VSDCA 2024-25: Bayswater's Jakey Pietz named Subbies’ best under-21 player

Little over two years ago, Bayswater’s Jakey Pietz was toiling away in the fourths. On Thursday, the 16yo was named the VSDCA’s best under-21 player. Bound for Premier Cricket next season, the off-spinning prodigy is daring to “dream as big as possible” ...

VSDCA 2024-25: Bayswater's Jakey Pietz was named the Subbies' Anthony Gale medallist as the comp’s best under-21 player. Picture: Supplied

A tap on the shoulder was the last thing he expected at just 15.

Plucked from the lower grades, little did Bayswater off-spinning prodigy Jakey Pietz realise a Round 1 Subbies First XI debut last October would ignite his career.

Pietz, now 16, was named the Anthony Gale medallist at the VSDCA’s Val Holten presentation evening last Thursday as the competition’s best under-21 player.

Netting 26 wickets in his maiden top-flight season at an average of 19.42 to go with 102 runs, it was apparent the Waters were onto something special when he took a leading three scalps against Plenty Valley in his first match.

The next week, he bowled nine overs straight on the way to putting Croydon to the sword with 4-42.

Two years earlier, Pietz had toiled away in Baysie’s fourths, following a stop at Box Hill after starting with Heatherdale.

“It was always the aim to play First XI at Bayswater – I only played two or three games in the twos,” he said.

“I worked hard over the winter and ‘Kilbs’ (Bayswater captain-coach Jason Kilby) obviously noticed and gave me a ones debut in the first round.”

Kilby recalled Pietz’s rise in the space of a pre-season with the Cricket Victoria Academy.

“He came back to our pre-season and he was like a kid that had had four years of cricket in the space of four months – he was a different player,” he said.

“We spoke through the pre-season about where he fits, we know he’s clearly got the skills to play firsts, but we want to be mindful that he is a kid.

“We pushed him as much as we could in pre-season, and probably two weeks before the first game, we knew that we were going to play him.”

Kilby, a former Premier cricketer with Ringwood, said Pietz’s jaw hit the ground upon hearing the news of his opening-round First XI selection.

“We had a chat with him on the Tuesday night, and he was gobsmacked,” he said.

“He didn’t think he was any chance, which probably speaks volumes of him – for a kid who’s got a lot of talent, he’s not arrogant, he just loves cricket.

“He works as hard as any kid I’ve seen coming through, and when I played Premier cricket, he’d work as hard as any of them.”

But the captain-coach says work ethic is only part of what makes the teen such a damaging player.

“He’s got really good white ball skills, and he spoke about that at the Subbies presentation night that when he’s in the field he just watches batsmen and spends the whole time working out what field he’s going to have when he comes on,” Kilby said.

“His whole plan is around being so consistent – he changes his pace really well through the air.

“For a 16-year-old kid, he bowls a fantastic arm ball, and he has really good subtle changes of pace – he’s really clear with the field settings and the plans he wants to bowl to.

“He’s got a really good head on his shoulders in terms of his cricket brain.

“We knew he could come on in one-day cricket and play a really important role for us.”

Kilby added: “He’s fast, got a good arm, good set of hands and can field anywhere.”

Thursday night’s honour certainly wasn’t lost on Pietz, who nudged a worthy rollcall of the Subbies’ brightest emerging prospects for the gong.

Nicholas Gillard (Brighton), Nico Martel (Brunswick), Will Hanlon, Alvin Simon (Ivanhoe), Rahul Surendran (Oakleigh), Jackson Wadden (Spotswood) and Strathmore trio Jack Cook, Isaac Dukic and Daniel Lombardo figured in the nominees.

“It’s pretty cool to be this young and to win the under-21 award … it has sunk in, I guess I’m really proud of myself for my achievement but I couldn’t do it without my mum and dad,” Pietz said.

Pietz says he owes plenty to Baysie’s wealth of former Premier cricketers – Kilby, paceman Michael Topp and leading batsman Jake Wigney, to name a few.

And let’s not forget the influence of UK first-class slugger Rishi Patel, whose summer in Australia culminated in a Subbies Team of the Year crown.

“It’s really good having the ex-Premier players – they always back me in and are always giving me tips … having someone like Rishi Patel there, he’s a professional and whenever it got hit to him, he just took the catch – just so reliable.”

The young gun has his sights set on a big future as he looks all but certain for Premier Cricket next season, with several clubs said to be in the frame.

“I’m just not 100 per cent sure on which club yet,” Pietz said, who was a member of the Camberwell Magpies’ U16 Dowling Shield squad last season.

“Hopefully I get picked in the under-17 Vic Metro squad again.”

Pietz, who idolises Glenn Maxwell, hopes to follow in the footsteps of the Australian all-rounder.

“I always looked up to him and what he was capable of – he could also bowl off-spin as well and just one of the best fielders in the world,” he said.

“I dream as big as possible, playing for Australia hopefully one day.”