Oliver Peake showcases talent with India century months after fractured leg

Just months after suffering a fractured leg, one of Australia’s best cricket prospects Oliver Peake has taken his game to new heights with a “gutsy” innings in some of the world’s toughest conditions.

Ollie Peake dominated in India. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP)

Victorian cricket rising star Oliver Peake is continuing to catch the eye, this time in the sub-continent.

The 18-year-old from Geelong produced what is mum Sarah described as a “very gutsy captain’s knock” in the recent youth test against India in Chennai for Australia’s under-19 team.

Leading the best youth in the country, Peake scored 117 runs off 199 balls including 16 boundaries and a six in an innings where the Aussies were all out for 277 with only NSW wicketkeeper Alex Young (66 off 141) the only other Aussie to pass 20 in the innings.

India eventually enforced the follow on before skittling the tourists for 95 in their second innings. The result saw the hosts win the series 2-0 after winning the shorter format series 3-0.

Peake scored a century earlier in the tour after hitting 111 in a one-day game with teammate Steven Hogan hitting a century of his own in the same game.

The subcontinent has been a difficult place for Australian batters across history given the spin-friendly conditions.

“A ‘very gutsy captains knock thus far’ - the words from his very proud (and) humble mum, Sarah - who travelled to India to cheer him (and) the Aussie U19’s on,” Geelong Grammar head of football and sports performance mentor Troy Selwood wrote on social media.

“A little superstar that is destined for an exciting future.”

It’s a remarkable return to the cricket field for the teenage star who is expected to play more Victorian Premier Cricket this season.

He suffered a fractured leg while playing school footy for Geelong Grammar in the APS competition in June.

This masthead reported he fell awkwardly in a marking contest and was taken from the field in a stretcher in Grammar’s loss to Haileybury.

“We’ll do everything we can from a medical perspective and an academic perspective and he is going to be sorely missed even in our footy program because he is just such an amazing leader and an amazing young man who sets high standards and people just look up to him so much,” Selwood said at the time.

“His family sent a lovely message of him saying even if he knew he was going to receive this injury over the course of the year, he still would have played footy. And he has no regrets about the decision to play footy as a year 12.”

Peake made headlines earlier this year after what turned out to be a match winning knock in the Under-19 World Cup final against India in South Africa.

Originally published as Oliver Peake showcases talent with India century months after fractured leg