Concerns after Will Pucovski concussed again in training incident

Will Pucovski’s repeated and concerning battles with concussion continue with the batsman recovering from another head blow

Australia's Will Pucovski scored a half century on debut for Australia against India at the SCG last summer Picture: Phil Hillyard

Will Pucovski has been hit in the head again by a cricket ball and is showing signs of concussion almost a week later.

It is estimated to be the 10th time the brilliant young opener has been concussed in his short career and will trigger further concerns about his long-term health and future in the game.

It is also a blow to Australian cricket which had earmarked the 23-year-old as David Warner’s opening partner for the Ashes after waiting patiently in the wings for him to be ready to play at that level.

The Victorian is rated a once-in-a-generation talent, he averages over 50 at first-class cricket, has an insatiable appetite for runs and a temperament that has always been wise beyond his years.

He played his one and only Test against India in January in Sydney, scoring 62 in his first innings and 10 in his second.

The young batsman injured his shoulder diving in the field and was ruled out of the final match of the series. He later underwent shoulder surgery from which he is still recovering.

While he struggles to throw, selectors and coaches were keen to get him back in the side and had discussed ways of compensating for this fielding weakness.

Marcus Harris’s chances of opening the batting with Warner in the opening match against England at the Gabba have improved greatly but there is some optimism that the batsman will return before then.

Concerns about Pucovski, who was set to play in a series of three Sheffield Shield matches against NSW, will linger however.

The opener was taking throw downs in the nets last week when he was struck but the blow did not seem to have any great effect.

It wasn’t until the following day that symptoms began to emerge. The Australian understands that he is resting and being treated for the symptoms.

Sources said he is in good spirits and keen to return to training, but patience is something Pucovski and cricket have become accustomed to.

His talent was obvious from an early age and when he was around 10, Ricky Ponting was asked to cast his eye over the young cricketer.

“We got him into the nets and the first ball I put in the bowling machine he absolutely creamed through the covers and I thought he might be something special one day,” the former captain told Channel 7 during commentary last season.

The impressive young talent was set to open that batting in the series against Sri Lanka in January 2019 but a last-minute change of heart from selectors saw Kurtis Patterson dropped into the side.

He was in line to debut the next summer but withdrew from selection citing mental health problems.

In October 2020 the opener scored 255no in a Sheffield Shield match in a 486 run partnership with Marcus Harris against South Australia and was again in line to play the 2020-21 series. He followed that with a double century against Western Australia – in the process becoming the first batsman since Dene Hills in 1997-98 to make consecutive double hundreds in Shield cricket.

His Test debut seemed assured at the start of last summer, but the batsman was concussed while batting against India in a tour match on the eve of the summer and was unavailable for the start of the Border-Gavaskar trophy because of lingering symptoms.

Australian cricket agonised over the rights and wrongs of playing a young man who had suffered so many brain injuries.

In 2018 Pucovski took a break from the game after suffering a mental health issue during a Sheffield Shield match at the WACA. He made 243 in the game, compiling two-thirds of those runs after breaking down at the end of the previous day’s play.

Pucovski’s struggles began when he was concussed by an opponent during a football match at school and sidelined for six months.

He was dogged by incredible misfortune through the years having been concussed by a ball which found its way through a gap another net, being struck by a fielder’s return and hitting his head on a door knob.