Peter Nevill
BY KEN PIESSE
Peter Nevill says it was great to "hit the season running" after touring England with the Tattersalls Emerging Players squad in August.
The promising wicketkeeper-batsman, now 22, is vying with Adam Crosthwaite for senior Victorian honors.
He has been a Melbourne regular ever since his 16th birthday when he debuted for MCC against Dandenong at Shepley Oval.
"I batted with Brad Hodge and made a duck," he said. "Cam White and Will Carr were also playing in the game (for Dandenong). It was one I will always remember."
Now into his sixth season of Premier League, Nevill has been playing for Victoria at Cricket Australia Cup level.
He has twice been away with "Tatts" tours, to England in 2007 and India and Sri Lanka in 2006.
"It has been great preparation. It has really allowed me to hit the season running," he said.
The last summers he has averaged 40-plus in the firsts. Last season he made three centuries and won the MCC's batting average and club champion award, one of the highlights of his career so far.
"You see all the names on that old roll of honor in the member's bar," he said. "It dates back to Warwick Armstrong and earlier so it was indeed a great honor to have my name up there, too."
Included last summer was a new club partnership record for the third wicket of 277 with Andrew Kent against Northcote at the Albert Ground.
He says it is always a highlight when the club's first class representatives like Hodge and Shane Harwood return to Premier League ranks. He says he's never stood back further than for a Twenty20 match against Prahran at the Albert last summer when expressman Harwood was at full tilt.
"I was literally outside the ring and three or four metres back from the line and one bouncer I still couldn't reach," he said. "I was a long, long way back, at least 30 yards!"
He says he prefers the reintroduced format of clubs playing each other once and isn't worried that he is third in line right now, behind Pura Cup ‘keeper Matty Wade and Crosthwaite who is in Victoria's Ford Ranger Cup side.
"No, I'm not worried at this point," he says. "I'm more focused on improving my game to a certain standard."
Darren Berry's appointment as assistant coach has been another big factor, he says, in his improvement. "He's a real asset and a great resource, especially for the wicketkeepers like me," he says.
He joined Melbourne from Ashburton having also played a season in Box Hill's first XI. Sport runs in his family. His father was a talented soccer played in Queensland before hurting his knee.
