Pucovski’s appetite for runs goes back years

He averaged 280 in U12s, eclipsed Ricky Ponting at U19 level and earned rave Sheffield Shield reviews. Now the country will finally get to see ‘a very, very special talent’.

Justin Langer speaks with Will Pucovski and David Warner at the SCG on Wednesday Picture: Getty Images

David Warner’s old opening partner has given Will Pucovski a crash course on what it is like batting with Test cricket’s most destructive force.

“The one thing about batting with Davey is it can be a little bit intimidating at times,” Chris Rogers, who opened with Warner in most of his 25 Test matches, told Pucovski. “Because you can look up at the scoreboard and he’s on 40 and you’re on five.

“It’s about changing it so that you see that as a positive, in that he’s taken the pressure off you and you don’t have to worry about the scoreboard and you can lock in a little bit. And whatever people might think about Davey, when he’s out in the middle he’s actually really good to bat with.

“He’s got a lot of good thoughts and he’s very supportive.

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“I think he’ll be good for Will, too, because he won’t take it too seriously and he’ll allow Will to be Will.”

Pucovski will become Australia’s 460th Test player when he receives his baggy green cap at the SCG on Thursday and forms a new combination with Warner, a mix of fire and finesse.

Warner commands eyeballs no matter where in the world he is batting. But in Sydney the spotlight will shift to Pucovski, the batting prodigy who Australians first expected to lay eyes on two years ago. Instead Kurtis Patterson batted him out of a Test debut in 2019 with twin tons in a tour match, and last summer Pucovski maturely removed himself from consideration on mental health grounds.

Then Pucovski’s ninth concussion knocked him out of calculations for the first two Tests this summer.

On Monday an independent neurologist cleared the young Victorian to return, but it was only half the battle. Rewind two years and Pucovski revealed to mindfulness coach Emma Murray that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep playing.

His history of head knocks and mental health battles can be traced back to a mishap at football training when he was 16.

Caught in a sling tackle, Pucovski smacked his head on his best mate’s knee and missed six months of school at Brighton Grammar. But he told coach Justin Langer this week that he was ready to face the furnace that is an Indian attack spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah.

“The only way to get back on the horse is to get back on the horse,” Langer said this week.

“He’s ultimately the one who has to make the decision.

“He has to have the courage to get back on the horse, and he wants to do that, and that’s a really, really positive sign moving forward.”

Pucovski has given Rogers, Victoria’s Sheffield Shield coach, the same reassurance.

“He will know more than anybody else how he’s feeling and where he’s at,” Rogers said.

“From that point of view he’s the one who makes the call, and from when I’ve spoken to him, he seems really positive about playing.

“To hear him be so positive is really reassuring. He’s a pretty resilient character now.

“He’s been through this a lot.

“There’s those other issues that will always be with him, but in terms of a cricketer you’ll see someone very, very special.”

So, why is there such a buzz about Pucovski?

Well, in under-12s he averaged 280 playing for Hampton United, having been dismissed just once during the season.

Pucovski’s record of 650 runs in the under-19 championships eclipsed the likes of Ricky Ponting, and by the time he was 18 he had his Victorian cap.

Pucovski had more birthdays than dismissals growing up.

Two of his three outs in a four-season stretch came in unfortunate fashion, caught down leg-side and then run out.

“There were three or four seasons where I got out once. I hated it too much, so I tried to get to my 30 retired as often as I could,” Pucovski told News Corp last summer.

“You’re playing under-12s or under-14s and it’s just concentrating. A lot of kids drift in and out, so I just tried to concentrate for longer than they do.”

Lachie Stevens coached Pucovski at Victoria last season and said he was “one of the great theorists” of the game.

“But the great irony in that is that when he actually plays he does the same thing over and over again and never changes from his plans,” Stevens said.

“Whilst he talks about different theories and talks about different ideas, what he does beautifully is actually repeat the same skill over and over again in a very simplified fashion, which is what the great players do.

“There’s quite an interesting contrast in that. Why I think he’s a brilliant young player is because like so many of the great players you actually can’t tell what he’s on when you see him bat.

“If you came to a game you wouldn’t be able to tell whether he was on three or 203, because he’s still doing the same things over and over.”

Flamboyant batsman Glenn Maxwell said it was Pucovski’s very simple technique which set him apart.

Mitchell Starc noted how calm Pucovski was, while Adam Zampa was left scratching his head after bowling to Pucovski in a Shield game.

“He just manipulated the field really well, he didn’t look fazed by anything,” Zampa said.

“I started really well to him and he took a bit of time to get going, but once he passed 50 and 100 he pierced the field in different spots and just got off strike really easy.”

The question, clearly, is how Pucovski will go against the short ball.

Will a bumper barrage from Bumrah scramble that steely resolve?

Onlookers at Pucovski’s back-to-back double centuries for Victoria this season don’t think so.

South Australia and Western Australia both banged it in short and watched Pucovski start the season by facing 732 deliveries without getting dismissed.

It was a prolific streak against a run of short balls as Pucovski plundered 255no against the Redbacks and 202 against the Warriors.

“They quickly went to a short-ball tactic, because they know that can get into his mind a little bit,” Rogers said.

“But the first session against South Australia he ducked them, and then he played one of the rolling pull shots he’s been working hard on after lunch, and he was away.

“Against WA it was the same. In the ninth over they switched and said they were going to bowl short balls to him, and they did it for the whole innings.

“He knows what’s coming, he’s not silly. He’ll be expecting that.”

Pucovski’s recent concussion occurred on day three of a grade wicket at Drummoyne Oval, and Stevens said that was worth noting.

“People talk about the short ball with Will, but it becomes apparent that he does pick up the length of the ball quite quickly,” Stevens said.

“On the fast and true wickets with bounce and carry he plays the short ball exceptionally well.

“It’s actually just been on wickets that have got a little bit older and a little bit up and down – where all players struggle where balls have been whacked into the wicket – that’s where he’s been hit a couple of times.”

Warner will run the tempo when Australia unveils its new-look combination in what will be cricket’s version of the odd couple.

Warner has spent the past decade invoking fear in bowlers across all three formats and Rogers said Sheffield Shield bowlers were on edge against Pucovski.

“If you speak to the bowlers a lot of them will say he’s the batsman they feel has the most amount of time when they’re facing them,” Rogers said.

Given the time Pucovski has at the crease, it is almost fitting that his Test debut has arrived two years after it was expected.

Those that have been fortunately to track Pucovski’s rise are certain of one thing. He will be worth the wait.

Herald Sun