Courtesy: X
Will Pucovski, the Australian opening batter, who played his only Test against India in 2020-21, is reportedly "forced to retire," from all formats of cricket at the domestic and international level. The 26-year-old was marred by multiple concussions due to head injuries suffered during his young career, which led to his cricket playing journey coming to an unfortunate early end due to medical reasons.
As reported by Nine News Melbourne, Will Pucovski, the one-Test prodigy, will retire from all forms of the game. The medical panel looking into his injuries have recommended him to call a time on his career.
“My understanding is that an independent panel of experts recommended Pucovski retire three months ago, and all that’s left is for Cricket Victoria and his team to formalise that contractually. The news doesn’t come as a surprise to teammates of Pucovski who haven’t seen him at training all pre-season, in fact he’s been travelling overseas,” Tom Morris said on Nine News.
Will Pucovski’s head injuries were “not true concussions”: Australian medical panel in 2022
However, spate of concussions isn’t the only reason for his early retirement. The medical panel in 2022 found out that Pucovski’s head injuries were “not true concussions”, and more likely related to stress or trauma responses. For a long time, the top-order batter was looked as the long-term replacement for Australia Test side but it wasn’t meant to be.
Once seen as one of the future of Australian cricket, Pucovski was born on February 2, 1998 in Malvern, Victoria. He made his name after scoring 188 against Queensland in the 2017-18 Sheffield Shield Season. Before this, he scored four hundreds for Victoria U19.
A year later, the Malvern-born player became the eighth Aussie after Don Bradman, Ian Chappell, Clem Hill, Darren Lehmann, Norm O'Neill, Ricky Ponting, Paul Sheahan and Doug Walters to score a first-class double hundred before the age of 21.
During the historic Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21, Will Pucovski made his Test debut in the third Test. He scored 62 & 10 in two innings before a shoulder injury ruled him out for the last Test. This game continues to remain his only international for his national team.
