http://premier.qld.cricket.com.au/pageitem.aspx?id=148156&id2=1&eID=12832&entityID=12832 http://www.qldcricket.com.au/news/toombul-stalwart-approaches-milestone/2017-10-12 Some of the finest cricketers to grace the pitch have proved it from precarious situations. Thrown into the deep end as your top order has fallen to a heated fast bowling attack - few runs on the board, few wickets in the sheds. Score runs from there and any challenge the game throws at you is achievable. Last week, Toombul allrounder Preston White brought his side back from the brink of defeat, showing grit typical of many stalwart batsmen before him. Having already claimed four wickets in the first innings, his destructive 155 off 158 deliveries lifted his side from 5/49 to an improbable position of victory - his wicket staling the chase as a dramatic draw was closed out. It’s something that without passion for the sport and a dedicated work ethic would never have surfaced as he prepares to celebrate a career milestone - his 100th First Grade two-day match this Saturday.
“At first I was just a bowler, never really much of a batter - used to come in at No. 9 or 10,” White said. “Then I wanted to get into the game a lot more. “In Under 16’s I just worked really hard at it and came out a better player, now I’m a genuine allrounder instead of more a tail-ender and happy for it.” The 27-year-old hales from Rockhampton where the grassroots of his cricketing career were launched and a long-term admiration for the sport was harnessed. “I used to go watch my dad play cricket a lot in Rockhampton - this is when I was about three or four years old,” White recalls. “One day, when I was about five, I filled in for the team - one of the guys had gone down injured so I went into the field. “I loved it. Took a catch and after that I just fell in love with it.” As his game continued to progress, Preston’s talents took him to Queensland representative levels, featuring for the Under 19’s side in 2007 as well as several appearances for the QAS Futures League side in 2009/10. With over twenty years in the game behind him, Preston has demonstrated his match-changing potential in various levels of the game, his all-round capabilities regularly on show both for Toombul and the Queensland Imparja Cup side. A testament to the batsman he has become, Preston has saved his best for when his team needs it the most - attributing his finest moment at the crease to his side’s four-day grand final triumph over the University of Queensland in 2013. His then highest score of 142 propelled Toombul to the outright win and the premiership title, identified as an innings he’ll never forget. Accompanied by a first-grade career glittered by premierships across all three formats (Two-Day, One-Day and T20) of the Queensland Premier Cricket competition, while his bowling in the Imparja Cup brought with it an eye-catching highlight - an astounding best figures of 8/3. “That was at Alice Springs,” White laughs recollecting the moment. “We got rolled for 120-odd and we were playing against the Vics. “We obviously needed to get off to a good start and we just went straight through them, rolled them for 25,” White said, “(It was) just one of those freakish sort of things where it was going our way; we held onto our catches and history wrote itself.” Preston has lauded the development instigated by the Imparja Cup - an annual Indigenous nation-wide cricket championship. Honing his skills as the tournament has progressed, he believes the stepping stones are there for more young Indigenous cricketers to make their mark on the game. “I think it’s awesome, especially as a lot of the kids that grow up seeing these Indigenous players playing in this sort of stuff (The Imparja Cup). “There are a lot of Indigenous people who would get brought up with AFL or rugby league and it (cricket) gets a little lost in the grassroots,” White said. “I know they are trying to bring it up with the juniors and trying to get them into the Milo Cricket and it’s definitely a good pathway for Indigenous cricketers to make their way through - all the way up to Australian cricket.” Having attained considerable success plying his trade in Brisbane, a birth in Queensland's Sheffield Shield line-up still harbours as a career ambition for Preston. However after a couple of lean seasons for his beloved club, the humble allrounder says he is focusing on helping restore Toombul to a period of sustained success. “I think this year I’ve been more focusing on getting our club back to the standard that it should be. “We struggled the last couple of years just with getting the group back together and getting a good platform, so I’m trying to focus on club cricket at the moment and trying to work on being around the lads,” White said. “In saying that everyone wants to play first-class cricket”. “Don’t get me wrong if I got the call-up I wouldn’t turn it down but I’m just enjoying my cricket with the club.” Backed with a history of turning high-stakes occasions into sensational career memories, the stage is set for another exhilarating performance in match 100. Regardless of how this Saturday transpires, it has been a brilliant century for Preston White.
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August 2018
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