Will Pucovski forced into heartbreaking retirement at 26 due to devastating concussions

Young Australia National Cricket Team opener Will Pucovski won't be taking the bat again in his hand at the professional level. As per the reports in Nine News, it is learned that the right-hander's career has come to an end due to unfortunate medical reasons.

Rated as one of the most talented played in Australia, Will Pucovski no doubt has been one of the unluckiest cricketers to have played the game. Despite being in his early 20s, the batter has faced quite a lot of injuries, which has cost him a lot of chances at the senior level.

Will Pucovski has been at the receiving end of quite a few head injuries. The opening batter has faced a series of concussions with the latest one coming in March earlier this year while playing for Victoria during the Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in Hobart. He hasn't played the game since then and we might have seen the last of him.

As per the reports, Will Pucovski has been advised by the medical team to not play the game anymore and he will soon be announcing his retirement officially. The head injuries seem to have escalated which might be life-threatening and hence he would be forced to end his career at an early age.

A reporter close to the development stated that Pucovski was recommended to retire three months ago and now only the paperwork is pending. He revealed that the young batter is not even training and is instead traveling overseas. Tom Morris of Nine News explained:

“My understanding is that an independent panel of experts recommended Pucovski retire three months ago, and all that’s left is for Cricket Victoria and his team to formalise that contractually.

“The news doesn’t come as a surprise to teammates of Pucovski who haven’t seen him at training all pre-season he’s been travelling overseas.”

Will Pucovski has faced 13 blows on the head

Pucovski has been dealing with head injuries since 2021/22 summer. He even faced a concussion when he kicked a volleyball into his head during a Sheffield Shield warm-up. It was also reported that his head injuries were “not true concussions”, and more likely related to stress or trauma responses.

Overall, he has faced 13 blows on the head and now has been deemed unfit to play. He was offered a contract by Cricket Victoria in 2024/25, but Cricket Australia instructed Victoria to hold on to the contract until Pucovski had been assessed by a committee comprising representatives from CA, CV, and independent medical experts.

Pucovski made his debut for the Australia National Cricket Team during the 2021 Sydney Test against India National Cricket Team. The batter impressed many with his strokeplay as he scored 61 in the first innings. But suffered a shoulder injury midway in the game before he was replaced by Marcus Harris in the starting XI.

Pucovski played 36 first-class matches, scoring 2,350 runs at 45.19 with seven hundreds.