Muristek
With concussions on the rise and legal actions escalating, the sport has to change to protect its long-term future
By Jo Harman for Wisden Cricket Monthly
Will Pucovski should have spent the last few months opening for Australia in the Ashes. Instead, the 23-year old batting prodigy has been recovering from what is believed to be his 10th concussion. He experienced the first while playing Aussie rules as a teenager, a teammate’s knee crashing into his skull during training and forcing him to take six months out of school. Since then, the hits have kept coming at an alarming rate: he’s bumped his head on a door at home, on the turf when diving to complete a run, been hit by an errant ball at training, and received several blows to the head while batting. All of these have led to concussion symptoms and spells on the sidelines.
His latest concussion, sustained in October when Pucovski was struck in the nets, ended his hopes of featuring in the Ashes. It’s a troubling situation for a rare talent who made an accomplished half-century on his Test debut against India last January, before improbably (or perhaps inevitably given his bad luck) dislocating his right shoulder while diving for a ball in the field. He has not played a professional match since.
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