Will Pucovski poised to make first-class debut for Victoria at the MCG

AFTER a record performance at the national Under 19 championships, Melbourne’s Will Pucovski is poised to make his Sheffield Shield debut for Victoria.

Will Pucovski raises his bat at the Under 19 cricket championships in Adelaide. Photo: Brody Grogan.

HE was only 10 or 11, but cricket people in the southern bayside area raved about Will Pucovski.

One junior coach said it was hard to imagine a better under-age batsman.

He was speaking at a presentation night in which Pucovski, playing for Hampton United, won an Under 12 batting trophy, having been dismissed once during the season. He finished with an average of 280.

With his father, Jan, a former District and Sub-District cricketer, he’d also played a handful of games in the lower grades in the South East senior competition and averaged 50.

A cherub-cheeked Will Pucovski at age 11 after making the Vic schoolboys. Seven years on he's made the Sheffield Shield side. Stunning. pic.twitter.com/ylo8H7rVPf

— Paul Amy (@PaulAmy375) January 31, 2017

After Pucovski helped the SECA claim the VMCU Mitchell Shield, veteran junior coach Phil Arnold quickly formed a view of his young charge.

“I rated him in the best three players I have seen in 16 years of coaching at representative level,’’ he said.

“Will power’’ was the headline in Leader in 2009 when Pucovski was picked in the Victorian Primary School Sports Association team.

The article quoted Jan Pucovski as saying his son “just loves batting’’, and Caulfield coach Shaun Richardson declaring the whippersnapper to be “a senior player in a kid’s body … he just knows how to bat’’.

#U19Champs star Will Pucovski has been named in a 14-man @bushrangers squad to face NSW in their Sheffield Shield clash this week! pic.twitter.com/7e8NcOL9Rm

— CricketAus Pathways (@CAPathway) January 30, 2017

It was his first state selection. Quite a few have followed, but Monday brought his highest recognition yet. Three days before his 19th birthday Pucovski was named in Victoria’s squad for the Sheffield Shield match against NSW. Word is he’ll be included in the XI, bringing him a debut at the MCG tomorrow.

Pucovski has played only 15 innings for Melbourne’s Premier First XI, but he hijacked cricket headlines in December after cracking a record 650 runs for the Vics at the national Under 19 championships. Centuries came one after another, against Queensland, South Australia, the Cricket Australia XI and the NT. It was a run of runs that will echo down the years.

Jan and Will Pucovski in December, 2009.

If Pucovski does play in the Shield match, he’ll walk out with a Kookaburra bat, to the pleasure of Rob Elliott.

Elliott was managing director of Kookaburra Sport for 19 years. Eight years ago he arranged gear sponsorship for schoolboy Pucovski.

“I first sighted him when he was doing trials for the Mitchell Shield team,’’ Elliott said this afternoon.

“After watching him in the nets for a while I think the word I used was ‘Wow’, or something to that extent. He was an obvious standout at that point, with his confidence and wonderful hand-eye co-ordination and his shot selection. I watched him a bit more and decided that he was going to do something, somewhere and I thought he deserved a bit of gear. He’s a fully contracted player now.’’

Elliott added: “Will was only the second boy we signed at that sort of age. The other was Ricky Ponting. So you never know, do you?’’

Elliott has followed Pucovski’s career closely — at Hampton United juniors and in the Under 12 representative side; at Subbies club Caulfield, where his father was a premiership player and where, at age 13, Will played alongside now-Victorian wicketkeeper Sam Harper in the Second XI; at regional team the South East Bayside Breakers, where he was prolific in the Under 14 and Under 16 state championships; and at Melbourne, where, at age 15, he peeled off a Second XI century.

Will Pucovski after being picked in the Victorian schoolboys team.

Elliott always thought Pucovski was ticketed for state cricket. But while still a teenager?

“I didn’t really think too much about that,’’ he said. “But he did extremely well for the state Under 19s and he’s being doing very well for Melbourne. So he’s been knocking at the door of the state selectors and saying, ‘Pick me’. To their credit, they have recognised him.’’

Breakers region manager Stuart Clark is equally enthused about Pucovski’s selection.

He regards the right-hander as the best player to have gone through the Breakers pathway, noting his consistency and penchant for making runs in important matches. Pucovski hit half-centuries in Dowling Shield and Under 18 grand finals for the Breakers.

“Will had that great habit of getting the job done when it really mattered. When we needed someone to put a score together and build a proper innings and get us into a winning position, he was the one to do it,’’ Clark said.

“If you go through the history of players being given opportunities to play first-class cricket at a young age, they’re typically able to perform at a much higher standard and do it consistently. That’s Will to a tee.’’

The Caulfield club fizzed with pride when Harper took his Shield bow last season and will do so again when Pucovski makes his debut.

According to former coach Richardson, no one at the Fielders is surprised by his rise.

“You could tell pretty early he was a super talent and was destined to play at a higher level,’’ he said.

“Just had a beautiful technique and heaps of time at the crease.

“Jan was a mad fast bowler during the club’s golden period in the 1990s and played in three First XI flags. The Pucovski family are still strong supporters of our club and all at Caulfield wish him well.’’