batter made his Test debut at 21, replacing Dean Jones in the 1992-93 home series against the West Indies.

He scored his highest total of 165 against New Zealand in 2005, one of his 13 Test tons.

Martyn played his last Test at the Adelaide Oval in the 2006-07 Ashes series before moving into commentary work.

Martyn also played 208 ODIs, averaging 40.8. He was part of Australia's squad that won the 1999 and 2003 World Cups, scoring an unbeaten 88 in the final against India in 2003 while batting with a broken finger.

He was also a member of the 2006 Champions Trophy winning squad. PTI PDS PDS DDV