Winter is about to hit Australian shores, but it could coincide with cricket history in the subcontinent, with a young man touted as a bolter for next year’s Ashes series at its centre.
Should Ollie Peake walk out to the middle over the next fortnight in Pakistan, including in Saturday’s One Day International opener, the teenage prodigy will become the youngest specialist batter to play for Australia’s ODI side.
At 19 years and 261 days, he will edge out Ricky Ponting (20 years, 58 days), Steve Waugh (20 years, 221 days) and Steve Smith (20 years, 221 days) by becoming the youngest out-and-out batter to wear the Australian ODI shirt (although at the time they made their debuts both Waugh and Smith were fully-fledged all-rounders).
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“If you look back at Steve Smith, Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, they were players that came on really, really early. I guess that speaks to what the belief is around what Ollie can do in his career,” Chris Rogers, his Victorian coach, told Wide World of Sports.
The desire to fast-track the development of one of Australia’s best young talents was enough for Australia’s chairman of selectors, George Bailey, to take a punt on the prodigious talent.
Ollie Peake celebrates after hitting the matchwinning runs against the Scorchers in Perth. Getty
“To be perfectly honest, everything’s impressive with Peakey,” Bailey said earlier this month, when asked about what stood out about the rising Victorian.
“For a young man of his age, and what he’s been able to do so far in his career, he’s spent a little bit of time around the national team in Sri Lanka (and) he’s performed well domestically.
“It’s clearly an eye for the future with his selection, but he is someone not unlike Liam Scott who I know is a little bit older, but every time that they get the opportunity to grow and stretch, they seem to that on board really well.
“I think specifically for Peaky, there’s obviously ability there, but coupled with a really, really strong game sense and game awareness for someone of his age and experience.”
Australia’s selection chair George Bailey. Getty
Rogers, the former Australian Test opener, wasn’t surprised when Peake’s name was read out.
It wasn’t just that Rogers knew the name, having played with his old man, Clinton, for the Australian under-19s side three decades earlier, but because he had been on the radar for the past five years.
He had also seen first-hand the savvy cricket brain that separated Peake from most youngsters, especially teenagers.
Indeed, it was last year, in early October, that Rogers was first blown away by Peake’s strong head.
Chris Rogers was a rock-solid Test opener for Australia between the ages of 35 and 37. Brendan Esposito
With South Australian leg-spinner Lloyd Pope with his tail up and bouncing in his delivery stride and finding his length, Peake negotiated a tricky period to finish unbeaten on 70 as he saw Victoria home to a four-wicket win at Adelaide Oval.
“A really good example (of Peake’s cricket IQ) was the first Shield game of the year,” Rogers said.
“We were in a lot of trouble. Pope was bowling really good spin and landing it in the rough, and he left cover open for the left-hander trying to get him to hit against the spin and Ollie tried to do that a couple of times.
“As coaches, we were sitting up there going, ‘oh, no, that’s not the right thing to do. Probably go with it unless you can get it on the full.’
“But he just fixed it on the fly.
“All of a sudden, he changed his position and got across and tried to kind of work towards leg. And he didn’t need to be told that. He just figured it out.
“He kept the ball on the ground until we got about 20 to go, and felt like we were in a pretty good position if we’d lost the wicket, and he just swivelled and hit [quick] Wes Agar for a six and then hit Pope over the mid-wicket, the next over as well.
“It’s almost like he worked out the exact time to go and it was the right time.”
It was no surprise, therefore, that Bailey mentioned Peake’s impressive cricket IQ on several occasions during his press conference to announce Australia’s squads for the tour of Pakistan and Bangladesh. It came after Peake was taken as a development player to Sri Lanka last year.
Capable of batting in multiple gears, Peake also showed his inventiveness and ability to release his arms when he led the Melbourne Renegades to a thrilling last-ball victory over the Scorchers in Perth and he whipped Aaron Hardie over fine-leg for six in early January.
He then led Australia to the under-19 World Cup semi-final in early February, hitting back-to-back centuries, including 100 against England during their 27-run loss in Bulawayo that ended their run at the tournament.
“I was coaching in the Under-19 World Cup, and there were very talented young players in those sides that I got to coach alongside Ryan Harris, and they didn’t have the same success that Ollie had,” Rogers said.
“So, there’s a lot of talent there, but actually performing is the difficult thing, and Ollie just seems to have a little bit of a knack of performing when he needs to.
“He found it tough in the first-class arena this year, as you would expect it to get him to in his initial foray, but I think what we like about him is his ability to problem-solve.”
Oliver Peake raises the bat after scoring a half-century against South Australia. Getty
The perils of putting too much pressure on someone so young is well-known to the Peake family.
Peake Snr captained the Australian under-19s, making an incredible 304 during one innings.
But the success in the junior ranks didn’t convert to first-class cricket, with Clinton Peake only playing nine first class matches over a six-year career. He scored 303 runs at 20.20 in 17 innings.
That factor is something Victorian Cricket is aware of when it comes to discussing the rising teenage star.
“He’s (Clinton) been very influential in Ollie’s game,” Rogers said.
“Everything we do, if it’s technical, we chat to Clinton just to make sure that he feels it’s the right kind of message as well.
“I feel Clinton’s probably very, very aware of how his career kind of played out, so he just wants to make sure that Ollie gets all the best opportunities.”
Oli Peake’s cricket IQ has attracted widespread praise. Getty
Peake will likely get an opportunity against Pakistan at some stage during the three-match tour.
While he batted at second-drop for Australia’s under-19s side, it’s likely he’ll come in a bit lower if he gets the nod to line up against Pakistan, who will be eager to win on Saturday in their 1000th ODI game.
Rogers said the looming baptism of fire would benefit Peake, no matter how he fares.
“I mean, it’s going to be a challenge,” he said.
“You throw them in the deep end, you don’t know if they’re going to sink or swim, but it’ll be a pretty good indicator of where he’s at.
“But most of the challenges he’s had to face, he’s found a bit of a way.
“I think he has a pretty good game plan against spin. He wouldn’t have faced too many international spin bowlers, and in those conditions it might be hard, but he’s got quick feet, quick hands, and he gets low to the ground as well. So I think he’s got the weapons to play those conditions well.
“It’s another reason I think that they’re keen to kind of expose him in those conditions.”
Should he succeed, Peake’s rapid rise could continue over the next 18 months, especially given the Test-heavy schedule Australia’s men’s team is about to go on.
After all, Ponting, who was regarded as the best 16-year-old Australian batter by many before going on to become one of the country’s greatest, has already pencilled the prodigious talent into next year’s Ashes squad.
With Australia’s Test side one of the oldest on the international stage, the former captain selected Peake in a predicted team for next year’s Ashes.
Ricky Ponting has a high opinion of Oli Peake. Getty
“You can’t just look at numbers as far as I’m concerned now. I think we’ve got to really dig deep and identify the best young talent and get them in now,” Ponting said on Channel 7 during coverage of the fifth Test in January.
“You saw that, you’ve got 20 Test matches now leading up to that next Ashes series. So I’m going to make a bit of a call with my side and get a couple of young guys in really quickly.
“Campbell Kellaway is one of these youngsters that I’m talking about.
“Oliver Peake is the other youngster that I’ve picked in that squad. And I’ve actually got him starting. He’s in there now. He’s batting at No.5 five in this side now.”
While Peake has yet to score a first-class century, Rogers believes it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that the youngster kicks on and goes on to play in next year’s Ashes in England.
“I mean, why not,” Rogers said. “Clearly the Aussie selectors like him.
“If he can come up with a few answers for the challenge he’s going to face in the first-class game and thrive, then … I don’t see why he couldn’t.
“Equally, it’s going to be a great challenge for him because as he found out this year, batting in Sheffield Shield cricket is bloody hard. So if you do succeed, it shows you’ve got the gall to be successful.”
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