'Got to pick him': Pucovski's stunning Shield numbers

Former Test captains Ian Chappell, Michael Clarke and Kim Hughes say Will Pucovski is ready for a Test call-up after the Victorian young gun shattered some long-standing Sheffield Shield records with his second consecutive double hundred.

Pucovksi was finally dismissed today for 202 against Western Australia, his third career double hundred coming a week after he finished on 255 not out against South Australia.

Having scored 457 runs to start the season before being dismissed, Clarke says the 22-year-old must be included in Australia's Test side to face India this summer.

"Got to pick him ... this is a great way to work him into that Australian team," Clarke said on Sky Sports radio this morning.

"Yeah, it's against a good team, India, but this kid's ready … With (David) Warner as his opening partner, (Marnus) Labuschagne as his No.3, (Steve) Smith as his No.4, that's the leadership and experience you need around you as a young batsman."

Hughes would also pick Pucovski for the first Test, saying "he's in a good space", while Chappell said the youngster offers a better long-term option that incumbent Test opener, Joe Burns.

"Burns has made not many runs at all in this summer and there comes a time where you think to yourself, 'well, where is Burns going?'," Chappell told the ABC.

"He's probably not going anywhere, really, and it's time to have a look at Pucovski.

"What's that now? Six or seven first-class centuries? That includes a couple of doubles. He's ready.”

Will Pucovski by the numbers

1005 – the number of minutes Pucovski had batted this season before he was dismissed on day two of Victoria’s clash with Western Australia on Monday. That's 16 hours and 45 minutes. For context, in the same amount of time, one could watch all 10 episodes of the Netflix series The Last Dance from start to finish twice and have five minutes to heat up some popcorn in between sittings.

733 – the number of balls Pucovski has faced this season.

672 – the number of runs Pucovski and Marcus Harris have scored while opening the batting together this season. In Victoria's opening match against South Australia, the pair combined for a stand of 486, the biggest partnership in Sheffield Shield history before adding a further 186 against WA on Sunday. Remarkably, Pucovski had never opened the batting in first-class cricket before last week.

457 – the number of Marsh Sheffield Shield runs Pucovski scored between dismissals, the most since the late Dean Jones made 510 (which included his triple century under lights at the MCG during the 1994-95 season) before getting out. Pucovski now sits among lofty company; only Jones, Bob Simpson (who made 545 runs without getting out in 1960), Sir Don Bradman (who, on separate occasions, went 517, 499 and 479 runs without being dismissed) now sit above him on the list of players to have scored more unbeaten runs.

56.06 – Pucovski's first-class batting average 22 games into his career.

46.73 – the percentage of Victoria's runs Pucovski has scored this season

8 – the number of batters to have made double hundreds in consecutive Sheffield Shield matches. Pucovski is the first this century to do it, with Tasmania’s Dene Hills the most recent player to achieve it, in 1997-98, while he is the first Victorian in close to a century to do it. Bill Ponsford, in 1927, had been the last. The others to score double tons twice in as many games are Bradman (in '35-36), Arthur Morris ('51), Simpson ('59 and '63), Peter Burge ('63) and Jones ('91).

6 – the number of first-class centuries to Pucovski's name. Three of those - his 202 against WA, the unbeaten 255 last weekend, and his 243 against WA in October 2018 – have been double hundreds, while his maiden ton was also a big'un: 188, against Queensland in February 2018.

4 – the number of new Kookaburra balls Pucovski had seen off this season before being dismissed.