Will Pucovski aims to 'repay the faith' as Victoria eye Shield glory

With his current comeback to cricket, Will Pucovski views it as a "second chance" and is emerging as a key member of Victoria's effort to eye towards a Sheffield Shield final thrice on the trot. He broke his three-year streak without a century by scoring 131 runs off of 302 balls against New South Wales last Saturday at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Despite this achievement, the game was prematurely stopped by inclement weather, with Victoria needing just two wickets for victory.

The century was a bright spot for Pucovski, especially considering it followed his 11th concussion, which he sustained during a Second XI match against South Australia on January 21. The 26-year-old's swift two-week recovery from the incident is seen optimistically by himself.

"It was a pretty regulation concussion – I got hit by a bouncer. 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. Obviously it was frustrating that I missed that first Shield game back, but in terms of the doctors and working with them and getting through all that, (it) was a pretty simple concussion (and) return-to-play process," Pucovski said on SEN Radio.

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"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. I felt symptoms for two, two-and-a-half weeks, and then as soon as those symptoms went away, and with the physical program I was doing to increase my tolerance and everything, it all clicked into place that I was able to get a couple of days' prep in before the Shield game and then return to the team.

" So in that regard, it was really good to almost have just a normal concussion in a way and just go through that normal process. Obviously, it's hard from the outside because people probably assume there's other stuff going on, but that's genuinely as simple as it was," he added.

He continued to discuss the challenges he's been confronting in recent times. Notably, this latest century marks his seventh in first-class cricket, and he expressed that he sees this performance as a breakthrough. It also reaffirmed that he can still depend on his established methods for preparation, focus, and scoring runs.

"It's been a huge journey of pretty significant ups and downs. 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. 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. So it did feel extra special in that regard. It sort of felt like a first hundred in a way, which was a pretty nice feeling," he further said.