Cricket Success Profiles

Peter Di Venuto Honoured

Peter Di Venuto (SVC 1982-1987) was recently added to the Cricket Tasmania Premier League Hall of Fame at the League’s annual awards evening. 

Apart from the Richardsons, no family name stands taller in Tasmanian cricket than Di Venuto. Enrico and his two sons, Peter and Michael, have been outstanding cricketers and coaches across the wide spectrum of international, national, state, grade, and club cricket. Michael was inducted into Cricket Tasmania’s Field of Fame in 2006, and Enrico was admitted to the CTPL Hall of Fame in 2021. It is no surprise that Peter deserved to be honoured as well.

Peter was born in Hobart on 12 January 1970, and attended St Virgils College. Cricket and football were dominant influences. A left-hand batter and right-arm medium-pace bowler, Peter was always in the game. His 1st-grade career began at North Hobart CC in 1986 and continued to the present day, with periods at Kingborough CC (1995-2005) and in Melbourne with Carlton CC (2007-2012) and Prahran CC (2014-2017). He held Director of Coaching roles at Melbourne Grammar (2013-2019) and Greenvale Kangaroos CC (2018/19) before returning to Hobart in 2019 to accept a teaching appointment at Guilford Young College. He was soon handed the senior coaching role at New Town in 2019–20. There were two Cricket Victoria One-Day Premierships while at Carlton, which was Blue’s first silverware in 32 years, and he was inducted into the VCA 200-Club in 2019.

His TCA 1st-grade statistics are impressive. He played 143 matches for North Hobart and 165 for Kingborough, both over ten-year periods. His aggregate of 8,206 runs at 28.69 places him in the top twelve leading batsmen in STCA, TCA, and TPL history. There was a high of 154 against New Town at Kingston Beach in January 2003, while his successes with the ball returned 402 wickets at 26.35—up there with all the leading bowlers. 7/34 vs. SHSB at Queenborough in December 1997 was his best. Peter coached Kingborough for seven seasons, handing it over to his father, Enrico, in 2001–02. He was named coach of Kingborough’s Team of the Century. He was also named CTPL Coach of the Decade (1999–2005).

Premierships have been aplenty in the CTPL—North Hobart tri-peat 1991–92, 1992–93, and 1993–94; Kingborough back-to-back 1996–97, 1997–98 (both as captain and coach), the first flag breaking a 25-year drought for the club; and New Town 2021–22 (as coach), breaking a 52-year drought. There was short format success as well: Kookaburra Cups in 1989–90 and 1992–93 and a T20 Cup in 2023–24.

Peter represented Italy in the European Cricket Championships in 2000 and 2002, and is a current assistant coach of the Italian National Team.

TCA 1st Grade Career Statistics

There was further excitement for the Di Venuto family at this gathering. The U18 medal for the best player in the CTPL is called the Michael DiVenuto Medal. As is the case, when he is at home, Michael is called upon to present the medal. Imagine his surprise when he was handed the winner’s name—his son, Luca.