Cricket: Preston Boyd produces his best to guide Tamworth Gold home in Inverell

Preston Boyd's innings of 60 not out against Inverell guided his side home in pursuit of the hefty total of 260 at Varley Oval.

While Preston, a young fast-bowling allrounder, has always shown talent with the bat, his most recent knock was chanceless and spurred his father, Mick, to describe it as "the best he's ever batted".

"He usually gives a couple of chances, but he didn't give a chance throughout the whole innings," he said.

"He usually hits a couple in the air and gets dropped, if he's lucky enough to be dropped. But he didn't give a chance at all this innings."

The Tamworth Gold under 17s coach, Luke Scicluna, echoed Mick's sentiments, and praised the youngster's "sensible" approach in a precarious situation.

"When we got down to needing 17 runs off six overs, it was more about needing singles and twos rather than hitting boundaries," Scicluna said.

"He knew that we were well and truly in it, needing three runs an over, and so there was no need to be silly.

"That was a very mature innings from him, I thought."

Tamworth Gold went into the game with modest expectations as they were facing an older team, away from home, with only 10 players.

They lost the toss and conceded 260 to Inverell, as Brady Hunter starred with three wickets and captain Jordan Lewington picked up two. However, everyone "really put their hand up" in the second innings, Scicluna said.

Riley Gentle (26) and Charlie Whale (38) put on 70 runs to open the innings, before Ben Murphy (56) and Boyd came to the crease and spurred the side to a four-wicket win with more than three overs remaining.

The pragmatism Preston showed during his half-century was, according to his father, typical of the youngster.

Although he is a talented player, who often opens the bowling as well, he has not outwardly expressed any dream of playing the game at a high level.

"Whether he's good enough to play seriously, you don't know," Mick said.

"I can't say what his plans [in cricket] are at the moment, he's hoping to be a builder actually. But if cricket takes him down that path, he'd love to do it."

It is impossible to know what the future holds for Preston. But Scicluna said he is an "impressive young player" who is currently "playing great cricket".

More remarkable than Preston's potential, however, is his commitment. The Boyd family currently lives in Walcha, roughly an hour's drive from Tamworth, yet the teenager and his parents make the commute for training and games in both representative and grade cricket.

Tamworth Gold will look to back up their win with a clash against Coalfields at Riverside 1 this Sunday.

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