Cricket legend Sir Geoffrey Boycott says he is 'lucky to be alive' after wife Rachael spotted a 'major problem' and saved his life by calling an ambulance

Cricket legend Sir Geoffrey Boycott has said that his wife saved his life after he was recently rushed to hospital with pneumonia.

The 83-year-old - who scored more than 8,000 Test runs for England before embarking on an iconic commentating career - needed surgery last month after being diagnosed with throat cancer for a second time.

He returned home after the surgery but then fell ill with pneumonia.

Boycott left hospital again on Thursday before writing in a column for The Telegraph that he felt 'lucky to be alive'.

After thanking fans and well-wishers for sending him supportive messages, Boycott recalled the moment he almost lost his life.

He wrote: 'I am still here because of the quick thinking of my wife Rachael. She recognised I had taken a turn for the worse in my recovery from surgery for throat cancer.

'I was recuperating at home from the operation and felt pretty good at first but overnight I became delirious, was not talking properly and looked awful.

'We had a pulse oximeter at home which she put on my finger and it recorded my blood oxygen level at 35 per cent.

'That is when she knew there was a major problem and called an ambulance.

'I was rushed back in, put on oxygen and diagnosed with pneumonia. It has knocked hell out of me and if Rachael had not acted so quickly I am pretty sure I would not have made it through the night. She saved my life, no doubt about that.'

Boycott's family had earlier issued a statement on July 21 after he had returned to hospital.

'Thank you all for the well wishes, we've been blown away by the sheer number of them!' his daughter, Emma, wrote on her dad's X (formerly Twitter) account.

'Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse and my Father has developed pneumonia and is unable to eat or drink so is back in hospital on oxygen and a feeding tube for the foreseeable.'

Boycott revealed just weeks earlier that his cancer had returned.

This came more than 20 years after he was first diagnosed with the illness back in 2003.