Peter Nevill is a wicket-keeper batsman who plies his trade for New South Wales. He switched over from Victoria in 2008, as NSW were in need of a cover for the keeper’s position. He could only manage one Sheffield Shield in his first season. This was mainly because NSW had an established keeper in the form of Daniel Smith. As a result, the rookie keeper looked towards Grade cricket and the Futures League to press his case. In the inaugural edition of the Big Bash League, he was a part of the Sydney Sixers, a team that eventually went on to win the T20 tournament.
Nevill was called back to the NSW side, for an FR Cup match against Tasmania. He received flak for his performance behind the stumps but backed that up with a knock of 105 against South Australia, in a Sheffield Shield game. Peter had a productive first-class season in 2011-12 scoring 570 runs at a terrific average of 51.81. As a result, he was a selected as a backup keeper to Matthew Wade for the tour of West Indies but he didn't get a game.
Nevill went back to Sheffield Shield and piled up the runs on a consistent basis. An outstanding 2014-15 season was an example of his caliber and he finished 8th on the list of the highest run-scorer with 764 runs. His career-best score of 235 also came in that season. It became hard for the selectors to ignore him and Nevill finally got a national call-up for the 2015 Ashes in England. He made his international debut in the second Test after Haddin pulled out.
Apart from a few gutsy knocks here and there, Nevill struggled to establish himself as a trusted batsman down the order. He eventually faced the axe and was among the six casualties who got dropped after the Hobart Test against South Africa in 2016. Nevill responded with a monster 179 not out for NSW in the Sheffield Shield immediately and backed it up with few more big innings. The wicketkeeper's spot in an Australian XI has always been open for debate since the retirement of Brad Haddin and Peter Nevill will be hopeful of reclaiming the position.
