Pucovski heads back to school, full training

Will Pucovski did not need to search far when looking to share the spoils from his record-breaking batting feats that have helped him secure a berth among Victoria's star-studded player group.

Pucovski, whose unprecedented return of 650 runs at last year's under-19 national championships earned him $1000 worth of kit from cricket gear manufacturer Kookaburra as player of the tournament, wanted to donate the prize as he is already the beneficiary of the company's sponsorship program.

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So the 19-year-old this week presented the gift to students of Hampton Primary School, the place where he honed his cricket and soccer skills, where last year he returned to provide volunteer help to children with learning challenges, and which sits on the street where he grew up and still lives in Melbourne's bayside south.

And the prolific right-hander, who posted four consecutive centuries in smashing the previous under-19 title's scoring record of 568 set by Queensland's Jerry Cassell 23 years earlier, is hopeful his path to senior cricket is now also within similar, unobstructed reach. 

For in the days since he left Hampton Primary, where he was part of two junior soccer championships and an inter-school cricket title, has seen him sustain multiple blows.

Image Id: 5049884F8D6243528D089256F088F077 Image Caption: Pucovski's form led to a CA XI call-up // Getty

Mostly to his skull, rendering him absent from the cricket field for long periods while recovering from the debilitating effects of concussion that continued to follow him into senior cricket.

The first, and most serious, came during football training at high school when the lightly built youth was flung in a sling tackle and his head slammed into the knee of another player, the severity of that blow consigning him to six months away from any sporting activity.

On his return to cricket, he sustained further blows. Hit while batting at training, struck by an errant ball that rifled from an adjoining practice net, even cracking his head on a door at his Hampton home.

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All incidents that left him unwell, unsteady and unable to devote the time to training as required by one driven to succeed in professional sport.

Touring England with Australia's under-19 team that included incumbent Test opener Matthew Renshaw, Pucovski was plagued by recurring headaches and managed just 10 runs at an average of 2.5 on the campaign.

Then, having plundered all comers at the national titles in Adelaide and surpassing benchmarks set by previous under-19 talents including Travis Head, Matthew Wade and Ricky Ponting (Pucovski's boyhood hero), the teenager was named in Victoria's Sheffield Shield team to tackle arch-rivals New South Wales last February.

Pucovski was anything but daunted in spending 100 minutes at the crease, scoring 28 against an attack that included Test-capped quicks Doug Bollinger and Trent Copeland as well as Australia seamers Sean Abbott and Moises Henriques.

But just as he was finding his feet in first-class company, and on the day he celebrated his 19^th birthday, the luckless teenager dived to field a ball driven hard towards him at mid-off only to have it 'kick' from the uneven surface of a recently used pitch, evade his outstretched hand and hit him flush on the side of the head.

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Concussed again, he took no further part in his debut match, was unable to play or practice cricket for the remainder of the season and was forced to defer his degree studies at Monash University for this year's first semester as he was compelled to undertake minimal physical activity.

"I remember before the (Sheffield Shield) game, I've never been so nervous in my life," Pucovski told cricket.com.au shortly after making his presentation at Hampton Primary School assembly this week.

"I could hardly sleep the night before and then when the game started I was okay.

"The first few balls when I was batting I was really nervous, but then I got into it and was just enjoying the experience until it all got taken away.

"The blow was pretty innocuous, it hit me pretty hard but it was fairly random.

"I've never been hit in the head while fielding that I can remember, and then in my first Shield game the ball just skips up off the turf and got me.

"It was pretty rough the night that I got hit, trying to come to terms with the situation - that it had happened again.

"I'd got a taste for cricket at that level and loved it, and hopefully there is more to come but maybe it was the universe telling me not to get too far ahead of myself."

The lengthy stints of inactivity that Pucovski has been forced to undertake as a result of multiple head blows have allowed him time for contemplation – there's been few other activities permitted during such convalescence – and he has settled on a philosophical peace with his misfortune.

He attributes his repeated episodes of significant head trauma as "dumb luck, to a large extent" but adds that medical experts have told him he carries a certain predisposition to concussive injury because of his unfortunate history.

"But they are pretty confident there will be no long-term effects and I feel pretty good," said Pucovski, who last week returned to full training and his first pre-season with the Victoria, even though he is not formally a contracted Bushrangers player.

"I got the all-clear a bit over a month ago to return to all activity, and slowly built up from there.

"I've got no side effects from it which is awesome.

"I'm bloody lucky to have that opportunity with Victoria, and hopefully I can take it with both hands.

"I can just enjoy being part of the squad and having no limitations, so hopefully I've got all my bad luck out of the way with getting hit on the head.

"My theory is I've had my share early in my career and I should be right for the rest of it.

 "Though sadly, the world doesn't quite work like that."

Despite setting a benchmark at the annual championships that will take some beating by prodigies to come, Pucovski is not setting himself any concrete goals relating to runs or selection or even preferred formats of the game in the coming summer.

Rather, he has distilled his cricket ambition down to its essential essence which is to maximise the opportunities he's worked hard to create since his days in the Hampton Primary schoolyard, and enjoy each minute that he gets to spend on the park. 

He plans to return to part-time university study in the second half of the year, and if he needs reminding of how ephemeral a life in professional sport can be he need only glance over at his close friend and Victoria squad training partner, Sam Harper. 

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Harper, who was also part of that 2015 under-19 tour to England, was struck a savagely unfortunate blow while keeping wicket in a Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval last summer, the heavy concussion he received via Jake Lehmann's bat leaving him hospitalised for weeks and unable to travel home.

Pucovski reports that 20-year-old Harper – who he describes as his "concussion buddy" – is also taking full part in the Bushrangers' pre-season program and is "absolutely flying, he's feeling really good and is back to his normal self".

Harper's injury heightened attention on the International Cricket Council's refusal to adopt a recent recommendation from Cricket Australia that concussion substitutes (which currently breach a match's first-class status) be permitted, after South Australia adhered to the letter of the law and disallowed Victoria a replacement player.

The push to permit substitutes to replace players suffering from concussion whilst enabling a match to retain its first-class status has since been endorsed by the ICC's influential Cricket Committee, and will be considered by the ICC's Chief Executives Committee when it meets in London later this month.

Pucovski does not claim to hold a stringent view on whether or not cricket needs to fall into step with a raft of other global sports and legislate for the unique problems posed by concussion, but he does agree it seems a pragmatic step forward.

Especially in light of his unwanted expertise in the condition, and its debilitating consequences.

"I haven't got a strong opinion on it, but it just seems like common sense," he said.

"I can't see any negatives coming from it, and I don't believe it necessarily compromises first-class status.

"It just seems like something that in this modern day should be a bit of a formality, to be honest.

"It's just a sensible thing to do, but I guess if they choose not to they (the ICC) will have their reasons and we'll just have to roll with it."

The attitude he's adopted to counter his personal setbacks, which he now hopes are behind him.