He had been helped off the ground by team staff after Abbott’s bouncer on day two of the match, but despite his short-term playing future remaining in doubt, Pucovski ventured to the ground on day three, and appeared in reasonable condition to the naked eye. He was shielded from media questions, but Cricket Victoria released a brief statement on his behalf. “It was unfortunate but that’s cricket,” Pucovski said. “I’m under the supervision of Cricket Victoria’s medical team and we’ll look at my return to play options once I have fully recovered.” He will continue to be monitored, with no timeframe yet on a return to cricket.

Pucovski is one of the nation’s most promising cricket talents, having posted a maiden first-class century (188) against Queensland only weeks ago. However his issues against the short ball are the elephant in the room, with Graf noting on RSN radio that Pucovski would need to work on his technique. “He knows he has got to improve in that area. He is a great trainer, he works really hard,” Graf said on Monday. “The big thing is he has got to face is that over his entire career now he is going to be bounced.” Graf remained optimistic about Pucovski’s future. ‘We’re very confident in the way he recovered that he won’t be far away from getting back in the nets," Graf said.

“He’s central to our whole planning for the future. If he can get over this issue with his technique, he should go to the next level. “We have worked with him and he has worked on his technique. “On the harder bouncier wickets he has played the short ball well, in Perth and in Brisbane. In Victoria and NSW, we tend to get wickets that skid on a bit … that’s where he came unstuck. He took his eyes off the ball slightly and it crunched in to his helmet.” The Bushrangers have more immediate concerns, with the Blues looking comfortable in their run chase on Monday. Despite two wickets from Fawad Ahmed, NSW were 2-150 at stumps on day three, edging towards their target of 309. Daniel Hughes (59 not out) and Kurtis Patterson (34 not out) were unbeaten at the close of play.

Having done plenty on day one, the pitch looked flat on Monday. Victoria had resumed their second innings at 5-156, working their way to 280 before being bowled out in the day’s middle session. Travis Dean top-scored with a patient 106 from 270 balls, while Trent Copeland finished with 5-59. Tuesday shapes as a crucial day in the race to the Shield final. The match is the first of the season’s penultimate round. Victoria started the round second on the table, with NSW fourth, however all sides remain in the hunt for the title in what has been a remarkably even season. Dean said the pitch hadn't done as much as Victoria wanted late on day three, even though Fawad managed to trouble the Blues. “There’s some footmarks there, they’re probably not as deep as you’d like. Obviously it’s only day three. Day four hopefully they get a bit bigger," Dean said.

Both Dean and Hughes said they expected day four to be slow going, with NSW in no great rush to knock over the runs. Meanwhile Tasmania were 6-281 at stumps on day one of their match against South Australia in Hobart.