Pucovski retires hurt in distressing scenes after another Sheffield Shield head knock

Surely he’s got an aptitude for golf. That’s not a bad retirement plan

On the rugby thread Simon cron told Jake strachan to retire and refused to select him. Jake went to the rebels ie another team to keep trying. Good player. Good at super level. Close to test level but coach felt ethically obliged to tell him him he wasn’t going to select him

Will played that ball from Meredith SO badly. A fast bowler has to be able to deliver that sort of ball and expect it to be played better than that. I don't want to sound harsh here, but there is a clear problem with how he plays short deliveries. It seems as though he just gets cleared of his latest concussion and then sent back out to bat without the cause being attended to. He is propping forward with his head moving in line with the ball. Great, unless you get an awkward short ball. He is turning his head away but not out of the line when confronted with a difficult short ball. Personally, I change my technique when facing pace that concerns me. I go to good old "back and across". It takes my head across the line of the ball - hence I can ride or hook the ball. I sacrifice authority off the front foot but find I can hook and cut quite readily and' most importantly, not get hit! Propping forward as your first move is good for fast medium and medium pace - but not against fast stuff. I think Will obviously has a technique problem. Having said that, I'd have no chance against Meredith and what I consider fast would be pedestrian for Will. However, it's all relative.

I think fear/PTS based now but he claims in media he's had mental illnesss/depression from memory need to double check

It seems to be the consensus.

I understand that and I think your opinion is ludicrous.

I'm not trying to start a petition here Dingo. Just my opinion.

perhaps the first with diagnosed CTE. Have a neuroscience degree and so don't make the comment lightly but there is at least one former Test opener that may have it

Me too but it was always coming. When he got the commentating gig I thought but you ain't done anything yet but soon moved to perhaps its a good thing

Really well written Tufanoo. One one misplaced word "unlucky".(bar the one where he got in the nets not batting. It's possible he is a bit spooked by the short ball now but historically he has been hit from the early days. The selectors having him open or 3 is weird and the coach (appearing) not to have work on the short ball defies explanation. In any of our workplaces this series of accidents would have required a response. Yeah his technique is not all the great. He looks good batting which is a bit like me being graceful but not a good dancer

This is a ludicrous take conflating the issues in 3 different sports. The element of risk in getting hit will always be there in cricket regardless of how high the ball bounces.

Just to clear the idea that whenever a batter gets hit is not automatically foul play in either sport. I've been bounced and sconned and never had the impression that they were aiming at me. I have been thrown at, I believe, deliberately and got hit but was in so much pain I had no recourse but to take my base and get the satisfaction of the pitcher being ejected by the umpire.

So it could psychological, hmmm

I know this, I'm not sure what this adds though? Are you talking about my key point that throwing a ball is easier to do accurately, meaning that hitting a batter is far rarer than a bowler hitting a batsman, due to the inherent difficult in bowling accurately? Which was one of my points? Otherwise I agree about your point on when the benches clear... but then American sports are bizarrely accepting of quite significant levels of violence/fighting that most other teams sports around the world have moved on from; Hockey has allowable fighting and even basketball gets bizarrely handbags at ten paces-like frequently. Funnily enough, the least violent 'fighting' sport in America is NFL...

The pitcher like the bowler is not trying to hit the batter. It's a brushback to set him up for a slider on the outside of the plate. Hit batters are an everyday occurrence in the majors. Some guys specialise in reaching base that way. Overwhelmingly, the occasions where a batter is hit is a slip or poorly executed pitch. If the pitcher deliberately targets the batter, and blokes can tell the difference, THEN the benches clear.

Not far behind you on.short sight issue rowdy. quite amusing as people would often think we see them or stare if short sighted and they dont understand. With pucovski I reckon there is some PTS there and its physiological and the hits have taken their toll. Early on he was a gun that didnt have to many problems so a couple of repetitive hits have taken their toll. When archer hit smith he had issues back in Australia to Wagner for sure etc . Luckily he didnt get concussed as many times but I do think it becomes psychological and anxiety driven and they get targeted. No bowling friends in a fierce competition on that level as they want to exploit and intimidate. I think he's an exceptionally talented cricketer we saw it on his test debut but these hits and the potential PTS have got on top of him and perhaps now its being seen as technical deficiency but he made to many first class runs for that

They are unavoidable, we hope to see less of them but we know we won’t see the end of them any time soon. To have none would require it to be contactless and even then you would get the odd one.

I hate seeing this keep happening. For his long term health it might be time to try a different sport. Might end up the first cricketer with CTE.

As someone who pushed heavily for this talented young man to take Warner’s spot, I must concede…this kid is not there and I am no longer convinced he ever will be. I think we should relegate Pucovski to the could have beens’. Hardie or McSweeney, how are they going?

Will, his family and his doctors need to have a very honest conversation with each other. This is awful and it has been happening for years now.