Honing his craft: Katamatite cricket prodigy Kepler Lukies continues his rapid rise

“Kep”, as he’s known to his mates, has gone from strength to strength on his local circuit and beyond, and was most recently selected by St Kilda for the upcoming under-17 Dowling Shield season after training with the club’s Shane Warne junior development squad.

“I was pretty stoked to be selected,” Lukies said.

“I didn’t actually think I was going to be, we have a group chat and they sent through a squad of 17 and I was the last name on the list.”

It’s the latest milestone on his meteoric rise up the junior cricketing ranks.

Last month, Lukies captained Southern Riverina in the New South Wales Colston-Scammell Shield tournament and from a pool of four teams across the region, he was selected to represent Riverina for next year’s Bradman Cup.

When he’s not crossing the border for Riverina duties, Lukies is representing Northern Rivers in Victoria’s Youth Premier League, accounting for himself well as a bottom-age player in the handful of games he’s played this year.

For many kids, the Sundays after cricket would usually involve homework, Playstation or hanging out with mates, but last winter Lukies was making the trek down the Hume Hwy to St Kilda for weekly training sessions with the Shane Warne academy.

Lukies is part of a junior program that has seen the likes of Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris and, of course, the late great Warne rise through its ranks.

He’s had no shortage of mentors and role models at Junction Oval, learning from Saints’ spin alumni and Australia representatives Todd Murphy and Michael Beer, who have helped him fine-tune his technique.

As many batters across the region would tell you, Lukies’ left arm off-spin, combined with his height, is nothing short of bamboozling.

It’s a unique talent he has worked hard to refine.

“I trained with Todd once and Michael Beer came and trained at St Kilda and gave me a few tips, that was pretty unreal.” Lukies said.

“You’ve always got to try and add stuff to your wheelhouse, I’ve always been able to change the pace, but I’ve recently been working on a leg-spin variation which has been a bit of a process.

“It’s either a peach or it ends up on the top of the net.”

Among his packed schedule of representative cricket, Lukies still finds time for the club that helped raise him.

He has managed a number of A-grade games with Katamatite this year, where he plays alongside his older brother Ben.

“I’ve always loved being at Katty, there’s good people here” Lukies said.

“The coaches are really good and I remember as a kid watching Dad play here.”

This weekend the young gun is off to Hamilton to compete for Northern Rivers in a five-day state carnival.

From there a Country Victoria squad will be named.

But without getting ahead of himself Lukies said his focus was firmly on Saturday’s Rivers clash with Western Spirit and the Dowling Shield season beyond that, which kicks off on December 22.

“I’m looking forward to playing for St Kilda, that will be the best comp I’ve played so far in my life” he said.

“We’ll come up against some big names like Essendon, Richmond and clubs like that.

“It’ll be a big step and I’m really looking forward to it.”