Tara Murray
Former Sunshine Heights junior Peter Hatzoglou is headed to Tasmania for BBL|13.
The Hobart Hurricanes announced the signing of the leg spinner last week, their first new signing for the upcoming season.
Hatzoglou comes to the Hurricanes from the reigning back-to-back champions, the Perth Scorchers, of which he was a member of the squad that won both the BBL|11 and BBL|12 titles.
Hatzoglou staged breakout season in BBL|10, after being plucked from relative obscurity by the Melbourne Renegades as a local replacement player after playing not many first XI Victorian Premier Cricket games with Melbourne University.
He went on to play 13 of the Renegades 14 games that season, taking an impressive 17 wickets at an average of 22.88.
Hatzoglou has since made a name for himself as a short-form specialist, plying his trade the world over at tournaments including The Hundred in the UK, the Pakistan Super League, and the Abu Dhabi T10.
Now 24, Hatzoglou is currently playing for Glamorgan in the UK’s Vitality Blast competition.
“I’m really excited for my next chapter in the BBL with the Hurricanes,” he said.
“I’m one of those players whose career has followed a more non-traditional path to get to the point I’m at now, so I’m just really thankful for every opportunity that comes my way.
“Watching from afar over the past couple of seasons, it is obvious that the Hurricanes have pretty much all the right ingredients within their program already.
“I’m looking forward to coming in, getting to know some of the guys and the staff a bit better, and contributing whatever small part I can to hopefully the ultimate on-field success.”
Hurricanes coach Jeff Vaughan said it was a coup to add a leg spinner of Hatzoglou’s experience to his squad.
He said while he’s still only relatively young, he has proven that he is game ready right from his BBL debut back in 2020.
“Leg spinning is a difficult craft to master, so to have a leggie of his ability and experience that is game ready and we can play at any opportunity I think will be a really valuable opportunity for our squad moving forward.”
Hatzoglou joins Tim David, Paddy Dooley, Nathan Ellis, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Billy Stanlake and Matthew Wade as Hurricanes currently contracted for BBL|13.
