The arrival of a highveld thunderstorm, and the threat of lightning that came with it, brought the first game of the Sunday double-header to a premature end

The Report by Liam Brickhill25-Nov-2018

The arrival of a highveld thunderstorm, and the threat of lightning that came with it, brought Tshwane Spartans’ game against Nelson Mandela Bay Giants at Centurion to a premature end with Giants seven runs ahead on DLS. Just as heavy, grey cloud rumbled over the ground Giants nipped out two Spartans wickets in three balls – including the prized scalp of AB de Villiers – to derail Spartans’ chase just as five overs were completed and the umpires stopped play.Giants had been kept to 143 for 9 by a clinical effort with the ball from Spartans, with Jeevan Mendis’ legspinning variations proving too much for the middle order as he collected 4 for 22. Seamer Lutho Sipamla chipped in with 3 for 29, getting rid of Marco Marais for 47 and Chris Morris just as he set himself to cut loose in the final over, and were it not for the approaching weather, Spartans’ chase should have been an easy one.It had been predicted that rain would reach the ground at 4pm, but the clouds started to roll in much sooner and the early loss of Gihahn Cloete stalled Spartans’ efforts to stay in touch with the DLS par. Even more troublesome were the quick dismissals of Tony de Zorzi and de Villiers moments before the game was stopped.Struggling to pierce the cover field, de Zorzi edged a cut at Sisanda Magala in the fifth over, and with Spartans just behind the DLS par, Carmi le Roux struck the knockout blow with his first ball. De Villiers walked across his stumps, looking to attack the fine leg boundary, but le Roux beat his paddle with a full ball that struck his boot. It was a marginal call, and the ball may well have missed the off stump, but Umpire Bongani Jele upheld the appeal to set Spartans even further back.Lightning had been visible to the south of the ground, and it has struck the floodlight towers during a domestic game at Centurion in the past so before another ball had been bowled, with player safety in mind, umpires Jele and Johan Cloete removed the players from the field.The weather spoiled what had been an excellent day in the field for Spartans. Both Mendis and Sipamla found themselves on hat-tricks, and though neither completed the milestone Spartans never let Giants off the hook.Giants captain Jon-Jon Smuts and fellow opener Marais had got their team off to a flier first up, but the opening stand was quickly snapped by Corbin Bosch, who has been picked up by Spartans as a replacement for the injured Lungi Ngidi. With his third ball, he found the top edge of Smuts’ pull, and Mendis then got to work on the middle order.Ben Duckett was stumped for 3, having wandered out of his crease looking for a single unaware that the ball had ricocheted off his body and rolled into wicketkeeper Cloete’s gloves. In his next over, Mendis bowled Christiaan Jonker with an arm ball, and he ended his spell with the dismissals of Rudi Second and Sisanda Magala with consecutive balls.With Spartans’ bowlers tight on the yorker at the death, Sipamla returned to repeat the trick in his final over, getting rid of Morris and Tahir with successive deliveries to dent Giants’ charge. He had also removed Marais three runs short of his fifty, and Giants stumbled a little to get to their total. Bad weather, and last-minute wickets, meant it was just enough.

Ireland will begin their first overseas Test match on St Patrick’s Day – March 17 – when they take on Afghanistan next year, in what will be a second Test outing for both of the game’s newest senior nations.The Test will be the culmination of a nine-match itinerary, which will also include three T20Is on February 23, 24 and 26, and five ODIs on March 2, 4, 7, 9 and 12 – all in the northern India city of Dehradun, Afghanistan’s home from home.Both teams made their Test debuts in 2018, with Ireland taking on Pakistan in Malahide in May, before Afghanistan played India at Bangalore in June.”Afghanistan are a quality side with world-class players – it’ll be a great challenge in their ‘home’ conditions,” said the Ireland batsman, Andrew Balbirnie.”The Afghanistan series is a major step forward for Irish cricket as the tour is the first one as a Full Member.””It will no doubt be a test for the entire squad – taking on Afghanistan in subcontinent conditions will require a level of adjustment by both our batting and bowling units.For Afghanistan, the limited-overs leg of the tour will form part of their preparations for next year’s World Cup – a tournament for which they qualified in remarkable circumstances in Zimbabwe last year.Ireland missed out on that showpiece event, but their highlight of 2018 promises to be a maiden Test match against England at Lord’s in July, a four-day affair that will form part of their hosts’ preparations for the Ashes which get underway on August 1.”The level and regularity of top-quality international cricket in 2019 will be exciting for Irish cricket fans,” said Balbirnie.”The year will start with this Afghanistan series, and will involve a busy home schedule of matches involving multiple Full Member nations – starting with an ODI against England at Malahide in May.”There’s also the Lord’s Test against England in July, and the year will end with the T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in October.”

Lack of support from Cricket Victoria leaves Cricket Australia lacking the united front it has been desperately striving for since David Peever’s exit

Daniel Brettig28-Nov-2018Earl Eddings, the Cricket Australia chairman, has begun his permanent tenure the same way his predecessor David Peever ended his – without unanimous support from the six state associations that own the governing body.Cricket New South Wales and its chairman John Knox, who advised Peever that his position was untenable following the release of the independent cultural review into CA earlier this month, advised Eddings of their support for his position on Tuesday. However, his own state of Victoria declined to support a process by which the chairman moved from interim to permanent while two vacancies remained on the Board.These roles, left by Peever and the long-serving Mark Taylor, are to be filled through a nominations committee process that would feature the involvement of NSW but has yet to begin. Cricket Australia’s Board ultimately determined that it needed to move ahead with Eddings’ appointment through until the end of 2019 for reasons of stability, and also to allow the chairman to fulfill his substantial ICC duties – the next meeting of the global body’s executive board is set to take place in February.Nevertheless, the lack of support from Cricket Victoria, which has a new chairman in Paul Barker, following the retirement of Russell Thomas earlier this year, and two other recently appointed directors in David Hussey and Phil Hyde, leaves CA lacking the united front it has been desperately striving for since Peever’s exit.Extensive consultation with the states around the chairman’s status has been accompanied by an overdue peace summit with the Australian Cricketers Association, and the new chief executive Kevin Roberts’ removal of two polarising senior executives in Pat Howard and Ben Amarfio.”Cricket Victoria has made its view clear and our preference remains that the interim Chairman arrangements were maintained while Australian cricket undertakes a thorough process to fill the recent Board vacancies,” Barker said. “We have actively encouraged Cricket Australia to pursue this opportunity through an established nominations committee – a process that Cricket Victoria firmly believes would deliver the best outcome for Australian cricket.”The Board director Jacquie Hey, who accompanied Peever at his public announcement of the cultural review’s findings, said CA was trying to now establish a measure of continuity. “There’s no question this year has been a challenging one for cricket and for Cricket Australia,” she said. “Our aim is to ensure management are empowered to rebuild trust and strengthen the game.”Earl’s involvement over the past decade provides continuity in a time of change and enables the Board to maintain strong relations with the ICC, other member countries and our valued partners. Earl is a well-regarded member of the team with a solid understanding of our history and the need for better working relationships across the cricket community.”A CA director since 2008, Eddings had accompanied Peever to this year’s ICC annual conference in Ireland before being formally appointed deputy chairman at the AGM a few days before the review was released. “Cricket is only what it is in Australia because of the commitment of our people, the fans and the thousands of volunteers around the country,” he said. “I am honoured to serve in this position and am committed to making cricket stronger and a game that we can all be proud of.”It’s important that, along with our owners, the State and Territory Associations, the players and the Australian Cricketers’ Association, that we work harder than ever before to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds across the country and continue to strengthen cricket’s privileged position as Australia’s favourite summer pastime, whether you are a spectator, player or volunteer.”

The Danes continued the trend of sides winning the toss and losing the match, becoming the ninth team in ten matches to do so at Division Three

Peter Della Penna in Muscat15-Nov-2018Crucial half-centuries from captain Chetan Suryawanshi and Manpreet Singh rescued Singapore from an early hole to take them to 204, which was easily defended in a rousing 63-run win over Uganda.Uganda won the toss and sent Singapore in, and Frank Nsubuga again heaped pressure on the opposition by bowling offspin with the new ball, ending with figures of 2 for 16 including five maidens. When Riazat Ali Shah struck with the final ball of the Powerplay, Singapore’s top three were gone with just 36 on the board.But Suryawanshi steadied the innings by dominating a 56-run stand with Rezza Gavnavi, who blocked at one end to make 10 off 53 balls while Suryawanshi counterattacked to eventually finish with 57 off 61 balls. The medium pace of Kenneth Waiswa and Deus Muhumuza eventually claimed both batsmen to put Singapore in a hole at 115 for 5 after 32 overs.However, Manpreet scored 59 off 79 balls and anchored the rest of the innings, doing an excellent job of shepherding the tail into the final over before he was last man out slogging across the line to be bowled for Riazat’s third wicket.The Oman house of horrors continued for Roger Mukasa as he was the second of three Uganda top-order batsmen to fall for a duck inside the first five overs to leave their chase reeling at 8 for 3. Ronak Patel and Muhumuza were dismissed off consecutive balls as Uganda slipped to 21 for 5. Their last recognised batsman, Dinesh Nakrani, fell in the 17th to make it 35 for 6.Singapore were on the verge of a massive net run rate boost for the tournament tiebreaker until Kenneth Waiswa showed some spine down the order, cracking an unbeaten 61 off 63 balls. But Riazat was the only one to offer him any support with 16 as nobody else crossed double-figures. New-ball medium pacer Janak Prakash came back for a late spell and dismissed Nsubuga for the eighth wicket to claim his third of the day before legspinner Anantha Krishna knocked over the rest of the tail as Uganda eventually subsided for 141 in 42 overs.Peter Della Penna

The Bajan pair of Hayden Walsh and Aaron Jones dug USA out of a deep hole at 87 for 5 with a 131-run partnership in a hard-fought 16-run win over Denmark. The Danes continued the trend of sides winning the toss and losing the match, becoming the ninth team in ten matches to do so at Division Three after sending USA in.USA had a methodical start from Jaskaran Malhotra and Monank Patel as Denmark opened with spin from both ends. It resulted in 42 dot balls in the Powerplay and though USA reached 61 for 0 in 15 overs, the pressure from Denmark’s spinners continued to build until both openers cracked.Monank was stumped for 22 charging Bashir Shah while Malhotra was run out for 39 two overs later after being sent back by Steven Taylor on a ball pushed to point. Three more wickets fell in quick succession as USA’s slide reached 26 for 5 by the time Walsh and Jones came together in the 26th over.The match was evenly balanced at the second drinks break at 134 for 5 in 37 overs, before pair took 70 off the next nine overs to swing momentum USA’s way. Walsh eventually fell for 57, scooping Jino Jojo to short fine leg to end the stand, before Jones was cleaned up by a yorker from Jonas Henriksen on the final ball of the 49th. Seven more runs off the final over took USA to 230 for 8.Denmark gave USA a scare in the chase, with openers Taranjit Bharaj and Hamid Shah reaching 46 for 0 by the end of the Powerplay. But Timil Patel struck a double-blow to start the 11th. The first of his four wickets was an lbw decision against captain Hamid for 12 that appeared to be going down leg.The next delivery, Timil had Freddie Klokker edging a googly to Taylor at slip. Klokker came into the match with 404 runs in six matches v USA at an average of 101 including two unbeaten centuries, but with their greatest batting nemesis gone, USA became favourites once again.Bharaj and Abdul Hashmi fought hard with an 87-run partnership to keep USA sweating in the field on the hottest day of the tournament. It took the return of Timil to break the stand as Hashmi fiddled across the line to be given leg before for 48. Bharaj seemed set to go past three figures but fell in the next over to Saurabh Netravalkar as a leading edge ballooned to mid-off for a simple catch for 69.Denmark’s tail wagged valiantly before Ali Khan’s direct hit from the long-off boundary in the 49th put USA one wicket from victory. With 17 to win off the final over, Ali clinched the match off the third ball by inducing a skier off Jonas Henriksen to extra cover.

Ruben Amorim has vehemently refuted reports that suggested the Sporting CP manager has already reached a verbal agreement to join Liverpool.

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• Liverpool intensely linked with Amorim
• Reds pursuing him after being snubbed by Alonso
• Amorim distanced himself away from the rumours

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Known as one of the brightest young talents in European football management, Amorim has emerged as a frontrunner to succeed Klopp at Liverpool. This comes after Klopp announced his decision to step down as Liverpool's head coach in January, prompting the club to search for his successor.

  Initially, Xabi Alonso was considered a top candidate for the position. However, Alonso, who has had a successful start to his managerial career, confirmed his commitment to Bayer Leverkusen, dismissing any possibility of a move to Liverpool.

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  Recent reports claimed that Amorim reached a “verbal agreement in principle” to take charge at Anfield from next season. It was even touted that he has been offered a three-year contract and everything is in place at Merseyside, barring his signature.

• WHAT AMORIM SAID

  However, during a press conference, Amorim denied these reports, insisting that he has had no discussions or agreements with Liverpool officials.

  "There was no interview, much less an agreement [with Liverpool]," he told reporters. "The only thing we want, all of us here, is to be champions with Sporting, and nothing will change. I'll say it again: I'm Sporting's coach. There was no interview with any club, no agreement with any club. I am focused, as always, on defending my club."

  Amidst the speculation, Amorim urged the media to refrain from further inquiries about his future, expressing his determination to focus on Sporting's pursuit of the Portuguese league title.

  "Since I really have nothing to say: there will be no interviews or agreements with the Sporting coach. The matter is resolved, whether for this club or another. This is the last time I talk about my future," he said.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Amorim is contracted with Sporting until 2026, and Liverpool may need to trigger his €20 million (£17m/$22m) release clause to secure his services. The former Portuguese international has enjoyed success at Sporting, guiding the team to the Primeira Liga title in the 2020-21 season. Currently, Sporting sit four points clear of Benfica at the top of the table this season, with a game in hand.

Mason Greenwood continues to thrive for Marseille in France, leading to growing speculation over whether a return to the Premier League could be possible for the former Manchester United outcast. Links with a move to La Liga have also gathered pace, while tentative links with both Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United have led to questions after the highly controversial circumstances which led to his exile from Old Trafford in 2022.

Greenwood's chances of Premier League return revealed

Reports by TEAMtalk state that sources reveal a Premier League return for Greenwood is still believed to be 'off limits', despite his strong goalscoring record with French giants Marseille.

Greenwood is still just 24 years-old and netted 21 Ligue 1 goals in his debut campaign in the competition, following that on with another 13 in all competitions this term, 10 in the league to lead the division’s top scorer charts at present.

Marseille are currently third in Ligue 1, four points behind PSG and five behind leaders Lens, while Roberto De Zerbi’s men have won successive Champions League games to reach nine points in the competition and rise comfortably into the play-off places.

Greenwood’s form has led to ‘hope’ that he can ‘step up to a bigger stage’, with La Liga giants Barcelona and Atletico Madrid reported to hold an interest in the former Carrington academy graduate. However, reports of a return to the Premier League are not believed to be viable for the forward.

AdvertisementGettyLa Liga or Saudi moves a possibility for Greenwood

TEAMtalk’s report continues that major stumbling blocks between Greenwood and a return to England include ‘his controversial history from his time at Manchester United and any backlash to his signing’.

Following serious accusations made towards Greenwood back in January 2022 and his subsequent arrest, fans almost unanimously rejected the prospect of the young forward returning to the Red Devils set-up when the charges were ultimately dropped the following year.

The situation is unlikely to change less than three years on – or at any stage in his career – and reports continue that sources close to both Tottenham and West Ham confirm that it is unlikely either club step up a pursuit for Greenwood at this stage. Though some, such as manager De Zerbi, have come to the defence of Greenwood's character.

The report continues that Greenwood is likely to ‘put himself in the shop window’, though, and a return to La Liga is possible. The Marseille forward hit double figures on loan at Spanish top-flight outfit Getafe in 2023/24, following a near 18-month break from competitive football.

Reports have also suggested that a bid of €100million (£87m/$116m) has been tabled for Greenwood from the Saudi Pro League, with United set to pocket 50% of Marseille’s profits on their former wonderkid.

'He helps me improve' – Greenwood praises De Zerbi in rare interview

Greenwood recently spoke to Téléfoot about the positive impacts which De Zerbi has had on him in his time at Marseille thus far, in what was reportedly his first interview since departing United.

“I’m in a really good place thanks to the coach and my teammates,” said Greenwood

“I feel good and I hope to improve, to win more awards this season. Roberto De Zerbi? He’s the brains of the team, the architect of our game. He helps me understand football much better, he helps me improve every day.

“We’ve signed quite a few players, very, very strong players,” he added. “We’ve improved in certain areas. I feel like we’re a bit more of a team this season; we’re all on the same wavelength, you can see it. We’re [third] and I hope we can keep fighting to be number one.”

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Getty ImagesWhat next for Greenwood?

If his strong form in France continues, it is an increasing possibility that we could see Greenwood at the centre of a major transfer story in 2026. It is highly unlikely that will involve a Premier League club, though, as it appears that his bridges in England have been burnt for the foreseeable future.

The 24-year-old has evidently been accepted in Europe, however, and may yet forge a successful career for himself outside of his country of birth. He might also return to the international stage, after successfully switching his allegiance to Jamaica earlier this year.

Setting aside the ongoing negotiations, the PCB CFO asked the teams to fulfil their outstanding financial obligations, failing which they stand to lose their bank guarantees

Umar Farooq29-Nov-2018

PSL franchises have been asked by the PCB to clear all outstanding dues by next week, despite ongoing negotiations between them to re-look at the financial model underpinning the league.The PCB’s chief finance officer Badar Manzoor Khan has asked in an email seen by ESPNcricinfo that all the teams pay up by December 3, failing which the board reserves the right to encash the franchises’ bank guarantees.The move has angered franchises who, in their recent meeting with the PCB in Islamabad, had formed a three-member committee to revisit the revenue-share model on which the PSL was founded, including an effort to gain tax breaks from the government. The email asking for payment has come even as the committee works towards a resolution.One of the primary bones of contention is the franchise fee they pay every year, mainly because those payments are required to be made in US dollars. The value of the rupee, fairly stable against the dollar over the first three years of the PSL at around PKR 105 per dollar, has gone to PKR 134 now.Though all the teams signed a ten-year contract in November 2015, according to which they were liable to pay in US dollars, the franchises want to peg the rate to 2015 standards or pay in Pakistani rupees at the same rate when the contracts were signed. None of the franchises have broken even so far, crippled they feel, by the exchange rate as well as the taxes they are having to pay.The first set of commercial and sponsorship rights deals the PSL signed when it launched have now ended, and with enhanced deals now being inked in, as well as the scare caused by Multan Sultans’ financial meltdown, the remaining five have sensed this is the time to push for a greater slice of the revenue pool. The current financial model adopted by the PCB in 2016 offers equal shares from a central revenue pool to all franchises, despite the difference in franchise fees.After Multan Sultans’ ouster, the PCB is yet to invite a tender to bring in an owner for the sixth side, but various investors in Pakistan including Ali Tareen – the son of Jahangir Khan Tareen, a key figure in the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party – and Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, a prominent businessman, are among those to have shown their interest. The sixth team is presently being regulated by the PCB on its own and with the tender, the board will transfer the ownership to the buyers, allowing them to choose the name of the city.

Erik ten Hag hailed a "fantastic" Jadon Sancho but he insisted that there are "issues" which complicate the forward's future at Manchester United.

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• Sancho fell out with Ten Hag at Old Trafford
• Gradually reviving his career at Dortmund
• Ten Hag still unsure of Sancho's future at Old Trafford

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Sancho played a crucial role in Dortmund's success, starting both legs of the Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid, contributing to their 5-4 aggregate victory. Despite the winger's impressive displays during the loan spell at Dortmund, his feud with Ten Hag continues to shimmer, which is proving to be an obstacle to alter his prospects at United.

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  While acknowledging Sancho's excellence, Ten Hag highlighted that the winger's talent wasn't doubted at all by him. Instead, he showered praise on Sancho for reviving his career in Germany but underlined that talent alone doesn't resolve the problems which forced him to go out on loan from Manchester United.

• WHAT TEN HAG SAID

  Speaking to reporters, Ten Hag said: "Of course, I follow international football and follow the players on loan at other clubs. It was a fantastic game, Dortmund against Atletico Madrid. A great performance from Dortmund and also for Jadon it's good news. He made his contribution to the result for Dortmund."

  However, when asked if anything had changed about Sancho's future at Old Trafford, Ten Hag did not mince words and said: "No, but we know Jadon Sancho is a fantastic football player, so that is not a surprise for us. That is not the issue."

• DID YOU KNOW?

  The loan stint in Germany has been fruitful for Sancho, but at the same time, it has further complicated Manchester United's ambitions of securing a Champions League spot for the next season. With England, Italy, and Germany vying for an additional slot based on UEFA's country coefficient, Dortmund's progress has favoured Germany in their quest for a fifth Champions League spot in an expanded version of the competition from the next season. This means England will continue to have four spots, which is a major dent in United's Champions League hopes.

Albie Morkel, the South Africa and Titans allrounder, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Wednesday, ending a professional career that has spanned nearly 20 years.Morkel played one Test, 58 ODIs and 50 T20Is for his country, scoring 1412 runs and picking up 77 wickets across formats. He was an especially effective force in short-form cricket, both at home and abroad. He was an IPL champion with Chennai Super Kings – his 91 wickets making him the third-highest wicket-taker for the franchise – and he captained the Titans to a hat-trick of T20 titles from 2015-16 to 2017-18. So effective was he with his big-hitting abilities and canny medium-pace that he was brought into the South Africa squad for the World T20 in 2014 after he publicly admitted that his international career was over.The next step of his career takes Morkel to Namibia, with whom he has signed a contract to work as a coaching consultant starting January 2019.”Time has run out for me on the cricket field, and I would like to announce my retirement from the game.” Morkel said in a Titans press release. “The last 20 years of my life took me on an incredible journey, with so many awesome memories that I will cherish forever.”Titans’ chief executive officer Dr Jacques Faul said plans for a farewell match were being put in place. “He deserves a send-off, and also a chance for the Titans fans to say a fond farewell. It wasn’t just for Titans that he was a massive player, because he also served the Proteas with distinction.”Morkel, who began his domestic career in the 1999-2000 season and graduated to international cricket in 2004, represented eight teams – CSK, Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rising Pune Supergiant, Derbyshire, Durham, Somerset and St Lucia Zouks – outside of South Africa and the Titans.”I would like to thank Jacques Faul and everyone involved at the Titans for giving me the opportunity to live my dream,” he said. “The squad is in a healthy state and I’m looking forward to seeing the progress that the younger players will make. I will forever be a big Titans fan.”” I want to say a big thanks to Cricket South Africa, because it was a huge honour to represent my country. Thank you to my family, friends, supporters and sponsors who were there for me through thick and thin, and most importantly my wife who played an unbelievable supporting role, allowing me to do what I love.”Professional sport can be a ruthless space to operate in, and it’s impossible to do it without a solid support system. Thank you so much.”Morkel has committed himself to a Titans tour later this year before “enjoying the game from the other side of the rope”. His brother Morne had retired from international cricket last year, although he is still active as a Kolpak player for Surrey in the English county circuit.

The 20-year old is coming to terms with a year in which he compiled a monumental double ton, stood out of the game with mental health issues, made a return with a new outlook

Daniel Brettig09-Jan-2019Had Will Pucovski simply played out the remainder of the Sheffield Shield season with Victoria, 2018-19 would have already been an exceptionally momentous summer for him, given its rich mixture of experiences good and bad, great and small.As it stands, however, he is coming to terms with a year in which he compiled a monumental double century against Western Australia, stood out of the game for six weeks with mental health struggles, made a return to the fold with a refreshed outlook and coping strategies, and has now been rushed into the Australian Test squad to face Sri Lanka.If this seems a lot to digest, then Pucovski is taking solace from the fact that in those weeks between the 243 at the WACA Ground in October and his return to make scores of 1 and 67 also against Western Australia at the MCG in December, he learned an enormous amount about himself, his mental state and the tools he needed to manage himself and his cricket in the best ways possible. At the age of 20, Pucovski has been considered a talent of note for some time; he is hopeful the rapidity of his entry into Test calculations has coincided with critical life lessons.ALSO READ: How do Australia fix their batting before the Ashes?”I’m feeling really good, as good as I have felt in a really long time,” Pucovski said in Melbourne. “I’ve met some people along the way who have helped me turn things around. There is probably no better time to get exciting news like I have in the last 24 hours. It’s not every day you get called up to represent your country, so it’s been a very exciting couple of days.”Quite a bit sooner [than expected] to be honest. It’s every kid’s dream and to think in two weeks’ time there’s a chance I could be playing for your country is just amazing. You can’t even use words to describe it. It is one of those things … even the joy on your family and friends’ faces when you’ve told them or they’ve got the news, it makes you proud to make a lot of other people proud as well.”A lot of the messages I’ve received today is you’ve got there for a reason, so just try to play your way and embrace that as much as you can. My challenge if I do get picked is to do that, and just try to bat the way I bat, prepare the way I prepare. If things work out, that’s great, but for a 20-year old, it’s just super exciting either way.”A history of concussions had been one complicating factor for Pucovski on his journey through junior ranks into the Victoria side, but it was the spectre of mental health problems that overcame him even as he was embarking upon the innings in October that put his name clearly in the sights of a national selection panel so transparently desperate to find the next great talent as opposed to merely good ones. At first, he confided in Victoria coaches Lachlan Stevens and Andrew McDonald, before linking up with Emma Murray, the mindfulness coach so valuable to the 2017 premiership success of Richmond in the AFL.”They’ve been amazing throughout the whole process,” Pucovski said of the batting coach Stevens and head coach McDonald. “I actually told them what had been going on in Perth, and they’ve been super supportive along the whole pathway back to cricket and then playing that Shield game. As a young man, you can’t really ask for much more than two coaches who are super supportive of you. They basically said ‘mate just sort all that stuff out and your cricket will take care of itself’.”I met a lady called Emma Murray who has worked quite a bit with Richmond, and had a bit of attention with how they have turned things around. She has been a mentor in that space. I have added things like I am meditating every morning, which I honestly never really believed in until she got me on to it and things like that have helped me turn things around. I speak to her regularly and am seeing another woman who helps me with a few different things. Having that team together makes me feel really supported and in a good space to deal with that kind of stuff.”Much of Murray’s work revolves around keeping athletes in the moment, and teaching them ways to return to a state of focus and concentration as quickly as possible following distractions. For Pucovski, these were valuable lessons for someone who had already shown an innate ability to score centuries – exactly what Trevor Hohns’ panel have been crying out for this summer, as they watched the Australian Test team fail to make a single score higher than 79 across four Tests against India.ALSO READ: Will Pucovski is on the cusp of great thingsBy the time Pucovski returned in December, he was far better equipped to manage his own expectations and thoughts, at the same time as he returned to familiar and comfortable surroundings with Victoria. “I think it was just that knowledge that I had enough strategies in place that whatever came across from a cricketing perspective in those four days, that I’d be able to deal with it,” Pucovski said.”That well and truly proved to me that I’m able to do that in a four-day period, and then as I said, dealing with a few things outside of cricket has really helped, and Emma has really helped me with that stuff. It’s been a really positive experience over the last couple of months.”I’ve just always tried to bat for as long as I can. If that comes off sometimes, then that’s great and if it doesn’t, that’s part of the game. Probably just trying to take a more relaxed outlook on it has helped me especially in the last couple of years. I try and follow my process as closely as I can and hopefully the results take care of themselves. It’s one of those sports where, as an individual, you are going to fail quite a bit. Getting better at dealing with that has probably helped me quite a bit.”Given the level of scrutiny placed on the Australian Test team in the season after the Newlands scandal, it is natural to wonder how Pucovski may cope with a spotlight that will be squarely on him over the next two weeks, whether turning out for a Cricket Australia XI against the Sri Lankans in a Hobart day-night tour game, or assembling with Tim Paine’s team in Brisbane for their final series prior to the most prestigious of all – an Ashes tour of England later this year. Asked whether there is any danger of a Test call-up clouding the work he has steadily done with Murray and others, Pucovski was optimistic.”It comes to mind but I don’t think so,” he said. “I feel like I am in a really good space, and the people I am working with think so too. It’s one of those things where it is a day-by-day proposition for me that I have to manage. I think it is a good thing to invest time in. I feel like I have done quite a bit of work over the past few months and was able to play that Shield game and loved every minute of it. I feel like I am back in action.”One of the favourite sayings of the selector Greg Chappell is that “talent is a bit like fruit – if you don’t pick it when it’s ripe, it goes rotten”. Both Australia’s selectors and Pucovski are earnestly hoping that the moment of his picking for Test match duty is not a moment too soon.