When Will Pucovski hit two back to back double centuries in the Sheffield Shield’s last season and was called up to represent the Australian national team against India in the Test series. It was thought that the 3rd Test of the series at Sydney in which he was making his debut, would be the breakthrough moment for the injury-prone prodigy.
However, as if made of glass, he got injured again right after the match once again and was never to be seen.
The 23-year-old underwent shoulder surgery in February and if his Victoria coach Chris Rogers is to be believed, the fans might expect the long-haired charisma to be back playing for the Aussie come the Ashes.
“(There’s) A long way to go,” Rogers was quoted as saying to RSN Breakfast Club. “Shoulder injuries can take so long, and this one was the surgery. He’s just doing some basic stuff, but he’s targeted the first Shield game, so that’s excellent for us,” added the former Australian opener suggesting that Victoria might be benefited because of it when they start their Sheidfl journey against New South Wales on September 29 this year.
The left-handed high backlift player, known for his low strike rates and grounded shots in the longest format of the game further suggested that once back to playing Pucovski won’t take much time to get into the groove.
“For a player like him, I don’t think he’ll need a lot of time to get back into the groove of things. Hopefully, that first Shield game, he’s playing. I think if he gets a good run, we’ll see him playing in the Ashes. The great thing is there are enough games” said Rogers.
There would actually be enough games, in fact, a whole Test as the Ashes 2021-22 begins on December 8 with the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, while Aussies play a Test against Afghanistan in November right ahead of the Ashes. Thus that game could turn out to be a testing ground for players like Pucovski.