Cricket: Australia take gamble on Will Pucovski - the novice batsman with eight games and seven concussions

Will Pucovski is in line to make his Australian debut. Photo / Getty Images

Highly touted Australian young gun Will Pucovski is in line to make his test debut this year after bring selected in the squad to take on Sri Lanka.

Pucovski, 20, has been seen as a future star of the sport since smashing the run scoring record at Australia's 2016 Under-19 National Championships where he scored four consecutive centuries.

He's since gone on to star in the first-class game, including scoring a double century for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield.

However, Pucovski's name has been best associated with one of the most extraordinary runs of bad luck in sport - a cycle that has seen him suffer seven concussions in the past five years.

The Telegraph reports the unfortunate series began playing Aussie Rules in high school when he was forced to sit out six months of education after he slammed his head into the knee of another player and was restricted to home rest.

THERE IT IS!

Victoria's Will Pucovski has broken the runs record at the #U19Champs!!! pic.twitter.com/AdqL6gA8Qg

— Cricket Aus Pathway (@CAPathway) December 12, 2016

On his return to cricket, he was again ailed by concussions. First he was struck by a bouncer, next he cracked his skull on a door at home, and then during a net session a ball from a neighbouring net somehow found its way through and crashed into his head.

His debut for Victoria ended early when he was struck in the side of the head diving for a ball at mid-off, which prevented him from batting in the second innings. In late 2017, he was struck by another bouncer, before being felled by another short ball last March, the Telegraph reports.

In his return for Victoria last October, he went on to post 243 - becoming the youngest player since Ricky Ponting to score a double-hundred in the Sheffield Shield. The innings had people calling for him to be brought into the national system, but instead he took six weeks away from the sport to deal with mental health issues.

"It was one of those things where what it looked like from the outside wasn't quite matching up with what it was on the inside... I was more confused than at any other time in my life," Pucovski told The Follow-On podcast this week.

For those decrying the selection of Will Pucovski after 8 first-class games ... it is the same number McGrath and Healy had at the time of their Test debut ... Warne had played 7 ... Neil Harvey & Steve Waugh 11 ... and a bloke named Bradman 9 🏏

— Glenn Mitchell (@MitchellGlenn) January 9, 2019

Pucovski was one of a few new names in the squad for the upcoming series, alongside Joe Burns, Matt Renshaw and Marnus Labuschagne who are all returning to the squad.