Former Australian cricket prodigy Will Pucovski has formally announced he is retiring as a player and moving into coaching, detailing the “frightening” extent of his ongoing concussion-related symptoms.
The batsman overcame early head knocks to make his Test debut in 2021 but suffered a shoulder injury in that match and never returned to the top level.
Further concussions followed and a medical panel last year suggested he should never play again.
Pucovski said it had taken a long time to come to terms with being forced into retirement.
“I’m not going to be playing cricket again,” he told SEN on Monday.
“It’s been a really difficult year to put it as simply as possible. The simple message is, I won’t be playing at any level again.”
Pucovski put his name back up in lights with a century in the Sheffield Shield last year before suffering a concussion, believed to be the 13th across cricket and junior football, in the very next match.
“It had always been my dream to play for Australia, I found myself in that position in 2021,” he said this week.
“My ambition didn’t stop there. I wanted to be that guy that was a leader of the batting unit. I wanted to play 100 Tests.
“Unfortunately, one Test is where it ends.”
Pucovski said he had a “horrendous” time in the months after his last concussion, doing little around the house he shares with fiancee Emma.
He then spent a “ridiculous amount of time trying to find answers” but the symptoms never cleared.
Most worryingly, Pucovski and those close to him are well aware he is a different person today.
“It’s complicated. There’s the mental health symptoms, which is one part of it. Then there’s the fatigue, which is quite bad, I get regular headaches,” he said.
“I really struggle with things on my left side. If I have things happening in my left I feel sick and dizzy. I struggle with motion sickness.
“At 27, I have so much ahead of me and I have so many things I want to achieve in my life. I wanted to play another 15 years and that gets taken away which is bad enough.
“At least I know I won’t get hit in the head again, but when the symptoms are ongoing, it’s frightening.
“I know what I was like before these concussions and I know what I am now. My family and friends have noticed a difference in me and that’s scary for me and for them.”
Later on Monday it was announced Pucovski, who has joined the Channel 7 commentary box in recent summers, had been appointed coach of the Melbourne Cricket Club’s Premier team.
He averaged 56 from 52 matches for the MCC and won the 2022-23 premiership.
“I feel very honored to be given the opportunity to coach the MCC Premier Men’s cricket program,” Pucovski said in a statement.
“It’s always been my cricketing home, I have always enjoyed playing for the club and now to become coach, it means a lot to me.
“I’ve spent some time around the club over the last few years and helped with some batting coaching when needed.
“I’m now really excited about taking on the role as senior coach.
“I am going to bring contemporary knowledge and insight to the club, which will complement the experienced coaching and leadership group already in place.”
Pucovski scored 62 in the first innings of his only Test for Australia.
The Victorian finishes with a first-class average of 45.19, having scored seven centuries with a best knock of 255 not out.
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au