Touted as the future of Australian batting, Will Pucovski grabbed the limelight with an incredible start in his first-class cricket career for Victoria. After the stunning start in his first-class career, Pucovski almost bagged his international debut against Sri Lanka but lost his spot to an in-form Kurtis Paterson.
He starred for Victoria at the U-19 level blasting 4 centuries in national championships and followed it up with a List A debut against Pakistan in January 2017. This call-up came on the premise of his crackling form in the Sheffield Shield of the same season.
He also featured in the line-up of Cricket Australia XI against England that came prior to an impeccable 188 against Queensland in his second Shield game. He had an abrupt end to the season when he was smitten by a nasty bouncer in the helmet that led to a severe concussion.
In the first Sheffield Shield game, he blasted a brilliant double-century and ambled into the club of double-centurions before the age of 21 that vaunt the names of Don Bradman, Ian Chappell, Clem Hill, Darren Lehmann, Norm O’Neill, Ricky Ponting, Paul Sheahan, and Doug Walters.
He smacked a resonating 243 against Western Australia at WACA. Much to his tragic fortune, his mental health issues emerged in the same game and he had to take a 6-weeks break to recuperate. Pucovski got back to cricket just one game before BBL and the selectors needed no further wait to introduce him to the national line-up.
Pucovski was almost sure to get his debut against Sri Lanka only to see Paterson get a nod ahead of him. Much to his woes, his mental health issues re-emerged in the Canberra test and he had to take some time again for himself to get in the groove.
He returned to Victoria after a hiatus and eventually turned out to be an instrumental moniker in ushering them to the trophy.
He finished the Shield season with 649 runs at an average of 54.08 from just seven games. That also earned him a call up for the upcoming Australia A squads that charted their campaigns against England A squads for both the 50-over and four-day tests.
Pucovski’s father, Jan shared his roots with Czechoslovakia and migrated to Australia at the tender age of 7 years. Jan was also a cricketer and he played as a fine fast bowler and earned the title of ‘Caulfield’ legend.
Will Pucovski Age and Stats:
Will Pucovski was given the award of the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year in 2019.
He is just 22 years old and has already posted a monumental image of a great batsman at his tender age. He has managed to amass 1480 first-class runs at an average of 51.03. He has struck 5 centuries and 5 half-centuries. He has also smoked an unbeaten 255 as his first-class career-best.
His List-A career has just started taking flight as he has only played 12 games out of which he has smashed a brilliant 137 and has so far amassed 264 runs.
