By Tyler Lewis

Copyright news

The precocious talent was catapulted into the Australia A side after just one first class game and toured Sri Lanka with the Test team earlier this year.

Peake justified his early ascension on Tuesday by steering Victoria to Sheffield Shield victory over reigning champions South Australia.

He took the Vics out of immense fourth-innings pressure to a four-wicket win with an unbeaten 70.

With every textbook cover drive and crisp cut – Peake captured more layers of attention.

But Peake, 19, remains unconsumed by the buzz.

If anything, the self-proclaimed “little scrapper” from Geelong finds it somewhat of a surprise.

“It’s not too bad, I learned pretty quickly in Geelong to cut out all of the distractions,” Peake said.

“I am not subscribed to any of those news platforms, but I do still see it pop up on my Facebook.

“It’s hard to get away from it but also stay in touch with all my mates. I’m not too fussed about it, I just don’t read much cricket stuff.

“I don’t know if motivating is the word I’d use, almost surprising. I don’t really see myself as any kind of superstar.

“I see myself as a little scrapper, but I guess it’s good some people can see some light in me.”

The tour of Sri Lanka was eye-opening for Peake, as he learnt the concept of “acceptable outs” against world-class bowlers.

“Seeing the way professionals prepare for games and the conversations going around the dressing room,” he said.

“They had different ways to attack the bowlers. (Prabath) Jayasuriya had some success in the past, so a lot of the boys were talking about acceptable outs and unacceptable outs.

“(Australia) didn’t want to get beaten on the inside of their bat getting bowled or LBW, but if he was able to spin past them and get the edge, they were OK to cop that.

“That really opened my eyes to think about eliminating the bowler’s best ball, I guess, and forcing them to get them out in a different way.”

Peake took that lens to Darwin in June when he faced Sri Lanka A and hit a career-best first-class score of 92.

“I was pretty much using that approach. I didn’t want to get out defending through the gate or LBW,” he said.

“But I was happy if they were good enough to spin it past me and get me out.

“In Darwin, it was a great taste of the culture, the coaches and how into it gets – it’s pretty cool to work with the best players around the country.”

Peake has been dubbed as Victoria’s answer to wunderkind Sam Konstas.

The pair worked closely together in Sri Lanka and were title-winning teammates in last year’s under-19 World Cup.

Konstas and Peake are friends and likely to be the nucleus of Australia’s Test side for many years to come.

But it’s another young star of Australian cricket whom Peake tracks tightly – one from out west.

“The one I have sort of tried to follow in the last three or four years is Cooper Connolly,” he said.

“He played in the World Cup when he was two years underage as well. I was lucky enough to be called over as a replacement player and that was a goal to be a bit like him in that aspect to play two World Cups.

“I will get another chance this year to play in another World Cup and hopefully we can go back to back.”

So what’s left for the “little scrapper” to work on?

Everything, he says.

“I am still working on everything there is, I don’t think I’ve got anything sorted out yet,” he said.

“Coming back into red ball I am just realigning my technique and getting my defence back nice and solid.

“I’ve obviously come off a stint of white ball where you’re trying to slog everything, so getting used to staying in good lines and defend well.”