Peake power: Behind Aussie U19 star’s senior transition

Hitting a last-ball six to win a prime-time game on the national stage was until recently just a backyard fantasy for the prodigiously talented Oliver Peake, a self-confessed “skinny and small kid” as he rose rapidly through the ranks of Victorian cricket.

Even as he faced up to Aaron Hardie with his beloved Melbourne Renegades requiring four runs from the final ball to silence almost 30,000 parochial Scorchers fans packed into Optus Stadium last Wednesday, the size of the Perth venue’s boundaries weighed on his mind.

“I was struggling to hit it off the square the whole innings to be honest,” Peake told broadcaster Fox Cricket in the aftermath of the Renegades’ thrilling four-wicket win.

“We scrapped our way to four to win off the last ball and I thought, ‘this ground is too big for me to hit any fours in the gaps, I’ve got to try and get it over fine leg somehow’.

“I just got it in the middle, and I was lucky it flew over (the rope).

“It’s what you dream of in the nets, in the backyard. I’m sure my brother (Charlie) would have be watching at home and we used to have plenty of those situations in the backyard – usually he was the one doing the batting.”

Such assessment doesn’t do Peake’s strike rate of 146 in KFC BBL|15 justice, which, along with his 85-metre strike to deposit speedster Haris Rauf 10 rows back at the MCG during the first Melbourne derby, attests to the time he dedicated to strength work last year during his first preseason as a professional cricketer.

But what the rookie left-hander lacks in power at this stage of his career, he makes up for in wisdom beyond his years, having also navigated Victoria through a tense fourth innings run chase earlier this summer in just his second Sheffield Shield match.

“It did give me a lot of confidence coming into the season,” he recounts of his unbeaten 70 in October that lifted his state from 6-147 to their target of 231 to beat reigning champions South Australia by four wickets in the opening game of the season.

“It was really good to get out there and get in the fight a little bit.

“That was such a rewarding feeling after four days to get a Shield win and to be out there when Fergus (O’Neill) hit the winning runs was pretty special.”

Such is the nature of cricket’s jam-packed global schedule – even for a 19-year-old – that just 66 minutes after fearlessly ramping Hardie for six over fine leg to live out a childhood ambition for the lifelong Renegades supporter, Peake was on his way to Perth Airport to board a flight to Africa to lead Australia’s men’s Under-19 World Cup defence.

Peake, already a World Cup champion as a member of the Aussie U19 side that stunned India two years ago, will miss the rest of the Renegades’ BBL|15 campaign to captain his country at the ICC’s premier underage tournament beginning on Thursday in Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Despite being the only member of this year’s squad to have already made the step up to top-level senior cricket, it was perhaps always in Peake’s destiny to lead Australia’s U19 team.

Born into a cricketing family, a young Peake had sought to emulate his dad Clinton – a first-class cricketer in his own right – to “play in the Geelong (Premier) firsts, and before that, the South Barwon firsts”, their local cricket club on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula.

Having ticked off both of those feats aged just 16 and 14 respectively, he also followed his dad (No.766) in earning his own Victorian first-class cap (No.879) as an 18-year-old in March last year, with his debut tally of 73 runs (52 and 21) not far behind Peake senior’s effort of 89 (46 and 43) in his first Sheffield Shield match in 1995.

The footsteps the Geelong Grammar product now follows to lead the Australian under-19s is an unprecedented path a father-son duo with Clinton Peake having also captained Australia in three Youth Tests and three Youth ODIs in 1996.

“It’s really cool,” Peake said while sitting boundary side at the MCG, where his dad posted what remains the record highest score in an U19 international with 304 not out against India in a Youth Test in 1995.

“He captained some really good players (Brad Haddin, David Hussey, Nathan Bracken and current Victorian coach Chris Rogers among them).

“Brett Lee was around as well.

“It’s cool to think that this group could be names like that in the future.

“We’ve already seen from two years ago how strong that crop was … it’s exciting turning the Big Bash on every night to watch and there’s someone from our team playing.

“Hopefully, (this year’s U19 team) can be something similar to that.”

Whether it be senior men’s cricket in his early teens – scoring 420 runs at 105 in his first full season of first grade with Geelong – or more recently to domestic level, Peake has thrived with each step up.

It’s a trait that was also evident in his performances as Australia’s youngest player in their 2024 U19 World Cup triumph when he produced vital knocks of 49 in their narrow semi-final win over Pakistan and 46 not out in the final.

He naturally returns a more experienced and accomplished player for his second U19 World Cup, but also a stronger one given he’s now a fully-fledged professional cricketer.

It’s with a wry smile that Peake points to using heavier bats as one of the immediate benefits from his preseason gym program.

“I’m getting the proper players bats now,” he said. “Definitely you can tell the difference.

“I’ve always felt like I’ve been a decent runner, but I’ve always been quite a skinny and small kid.

“Especially with the T20s and one-dayers that we play a lot of now, that’s something that I’ve had to improve on.

“And I broke my leg in year 12 as well (playing what would be his last game of Australian Rules football), so I couldn’t really do a full preseason that year (2024) of strength and conditioning, it was more just rehab and getting myself right for the season.

“So it was good to get to work and try and put on some size, do a full preseason and get a bit stronger so those shots that go in the gaps are fours now instead of twos.

“I’ve progressed a little bit with my strength and conditioning and that’s allowed me to hit the ball a little bit harder – the guys at Cricket Vic, (S&C coach) Joel Tratt, in particular, has been awesome for that.”

Though Peake now lives with his aunty in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond after taking up a Victorian rookie contract, he’d had the Renegades opening two games of BBL|15 in his hometown circled since the fixture was announced last July.

Like he had with each new challenge beforehand, Peake made an instant impact in just his second T20 match, pummelling 59 from 29 balls with three sixes in the ‘Gades season opening win over Brisbane Heat in Geelong.

“I was very happy to start the season off well, first and foremost, for the Renegades,” he said.

“But it was also something that I was looking forward to since I found out that we were playing a few games in Geelong, to try and be in the team firstly, and then once I was playing, try and put on a good show.

“It’s good that everyone who helped me through my junior years was able to be there and share the moment with me.”

And just as he had in following Clinton’s footsteps at South Barwon and then Geelong cricket clubs, Peake had only ever had eyes for the Melbourne Renegades.

“I was Renegades through-and-through,” he said. “Dad made sure we went for the Renegades because of ‘Finchy’ (Aaron Finch), obviously having played with him (at Geelong).

“So my brother and I were huge fans of Finchy and love the Renegades.

“It’s been nice to transition straight out of school into something that I’ve dreamed of for my whole life.

“I’m absolutely loving coming into work and training and learning new things; I’m loving every day of it.”

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