I’ve thought long and hard about whether to post my thoughts but this whole Will Pucovski situation troubles me greatly.
I woke up the other day (I’m back in England) to read that Will had to retire hurt after being hit by a short ball again and has ‘mild’ concussion symptoms.
What rubbish that is. You’re either concussed or you are not.
I gather that this is the eighth or ninth time he’s been concussed in his career – and he’s only 22 years of age.
I am not for one moment criticising or denigrating Will in any way.
I gather he’s a lovely young man and obviously a wonderfully gifted young player.
But he clearly has an issue playing and dealing with the short ball.
I gather he turned his head and ducked into the one the other day.
I love my cricket and have read, listened, watched, played (badly) and umpired it for most of my life. Just about everyone I respect in our great game says the same thing.
When the balls short you simply have to keep your eyes on it for as long as possible and then sway out of the way.
Easier said than done but it has to be done.
Will obviously hasn’t mastered this technique.
He isn’t the first and won’t be the last. But should he be selected to play at the highest level when he has this fundamental flaw in his game?
His card will be well and truly marked by every other Test-playing nations.
Will Pucovski (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
I can’t help thinking about next year’s Ashes series.
England will definitely be coming over there with at least two 90mp/h bowlers.
Should Will be playing, he will almost certainly be facing Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Olly Stone bombing him constantly.
Is that fair on him? And to be fair, is it fair on the Englishmen?
What happens if Archer hits him and Will has to go off when everyone knows that he has a serious weakness (not courage, he’s got plenty of that) against the short ball.
I can’t help but think back to the 2013/14 Ashes tour and the Jonathan Trott/Mitchell Johnson situation. Mitchell had seriously worried Jonathan in the one dayers a few months earlier.
Everyone knew that Trott was seriously troubled by him but picked him anyway to bat at number 3 at the Gabba.
It obviously didn’t end well and Jonathan was on the next plane home in a seriously troubled mental state.
Why was he picked in the first place? It’s like he was being set up to fail.
Even more concerning for me is Will’s well documented issues with his mental health.
We all know what the build up to an Ashes series is like.
Should Will be picked, all the talk in the media will be about how will he handle the bombardment to come.
Again, is this fair on both the batsman or the opposition?
At best surely Will should be left to play grade/shield cricket for the next few years and some expert coaching on the weaknesses in his game.
He’s still only 22. He has plenty of time.
The other option is that he retire and do something else with his life.
Just about every other sport in the world is finally starting to wake up to the dangers of head trauma and the effects it has on the players.
Indeed this morning I’ve read about the terrible dilemma of Steve Thompson, England’s hooker in their 2001 Rugby World Cup win.
He’s 42 years old and can’t remember anything about the game.
He struggles to remember his wife’s name some days and has been informed it’ll probably only get worse.
He received multiple head knocks throughout his career but as was the case in his era, you played on.
His main concern is that his young children won’t remember him as a World Cup Winner but as a shambling wreck who can’t look after himself.
It’s absolutely heartbreaking.
So my main point is the cricket authorities should step in a make the incredibly difficult decision and tell Will he won’t, under any circumstances, be picked for Australia.
The cricket family will look after and support him in what ever he wants to do with his life.
At least eight concussions playing cricket at 22 years of age is too many.
In 40 years time it would be nice to think that Will has led a fruitful and enjoyable life, not as a sportsman who can’t remember if he batted or bowled.
I hope I haven’t come over as too harsh here. But surely there are red lights flashing left, right and centre with this situation.
Sport can often be heartbreaking. It doesn’t have to be tragic as well.
Shane
Guest
Nov 2021 and he has had further concussions just batting in the cricket nets. I agree Cricket Australia needs to tell him that he will not be selected for Australia and in fairness to himself and those who will have to bowl to him knowing how much damage they are going to cause he needs to retire from playing cricket and move on with his life.
Graeme Docker
Roar Rookie
Not harsh at all, just genuine concern
Ian
Roar Rookie
I despair...Anyway Simoc has sorted it out for the rest of us.Justin Langer is slow? What an insult to a truly great Australian player.All those head knocks???...The rugby Guys are all grog heads?...All my original post was about was to hope that Will Pucovski was being looked after...All everyone in the sporting world are talking about in this part of the sporting world are concussions,and the resultant legal cases resulting about them...There are legal cases coming in to football,union,league even horse racing.Why should cricket be immune?
Simoc
Guest
Pretty average article I think. As long as Pucovski doesn't get to be as slow as Justin Langer, who got hit on the head nearly as frequently as he batted, I'll be fine with him. There is a fair bit more known about brain bruising now so surely the medical experts should be the ones to listen to. The rugby guys are mostly getting hit on a weekly basis during the season with varying effects. You shouldn't say one guy can't remember his career after getting concussed. He may also have a drinking problem or Alzheimers or dementia or varying degrees of all and more conditions. You're pretending to know what you don't.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
He's damn lucky Fitzsimmons doesn't hate cricket or he'd be calling for a mandatory retirement and public flogging of the coaches that are letting him play. He is a professor of medicine after all!
boxingkoala
Roar Rookie
The bottom line is none of us know the intricate details of those 8 concussions. I will let the medical experts make the calls with the young lad.
boxingkoala
Roar Rookie
Didn't think people would have not understood this!!!
boxingkoala
Roar Rookie
Yeah that is what I really intended to say re pitches
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Exactly, which is why it bugs me so much when I hear people talk about it as if it's the opposite, a rampant, strong Australian team just bullying a pathetic, weak England team. England came into that series at their absolute peak, seemingly strong right across the eleven players. England had been ranked #1 in tests not long before, and I think were still probably #2 just behind SA at the time. Even with home advantage to Australia, England probably entered that series as favourites to win. So for Australia to demolish them 5-0 was totally shocking!
matth
Roar Guru
Such a tough call, as many have already commented. Poor Pucovski is one of the unluckiest cricketers going round, with this being the third time he's basically been picked but had to pull out at the last minute due to illness or injury. I honestly don't know where this goes next. I'm not qualified and not close enough in any case, but I wish him all the best, whatever happens from here. I wonder if this had happened after say 20 tests under his belt, whether he would be more likely to make the call himself to finish up, compared to now when he hasn't had the chance to debut but he has been so very close.
matth
Roar Guru
Part of the reason that the 2013/14 series and MJ's part in it was so memorable was because it was so very unexpected. Four years before England had batted us into the ground. They had never had a real problem with Johnson before. they were settled, experienced and had at the time probably the world's premier opening batsman, close to the best number three, Pietersen in the middle order and possibly the best wicket keeper batsman as well. The result was shocking.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately james, the doctor cannot make *any* call as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) "...can only be diagnosed after death through brain tissue analysis." https://concussionfoundation.org/CTE-resources/what-is-CTE
U
Roar Rookie
I don’t think it’s too far from cricket Australia calling it a day for Will. I’d let him go on for now but if he gets hit again in the near future, I’d be close to calling time
badmanners
Roar Rookie
I'm wondering is their some level of duty of care from his employer CA? On another level after ducking into this last incident if that isn't enough to make his coaches bring on some intense remedial work on his technique then they themselves are guilty of negligence. I don't believe he should play until he can demonstrate that he has found an approach which shields himself from the danger he is putting himself in. It's a sad situation to be in so close to a baggy green.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Their call based on medical evidence. So the doctor’s call, as I said.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Exactly, that's just the problem isn't it! When it's something like this. It's not like say, Boxing, where you are basically guaranteed to get punched in the head every time you fight, or even something like NRL where you are smashing into other guys in tackles constantly and are pretty much guaranteed to get some sort of a hit to the head reasonably regularly. A bouncer hitting the helmet is something that could happen, leave you concussed, you recover, and play for another 10 years without another significant head knock. So if you are feeling 100%, it's a really hard call to say you need to stop playing cricket just in case you cop another hit at some point. A much harder call than other sports where getting hit in the head is just a normal part of the sport.
Paul
Roar Guru
"it’s absurd to suggest there aren’t degrees of concussion". No it's not. the medical profession will be the first to admit they have little idea about the effects of head knocks, short or long term. In the case of Puckovski's latest incident, many have commented the blow he received was a glancing one and looked innocuous, but there's not a person alive who can know what short or long term problems may have been caused to him specifically, as a result of this injury. As for CA stepping in, absolutely it might be their call. They're an employer and they have a clear obligation to determine whether they're putting a player at risk of injury or death as a result of their decisions, including selections. Yes, they'd base their final call on expert medical advice, but it's still most definately their call to make
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Not missing the point. I know his main point is that having a bunch of concussions the writer of the article believes that he probably just needs to stop playing cricket. But this is a site where people write stories and others can comment, and there's no rule that says that comments need to only relate to the main, core point of the article, or that replying to each others comments aren't allowed to go off on other tangents.
Paul
Roar Guru
There's really on one solution and that's to stop putting oneself in a position where further concussions might occur. The problem with that is, he'll never know if he could have completed a 100 Test career and never have another head injury of any kind.
Mooty
Roar Rookie
I believe you are all missing the point of the article. He has suffered eight concussions, played limited first class cricket and is only 22. In afl or league he would have been stopped from playing before this due to duty of care. It’s a sad situation given his obvious talent, but Cricket Australia have no choice but to follow the other major codes guidelines