"I was pretty close to giving up on myself"- Will Pucovski looks at comeback hundred as 'second chance'
Will Pucovski made a fantastic comeback to the Sheffield Shield for Victoria as he smashed a fine hundred against New South Wales in Sydney on Saturday, February 20. The 26-year-old scored 131 runs off 302 balls and put his team in the driver's seat to win the match.
New South Wales managed to save the game by the skin of their teeth as bad light and rain meant that the visitors couldn't clinch the game despite having the hosts at 116/8. Nevertheless, they will be delighted with the way Pucovski performed on his comeback.
Here's what Will Pucovski told SEN radio on his hundred and how he has had to deal with his mental health issues:
"Given where I know I've been, to get that first hundred back, in a way, I look at it as a bit of a second chance at a career, which I've been very lucky to have because of the support I've had from my state and my teammates, and everyone that's been around me."
He added:
"Hopefully I can start to repay that faith that a lot of people have had in me when it probably would have been easier to give up, and I was pretty close to giving up on myself at some stages."
Pucovski has also played a Test match for Australia, but his history of concussion injuries, as many as eleven of them, has massively hindered his career so far.
Will Pucovski on recovering from his latest concussion
Will Pucovski was set to make his Sheffield Shield comeback for Victoria earlier, but that was delayed as he got hit on his helmet during a Second XI game against South Australia on January 21.
While he had to go through a two-week recovery, Pucovski claimed that it was just a normal concussion and didn't have any complications like his previous ones. On this, he stated:
"Probably just technically got it wrong on that one particular ball … got hit, and had a pretty normal concussion response, which, in a way, it was actually a pretty big positive. To be honest, that was probably the first time I'd been hit and I didn't feel overly stressed by it. I just thought, OK, it is what it is."
Will Pucovski had recently claimed on the Cricket Victoria Podcast that he would open up on his mental health issues when the time was right. He would be hopeful that the difficult days are behind him and that he would be able to play Test cricket for Australia again.