Pucovski’s premature goodbye has lessons for cricket

In the middle of the IPL, the retirement of a one-Test player from distant shores might not have the impact it ought to. Will Pucovski was 26 last year when he suffered his 13th concussion. A medical panel advised retirement. He hasn’t played since, and now has formally retired.

There is sadness in a talent denied the chance to bloom. Part of the charm of sport lies in tracking the progress of a player from early promise to inevitable fulfilment.

Pucovski’s father has Czech roots and emigrated to Australia from Serbia. But the player is famous not just for his romantic origins. In 2019 he was, by all accounts, on the cusp of greatness. On his debut, against India two years later, he made 62, opening with David Warner in Sydney.

To be concussed 13 times might suggest a flaw in technique. Ian Chappell, former Australian captain said some years ago, “his technique against the short ball is sub-standard.” Tim Paine, who led in Pucovski’s Test thought he was merely unfortunate.

Harvey Hosein was 25 and on first class debut had eleven victims as wicketkeeper. He retired after four concussions. He explained how unease and anxiety would collide as training or a match approached. “Harvey acted professionally,” said his Derbyshire chief executive.

Pukovski’s mental struggles are well recorded. “Walking around the house was a struggle,” he said, “My fiancée was annoyed because I didn’t contribute to chores. I was sleeping a lot.”

Inner struggles

The inner struggles of a player are difficult for an outsider to fully comprehend. Language fails, efforts at precision and specificity fall short. A Stanford University study in 2019 said, “Concussion is a big, vague term and we need to start breaking it down.”

In their book Crickonomics:The Anatomy of Modern Cricket, authors Stefan Szymanski and Tim Wigmore speak of cricket’s concussion crisis. Three significant conclusions emerge from the studies quoted: one, there’s so much we don’t know about concussion, especially its long-term effects. Two, concussions are systematically under-reported. And three, since the advent of the helmet a lot more people are being hit on the head.

This last is easily explained. Batters take fast bowling head-on (literally), confident that protected body parts will not be affected by poor technique. Very few go back-and-across to allow the bouncer to sail by harmlessly, duck under it or hook it naturally. There is too the fact that fast bowlers — none of whom wishes to physically injure anyone — bowl more aggressively at the sight of a helmet.

In 2017, a study examined the brains of 111 NFL players; 110 of them showed signs of the degenerative disease CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). Despite the terrible cases of Philip Hughes and Raman Lamba, deaths in cricket as a result of being hit on the head are rare. But there is no guarantee, as Crickonomics says, that “bouncers will not have catastrophic repercussions later in life.”

A study of 197 head impacts on 130 players in elite men’s and women’s cricket between 2014 and 2019, indicated the likelihood of players suffering concussion when struck on the helmet could be reduced. New helmet standards reduced chances of a serious head or neck injury, it felt, but may have increased concussion risks because of less “give”.

All sport is involved in a continuous battle to make itself safe for its practitioners, amateur, professional and casual. Cricket’s concussion substitute rule is an example of common sense triumphing, pushed by scientific data.

Reasons for quitting

Pucovski, an articulate man with interests beyond cricket, said at his retirement, “In the couple of months post the last concussion I struggled to get anything done. The first few months were horrendous, but things didn’t leave me. When you have symptoms for over a year —- and I’ve had others for numerous years — it is difficult to see how I can play professional sport again when I’m struggling to live my life how I want to. I just don’t want to risk doing any more damage to my brain than I’ve already done.”

Any athlete’s forced goodbye is heart-breaking. Pucovski’s must lead to more investment in research and education. One-size-fits-all doesn’t work. Justin Langer also had 13 concussions. But he played 105 Tests.