Will Pucovski presents Aussie selectors with a conundrum unlike any other in Test history

The future of Will Pucovski is just so hard to predict. He might play 100 Tests. He might play not many at all. Unfortunately for Australia, nothing is certain.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 08: Will Pucovski of Australia A is assisted from the field after been struck in the helmet off the bowling of Kartik Tyagi of India A during day three of the International Tour match between Australia A and India A at Drummoyne Oval on December 08, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

The Test match future of Will Pucovski – short and long term – is one of the toughest selection assignments ever faced by Australian cricket.

Over the years Australian panels have wrestled with player revolts, rebel tours, marriage breakdowns, pay wars and any number of injury issues involving star players which all had their own complex narratives.

National chairman Trevor Hohns probably thought nothing would top the 18-month form slump of national captain Mark Taylor as the most difficult issue of his selection career.

Watch Australia v India Test Series Live & Ad-Break Free During Play with the Fox Cricket commentary team. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >

Will Pucovski is assisted from the field after being hit on the head on Tuesday.

But the Pucovski case is more challenging because it’s not just a matter of runs or no runs.

In fact, it’s everything but.

The kid can bat. And he has natural charm to boot.

In fact the lust of the masses to see him at national level is so strong the disturbing dark cloud of nine separate concussion incidents has been underplayed, almost willed away from the frontline of fan discussions about his future as if it is a muscle strain that will heal in a month or a knee that will be fine post-surgery.

You can almost hear the common fan thinking “concussion may ruin footy careers but this is cricket …’’

But in a sports world in which concussion has become the single greatest world-wide health concern, nine it is an alarmingly high number, especially given cricket is a non-contact sport.

It is not as if we are talking about a boxer with a poor defence.

It’s true some of the incidents came well away from cricket such as his first in a game of football and hitting his head on a door at home.

But, from tumbling when his bat got caught running between wickets to being hit in the head several times, many of them have been cricket related.

Of all of the countless emerging cricketers in the land, Pucovski is the player whose future is easily hardest to predict. He might play 100 Tests. He might play not many at all. Nothing is certain.

Pucovski hits the ground after being felled by a bouncer on Tuesday.

A shudder went through Australian cricket when Pucovski was hit in the helmet and felled by a short ball from Indian seamer Kartik Tyagi late on Tuesday afternoon.

There’s a saying that where there is a will, there is a way and Australia have been committed to finding it.

But the path forward is as tricky as it gets starting with next week’s first Test at Australia’s toughest batting venue – Adelaide under lights - where the pink ball can develop its own fuzzy trail.

Very much a key man in the discussion is respected Australia team medical man Dr John Orchard, who has led the concussion debate in cricket and was a driving force behind the introduction of concussion substitutes.

The pressure on Orchard is, in some ways, greater than on selectors Hohns, Justin Langer and George Bailey because he is the one who must initially declare Pucovski fit to play.

Once cleared, it is then the panel’s job to simply choose or omit him on ability, which will not be a hard call.

Predicting Will Pucovski’s Test longevity at the moment is tough.

But life is just not that simple. This is very much a “feel’’ selection for the selectors and they must have a general awareness of the consequences if things go wrong, especially since Pucovski has wider related mental health issues.

What happens if he plays and gets him in the head again and suffers another injury? Can you actually clear a player from the threat of concussion?

And what of fast bowlers bowling to him? Will fast men deliberately target him with the short ball following the law of the sporting jungle that decrees any technical soft spot must be worked over?

How would they feel if something went wrong?