Training has been really intense and super beneficial: Peake

: Oliver Peake, only 18, is a precocious southpaw who’s a bright prospect for the Australia Test and white-ball squads.

Having won the U-19 World Cup last year, he travelled to Sri Lanka as a development player with the Test squad in January, scored a gritty 52 off 168 balls to bail out Victoria from five for two on a wickedly seaming WACA pitch under grey skies on his First-Class (FC) debut against Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield in March, hit an unbeaten 55 off 38 balls on his List-A debut and a 92 off 178 balls in only his second FC match for Australia-A versus Sri Lanka-A in July, and was named in 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 said here on Thursday.

He’s part of a 12-man Australia team currently training at the MRF Academy here. The team, having arrived on July 31, will fly back 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 said.

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 said.