Exclusive: Young Australian star Oliver Peake signs with San Francisco Unicorns

Emerging batter Oliver Peake, touted as a future captain for Australia, will play in this season’s Major League Cricket after signing with San Francisco Unicorns.

Underlining the 19-year-old’s rapid rise and interest from abroad, it will mark Peake’s first foray into overseas T20 franchise cricket. Hyped for some time as a future star across formats, Peake captained Australia at the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year where he finished the tournament with consecutive centuries.

He last played in last month’s Sheffield Shield final where Victoria - who have a high performance partnership with the Unicorns - lost to South Australia. Peake’s fledgling career is most widely known for his last-ball heroics for Melbourne Renegades against eventual champions Perth Scorchers in a thrilling Big Bash League game in January.

Showcasing his ice-cool temperament amid a febrile Scorchers crowd, the left-handed batter skipped to the off side and lifted a full delivery from seamer Aaron Hardie - who ironically has also recently signed with Unicorns - into the terraces to ensure an upset victory for lowly Renegades.

Peake is tipped to make his international debut in the near future, most likely blooded in the T20 format at some stage.

“Through my time with the Victoria set-up, I’m well aware of the MLC’s growth and the Unicorns’ ambitions,” Peake said. “They’ve built a consistently strong roster with aggressive openers, classy middle-order batting, and world-class bowling attacks.

“I’m excited to be a part of a successful tournament this summer, as we aim to land our first championship at the Oakland Coliseum.”

Peake is the latest signing for Unicorns, who recently unveiled Indian legend Ravichandran Ashwin as the franchise transitions under new head coach Cameron White.

“Bringing in a player of Ollie’s potential to the Unicorns is a huge boost to our championship hopes for this season,” said White who has replaced Australian compatriot Shane Watson in the role.

“His form and experience as Australia’s age-grade captain and in the last BBL shows he has what it takes in terms of building an innings and boundary-hitting prowess.

“I look forward to working with him in the coming months.”

The Unicorns open their campaign in the MLC’s fourth edition against Los Angeles Knight Riders on June 19 in Dallas.