(Cricket News) Riley Meredith delivered a terrible knock on Will Pucovski’s helmet during Victoria’s Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in Hobart, forcing him to retire injured. The second delivery Pucovski faced was a short ball, and he was struck by it and fell to his knees in the crease.
The Victoria physiotherapist and Cricket Australia doctor arrived on the scene swiftly, but Pucovski needed some time to gather himself before he could leave the ground alone for additional evaluation. Campbell Kellaway was added to the starting lineup as a concussion replacement. Victoria is chasing 442, and the match is in its fourth innings.
“Medical staff is keeping an eye on Pucovski, who left the field,” a statement from Cricket Victoria stated. “We will release additional details later on.”
Throughout his career, Pucovski has sustained numerous concussions. Last month, he made a century at the SCG against New South Wales following another period of absence from the game. In addition, he took a break from the game to attend to his mental health, and he mentioned earlier this year that he had discovered a connection between that and his concussions.
Pucovski said to the Vic State Cricket podcast, “I kind of trace the mental health problems back to my first concussion…which was when I was about 15 or 16. Over a period of seven or eight years, my concussion symptoms literally never went away.
In a way, you simply grew accustomed to having them. The brain is a very remarkable organ that is adaptable. Regardless of whether I had been struck in the head, I would consistently fail concussion tests in the same manner, and that was over a period of seven or eight years.”
“For me, the issue of mental health has been far more significant than even the concussions,” he continued. “My mental health has been the harder aspect to deal with; I do not fear for my long-term health.”
“My narrative will eventually make a lot more sense when I am ready to tell it all. When I tell my close friends and family about what I have gone through, they always say things like, “Jesus, I never would have predicted that in a million years; that does not even make sense to me.”
