RE-ELECTED Marburg-Mt Crosby Thunder Cricket Club president Troy Schroder has three main reasons for continuing his role of supporting country sport.

“I love my cricket,” he said, having been returned for his sixth year as president.

“It keeps me busy. I have enjoyed the [winter] break but looking forward to getting back into it now.”

Schroder also wants to help more young cricketers gain access to regular competition.

With a highly-regarded new head coach on board and revitalised committee, Schroder is excited about the months ahead.

The 2023-24 Cricket Ipswich season is due to start on September 9 with a new T20 competition where Thunder plans to field a senior side.

Junior competition is planned to begin in October.

Schroder was re-elected at last month’s AGM, along with vice-president Luke Morgan, secretary Aliesha Munt and treasurer Eleesa Lewis.

The junior co-ordinators for the new season are Thomas Hall and Morgan.

Chris Sefont was appointed senior co-ordinator.

Other committee members are Dorothy Armstrong, Daniel Mckewen and Nathan Turner.

Schroder will be assisted in his groundsman duties by Kel Janke, who recently made a victorious debut for the Queensland over-55 side in a three-match series against Tasmania.

The club has appointed the experienced Brad Murphy as new head coach.

Murphy has played and coached around Australia and overseas, including in Brisbane first-grade and many Queensland zone competitions.

The former Queensland Country captain has worked as a development officer and been involved in the Indian Premier League with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

“The main thing in the off-season was getting a good coach, someone who will come in … basically retaining players, which we have mostly,” Schroder said.

The club has started junior pre-season training at the Tivoli Sporting Complex with Murphy overseeing all grades and working with senior players.

“Numbers are looking promising, especially in juniors,” Schroder said.

“Brad is mainly the senior coach but will do some stuff with the juniors.

“It’s working on the culture of the club.”

Schroder said Thunder planned to field senior teams in first, second and third grade.

Junior sides are being formed to play in the Level 1, 2 and 3 competitions.

“The early indications are we’ve had 10 new juniors enquire already,” he said.

Thunder will again play home matches at Tivoli this season in addition to having new access to the Fernvale Sports Park cricket wicket.

Schroder has strong ties to the area as he works as a groundsman at Fernvale State School.

However, he welcomes players from other areas including Marburg where Thunder has strong traditional roots.

The Marburg-Mt Crosby Club was formed in 2013 from two small clubs with similar cricket development goals and former friendships.

Schroder originally played for the Mt Crosby Sharks from 2009 as a junior.

As he entered the senior ranks, he joined the merged club committee in 2015 and became president in 2017.