Peter Hatzoglou has been a Renegade, Scorcher, an Oval Invincible, a St Lucia King and will this summer become a Hurricane. 

Then there have been stints with Glamorgan, Abu Dhabi, Peshawar and Zimbabwe’s Samp Army.

Hatzoglou is a man of many hats — such is the life of a full-time player involved in cricket’s T20 roadshow. 

“I think the last two years I have spent maybe four months in Melbourne all up,” Hatzoglou told CODE Sports from Barbados, where he has been playing in the Caribbean Premier League. 

“If I’m away from home it means I’ve got work. It’s been good. 

“I am planning on moving out to Dubai to live there, base myself out of there. 

“It just makes a lot more sense with the direction my career is heading in, considering that most of my work is in that part of the world or in places that are closer to that part of the world.”

Hatzoglou speaks to CODE Sports from a bustling fish market in the Caribbean, where he is enjoying dinner with fellow T20 traveller and former Scorchers teammate Laurie Evans. 

The 24-year-old’s reality is a world away from Ainsworth Reserve in Melbourne’s west, where Hatzoglou made the career-defining decision to switch from being an erratic fast bowler to a rangy leg-spinner. 

“Big Bash finished this year, I went straight to the PSL (Pakistan Super League),” he said.

“From the PSL, I actually went to India for a couple of weeks just to do a training thing, I net bowled to RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and I did a training camp with Cricket Mentoring. 

“I was there helping out … from there I went to the UK. I was at Glamorgan in the Blast. Then I went to the (Zimbabwe) T10, I was with Samp Army. 

“Now I’m in the CPL playing with St Lucia.”

Hatzoglou was crunching numbers as an accountant and playing Premier Cricket for Melbourne University when his BBL opportunity arose in December, 2020. 

He trapped internationals Mitch Marsh and Cameron Bancroft lbw in his first outing as a Renegade and before long was a viral sensation. 

In September last year, T20 trailblazer Chris Lynn spoke of the lonely reality of life on the T20 circuit, saying: “There are days where it does get a little bit s***, a bit lonely, but it’s what it is.”

Hatzoglou concedes there are days where he longs for home, but he has found solace by studying during his downtime. 

“I do live out of a suitcase. You upskill so much quicker being on the circuit, speaking to different people,” he said.

“You learn about how different countries go about playing spin. In Australia we’ve got the biggest grounds in the world and spin bowlers definitely have it easier in Australia because of that. 

“You go somewhere like the UK, especially South Group in the Blast, and it’s like where Australian batters aren’t known for being particularly great sweepers of the ball, you go to the UK and they are sweeping you, reverse sweeping you, lap sweeping you down the ground. 

“And it’s the same in Pakistan and other parts of the world as well. 

“Then you have got the Caribbean where the power game they have got here is something that’s unrivalled around the rest of the world. 

“You learn about different styles of cricket, you learn to adapt and adapt your game to different conditions really quickly. If you don’t, you don’t survive.”

The relationships developed on the “travelling roadshow”, as Hatzoglou calls it, also help with the months spent away from family and friends. 

“To be honest, I just enjoy travelling,” he said.

“I really enjoy being in the places I’ve gone to and I have a real thirst for it, I suppose. It’s really good to exercise that. 

“I don’t know how long the novelty will last. But I feel like there is definitely a diminishing return on travel. 

“You travel to a point and it’s like, ‘I do want to go home now’. But, I guess my threshold for it might be a bit more than others, I don’t know. 

“I’ve really enjoyed all the travels so far and I have always enjoyed getting out there. For me, it comes – not easy – but I enjoy it. It’s great.”

Matthew Shawcross, Hatzoglou’s junior coach at Sunshine Heights Cricket Club, believes the resilience forged during his development has allowed the spinner to thrive on the relentless and at times unforgiving T20 circuit. 

“One of the things that Peter’s able to talk about and certainly in my time involved in the juniors, when he did make it, is being able to reinforce the message that you might not get picked in every rep team and all this sort of thing at a particular age, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t end up making a career out of it,” Shawcross said.

“Pete, certainly through his junior career, he never played in the pathways program, he never got a game with Western Spirit at any stage whatsoever. 

“There were obviously reasons for that. But he showed a lot of resilience, a lot of persistence and then he had, in a really short period of time, a real growth spurt in his talent.”

That journey provides an insight into why Hatzoglou has relished every opportunity since bursting onto the national stage in Hobart. 

There was a period of his junior career where Hatzoglou was destined to become a talented, but wayward, fast bowler who likely would have spent his Saturdays chasing the edge of batsmen in Melbourne’s Victorian Turf Cricket Association. 

But with guidance from Melbourne Uni teammate Fawad Ahmed, he successfully transitioned to leg-spin and took the first steps toward becoming a professional cricketer. 

“I know that he was always very inquisitive,” Shawcross recalls. 

“I think he probably had his first coaching session with Fawad Ahmed when he was about 13 or 14. 

“Then as luck would have it he ended up playing at the same club as him at Melbourne Uni for several years. It’s been wonderful to see that development, but also he has got a real thirst for knowledge. There’s no doubt about that.”

Hatzoglou adds: “You have to learn really quickly. If you don’t learn, if you don’t adapt then, you fall behind. It’s great to be having conversations with people from other parts of the world, learning how they go about the game.”

As any backpacker will tell you, there are only so many hats, shirts and memorabilia you can accumulate while travelling the world – because eventually, suitcase space runs out. 

“I like to keep a shirt. I like to keep a hat,” Hatzoglou said. 

“Otherwise, I just give stuff out. It is hard, when you play for three or four teams or whatever, and you’re going from one team to another, you accumulate a lot of luggage which can be difficult to take across. 

“I do give away a lot of stuff. I’ve got people in Melbourne who have supported me along the way so I always take things back to them to give out as sort of a bit of a thank you, I suppose.”

Hatzoglou’s annual calendar reads like the lyrics to Peter Allen’s iconic hit I still call Australia home. 

And no matter how far, or how wide he roams, Sunshine Heights’ Ainsworth Reserve will always be home. 

“This is a huge coincidence but I was literally just speaking to the captain of the club this morning,” Hatzoglou said. 

“I do stay in touch with all of those guys. There are a lot of really good cricketers going around. 

“Not only on the circuit in different countries, but in grade cricket and all that as well. I really enjoy getting back to club cricket when I can and I will enjoy getting back to Melbourne Uni.”