Pucovski still has will to thrive on the pitch as he joins SCG Test commentary team

Two years after making his debut opening the batting with David Warner, Will Pucovski returns to the SCG but life at this point has re-routed him from the centre to the commentary box.

Australia's Will Pucovski fields during his Test debut against India in 2021 at the SCG. Picture: AFP.

Two years after making his debut opening the batting with David Warner, Will Pucovski returns to the SCG but life at this point has re-routed him from the centre to the commentary box.

The precociously talented young batsmen will don the Channel 7 jacket and work alongside his former coach Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting comm­entating during the match.

A shoulder injury fielding at the SCG derailed his Test career two years ago and mental health issues have him sitting on the sidelines this summer.

While the top order in the Test side is growing older and retirements are expected in the next few years, the 24-year-old says he does not allow himself to consider a vacancy awaits him when he is ready.

“Not really,” he told The Australian. “Everything is going to work out the way it is meant to, you can’t get bogged down in things like that. I’m a very process-oriented person and I can’t really control it.

“Right now I am doing everything I can to get the treatment I need and get back and play cricket at the highest level and give that a red-hot crack. If it is meant to be it is meant to be, my time will come when it comes, my focus is putting myself in the right position for that.

“Obviously ultimately I would love to get back there, but you can’t be certain of it.”

Pucovski’s health battles are complex and their source only recently identified. Those issues, combined with multiple concussions dating back to when he was 16, have left many confused about what has been behind his intermittent absences from the game.

“I would like to speak more about it, but it’s hard,” he said.

“It’s never been a lack of ambition, it’s never been a lack of drive.

“I’m looking at it this way: Pat Cummins had his share of back injuries that kept him out of the game over a five-or six-year period and this is a mental injury that’s probably been brought upon by some of the concussions I’ve had as well.”

Pucovski looked completely at home on Test debut, scoring 62 in his first innings, but that surprised nobody who’d observed his progress through cricket.

In his 29 first class matches he had scored 2008 runs, averaged 49 and scored 223. His ability to control the tempo of the game belied his youth. In November 2020, he scored 255 against South Australia and backed up with another double century against Western Australia.

Pucovski still harbours the desire to be out in the middle batting for his state and country.

“My goal and ambition is still 100 per cent to get absolutely everything I can out of my cricket career, and I’ve been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make that possible,” he said.

“I went back to training a few weeks ago and I’ve been having a fair few hits with dad and loving it and everything, which is good.

“It is a steady process with training and then getting back into games, but there is no set date with what I’ve been doing, it’s just going to be a fluid process.

“The goal has always been about getting back, it is just about getting the right tools in place to make sure it is possible.

“I think the public has a perception that mental health issues mean depressed at home, but it’s not always that and one day I’ll go into more detail about it, but now while I’m trying to work my way through it I’ll handle it myself and give myself the best chance. It can be hard to do this publicly.”

Pucovski has taken to commentary easily but admits that it is going to be a little difficult to be in the commentary box at the ground where he made his debut, commenting on players who were there that day.

“It’s a privilege but it’s difficult in a way. You just wish you were out there, but I’m not and have to come to terms with it,” he said.

“In another way I guess it is motivating. I find it hard even watching the Tests because you wish you were out there and wish you had a different set of cards being dealt, but you’re pretty lucky to experience it in the first place and more so to have the opportunity to get back there.

“I like being involved with the game in any capacity. I find the Big Bash really enjoyable, especially working with Ferg (Callum Ferguson) – you end up bouncing off each other, bouncing ideas, it makes you think about the game in different ways to ­actually just playing.”