: Oliver Peake, solely 18, is a precocious southpaw who’s a vibrant prospect for the Australia Test and white-ball squads.
Having received the U-19 World Cup final 12 months, he travelled to Sri Lanka as a improvement participant with the Test squad in January, scored a gritty 52 off 168 balls to bail out Victoria from 5 for 2 on a wickedly seaming WACA pitch beneath gray skies on his First-Class (FC) debut in opposition to Western Australia within the Sheffield Shield in March, hit an unbeaten 55 off 38 balls on his List-A debut and a 92 off 178 balls in solely his second FC match for Australia-A versus Sri Lanka-A in July, and was named within the Australia-A FC squad touring India in September on Thursday.
“Tim Paine (Australia-A coach) actually told me that I was going to to India when I was playing against Sri Lanka-A. That was exciting when he said that,” he stated right here on Thursday.
He’s a part of a 12-man Australia crew at present coaching on the MRF Academy right here. The crew, having arrived on July 31, will fly again on August 12.
“I’ve picked up heaps of stuff in the last few days. The training has been really intense and super beneficial. I’m currently in the process of trying out different stuff — getting lower in my stance, different sweep shots (including reverse), defending more off the backfoot, and scoring off the backfoot a lot more.
“So, I’m just trying to sort of find ways to mitigate risk and score quickly when the conditions are really extreme. I’m trying to be really proactive on my feet to the best I can,” he stated.
Jason Sangha, who captained him versus Sri Lanka-A, has praised him as being “emotionally mature” for an 18-year-old. Peake credited his father Clinton Peake, former Victoria and Australia u-19 captain, for his temperament.
“I think it’s been trained along the journey. Like, I reckon that’s probably my best skill in cricket — the mental skills. I think dad’s been a massive help for that,” he stated.
