Where there’s a Will . . .
CRICKET: When you go bold in the selection room it’s always comforting to see someone who went even bolder hit the jackpot.
At first glance the selection of 20-year-old Will Pucovski for next week’s Gabba Test against Sri Lanka may seem an audacious gamble.
But India were all set to pitch their wonder boy Prithvi Shaw against Australia’s new ball attack this summer and he is almost two years younger than Pucovski.
Shaw, ruled out of India’s tour of Australia due to an ankle injury sustained in a fielding mishap, scored a Test century on debut and India already have more faith in him than most members of their top order, even though he has played only two Tests.
The message is that if you are good enough, you are generally old enough.
After just eight first class games it is too difficult to tell whether Pucovski is the oncein-a-generation player he is being touted as but the signs are encouraging.
For all of the boldness of youth it’s still probably a good thing Pucovski (pictured) will be eased into Test cricket against a moderate team.
History tells us the truly exceptional players deserve to be blooded young but also that there is no such thing as a smooth ride.
Don Bradman was dropped once and Ricky Ponting went in and out of the team several times as he flirted with his potential before a switch flicked and he roared off to become one of the greats of the game.
Steve Waugh started young and struggled with the burden of being the new wonder boy, to the point that he almost took perverse relief when his NSW teammates nicknamed him Boy Blunder.
It was not until he was omitted from a Test touring side he realised he was playing the way everyone else wanted him to and not the more conservative way he was suited to.
He changed his game and immediately became a better player.
For the best of the best however, age generally didn’t matter.
Sachin Tendulkar, who made his debut at 16, and West Indian icon Sir Garfield Sobers, who started at 17, stayed at the top for two decades.
India first discussed playing Tendulkar in a Test when he was 14 but felt the idea was too outrageous. When he went so well in his later teens it was generally agreed he could have played at 14. Fourteen!
Since Pucovski was selected there has been much talk about his promotion following the Australian tradition of elevating raw, unvarnished youth.
But when it comes to the super young, it has generally been the Asian nations rather than Australia who have been the trendsetters.
You can only imagine the amount of opportunities awaiting Pucovski if he shines at the Gabba.