Concussion symptoms delay Will Pucovski's return to action
Will Pucovski was hit on the head by Riley Meredith on the 3rd of March 2024.
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Will Pucovski has been prone to concussions over the years. The latest of them happened on the 3rd of March in the game between Victoria and Tasmania, when he tried to duck a bouncer delivered by Riley Meredith. It has kept him out of action since then. The star batter, however, was included in the contract of Victoria for the 2024-25 season on a big condition. His participation will depend on the medical reports.
Cricket Australia (CA) has asked Cricket Victoria (CV) to have Will in their squad. However, his participation will not be possible until the verification of medical reports from three different parties - CA, CV, and independent medical experts. Given the repeated incidents of concussions in his career, Pucovski has not been a regular in Australia. He last played a Test match for Australia in Sydney, when India toured for the Border Gavaskar Trophy in 2020/21.
Victoria's General Manager of Cricket Performance Graham Manou confirmed that Will's situation will be assessed by the panel which involves medical experts from all parties. He claimed that CV and CA are working closely regarding the issue and will give a verdict soon. It was revealed that Will would receive compensation for his injuries if he could not be in action due to the concussion.
Earlier this year, Pucovski was in an interview where he spoke about his potential return to Australia. The young batter claimed that concussion has been a part of his life for a long time. He felt that there have been a lot of symptoms in the last 7-8 years.
"I sort of link the mental-health stuff back to my first concussion...which was when I was about 15 or 16. I have a lot of concussion symptoms that over a seven or eight-year period, actually never subsided," said Pucovski in the interview.
Will felt that he is sort of used to concussions and added that the brain is uniquely suited to adapt to them. He painfully claimed that passing concussion tests is a difficult task for him. "You just sort of got used to having them in a way. The brain's pretty amazing and can find ways to adapt. I would fail concussion tests in the exact same way every single time, regardless of whether I had been hit in the head, and that was over a seven or eight-year period," added Pucovski.
I don't fear for my long-term health: Will Pucovski
The Australian batter said that mental health is a bigger issue for him than the concussions. The gritty batter added that he does not fear for long-term consequences of concussions, but is only worried about his mental health.
"The mental health has been a much bigger issue for me than even the concussions. I don't fear for my long-term health, it's more the mental health side that's been the tougher part," Pucovski said.
Will said that he has undergone a lot of challenges in life and hoped to tell it to the world in the future. "One day I'll be ready to tell my whole story and it will probably make a lot more sense. I've explained what I've been through to my inner circle of people and actually, all the responses I've got have been like 'Jesus, I would never have guessed that in a million years, that doesn't even make sense to me'," concluded Pucovski.
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