Clinton Peake

Born and raised in the southern Victorian city of Geelong, Clinton Peake was recognised as a gifted batsman from early in his development and was duly accorded a place in various state and national underage teams as well (in 1995) as the Australian Cricket Academy. Ever since he made a mammoth 304 for Australia's under 19 side against Indian Youth in Melbourne in 1994-95, many have indeed looked upon the left handed middle order batsman as a star of the future at first class level. Unfortunately however, a general lack of opportunities (and an inability to grasp the few that have come his way to date) has ensured that he has so far not lived up to such burdensome expectations. At his best, the pint-sized Peake is a fine strokemaker, especially off the front foot but also with the capacity to launch cross batted strokes off the back foot with disarming power. As his prolific scoring talents at underage level have proved, he also possesses excellent reserves of stamina and concentration. Although his bowling skills have generally been underutilised, he is additionally a useful left arm orthodox spinner. (John Polack, June 2000)