255*, 183*: unstoppable Will Pucovski makes irresistible Test case

In the space of two sparkling innings, Will Pucovski has rocketed to the front of the queue for places in Australia's Test match top six, vaulting to the top of the Sheffield Shield averages and giving Victoria a powerful start to a match in which they were sent in to bat by Western Australia on a grassy pitch at Karen Rolton Oval.

Where Pucovski's 255 not out in a record partnership of 486 with Marcus Harris was put together against lowly South Australia on a decidedly batting friendly surface, this unbeaten innings of 183, again with strong support from his opening partner, was a powerful riposte to Western Australia's morning inclination that this would be a day for their all-seam attack.

The two major challenges set for Pucovski were to battle full deliveries as Cameron Gannon, Matthew Kelly, Aaron Hardie, Cameron Green and Lance Morris all tried to extract swing and seam, and then to make use of his pull and hook shots as the same quintet dropped increasingly short in the face of scant success for the former method.

Harris accompanied Pucovski up until the pair had put on 186 more than halfway through the day, before the Victorian captain Peter Handscomb offered strong support for the most part, albeit with the occasional moment of awkwardness. Looking on, the new Victoria coach Chris Rogers was once glimpsed laughing in conversation with a couple of his squad members: in batting terms at least, he will seldom feel more content as a mentor no matter how long his career carries on.

The Warriors' selection had been somewhat forced by an agreed decision with Cricket Australia to allow the spin bowler Ashton Agar to return home to Perth for some rest prior to looming duties with Australia A and the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League. The state's 14-day mandatory quarantine requirement was going to seriously cut into the time available otherwise, although there were plenty of occasions when the Warriors would have liked to call upon their leading wicket-taker.

It was instead left to D'Arcy Short, who alongside Scott Boland and Queensland's Brendan Doggett was one of three Aboriginal cricketers taking the field in NAIDOC week, to offer up some overs of left-arm wrist spin. Short was at least able to beat Pucvoski's bat with a top spinner, a better outcome than the vast majority of deliveries that were either left alone, defended stoutly or dispatched the boundary with some flourish.

Harris survived a low chance in Green's first over, edged into the cordon where Sam Whiteman was deemed to have scooped it up on the half volley, before his leading edge was taken by the same fielder with a superlative one-handed dive after the fashion of Steven Smith in the slips for Australia. Handscomb's approach veered between conservatism and considerable risk, and he was to offer a half chance to the slips when scything at Gannon late in the day.

These undulations only served to amplify how Pucovski showed a masterful ability to move up and down the gears depending on the scoring opportunities on offer, starting more slowly than Harris, skating into the 70s, then pulling things back before gliding to his second century in as many innings.

There was to be more acceleration later on in the day, in spite of a liberal supply of boundary fielders placed by the Western Australia captain Shaun Marsh, and boundaries came with a decided rush when the hardness and bounce of the second new ball gave Pucovski a little more to work with.

Stumps arrived with the second wicket stand worth 136, and Pucovski already 20 runs ahead of the Shield's next heaviest scorer, the Test incumbent Travis Head. It may be a matter of weeks before they are international team-mates.