Comment: Will Pucovski can finally move on with his life after decade of turmoil but questions will always linger

Will Pucovski gets married on Friday and can move ahead without the ball and chain he had been dragging for the past decade. But the sadness will linger for cricket’s Heartbreak Kid, writes ROBERT CRADDOCK.

They say where there is a Will there is a way and god knows he tried countless different routes to find it.

But in the end, with throbbing headaches, occasionally blurred vision and quirky setbacks like having trouble sighting things on his left side, Will Pucovski was having enough challenges living life to contemplate an umpteenth try at top level cricket.

Pucovski gets married on Friday and his announcement that his cricket career is over is perfectly timed because he can move ahead with his new life without the ball and chain he had been dragging for the past decade.

Tragically, Will Pucovski would only last one Test match due to health issues. Picture: Phil Hillyard

But the sadness will linger for cricket’s Heartbreak Kid.

There’s been 471 cricketers play Test matches for Australia and none have had a story like Pucovski. And no-one ever will.

Concussed out of a sport where people are not allowed to touch each other and, if everything goes to plan, the ball is not supposed to hit your head.

And even if it does there is a helmet between you and big trouble.

Forthright and engaging as he always is, Pucovski did his best to explain his heartbreaking predicament to Gerard Whateley on SEN but the more he talked the more you realised that behind every answer there were more unresolved questions.

Why did he have at least 13 concussions? Did one lead to the other? Did his stressed mental state contribute to his ailment by sending out distress flares whenever danger stalked?

The search for answers took him to more specialists than you’d see in a lifetime yet none cracked the code.

Pucovski was a boy wonder run machine who scored four centuries for Victoria in the national under-19 carnival.

Pucovski after scoring one of those centuries at the under 19 national cricket championships in 2016. Picture: Brody Grogan.

Even former national coach Justin Langer told this masthead from India “his name kept popping up with centuries … Ponting, Hughes, Smith and Martyn were of a similar ilk.’’

It is understood the question of how much Pucovski should be compensated by cricket bodies for his premature retirement has caused marathon discussions with no resolution.

That’s no surprise because this case is so unique, sensitive and complex so many delicate questions have to be answered.

Do they compensate him for the glittering 10-year career he should have had or the sole Test he played? Does the game take responsibility for his condition or was it triggered in an off-field mishap? Or was it simply due to his own physical make-up?

Football is used to solving such issues. Cricket isn’t.

One of the sad things about Pucovski’s departure is he was like an old-fashioned Test batsman who batted with an air of calm serenity in a frantic modern world.

“Bowling at him in the nets I noticed he was one of those guys who just had a lot of time,’’ Test spinner Nathan Lyon told this masthead after his announcement.

“Incredibly patient. In T20 everyone plays the game in fast forward but he went at his own pace and that is the making of the best Test batsman. He had the ability to become pretty special.

“I’m disappointed for him but at the end of the day his health comes first and his family and friends can be comforted by the fact that he will not be putting his health in danger.’’

Originally published as Comment: Will Pucovski can finally move on with his life after decade of turmoil but questions will always linger