Sport
26 May, 2026
Veterans cricket club keeping older players physically and mentally fit at Kingsthorpe
For nine years, Toowoomba Grey Cavaliers (TGC) have provided senior cricketers with an opportunity to continue having fun playing the game they love against people their own age. The club has invested money, time, and sweat into making a home at the Kingsthorpe Recreation Reserve, which has become Toowoomba’s first year-round cricket facility.
From humble beginnings in 2017, the Toowoomba Grey Cavaliers have grown to six teams involving Over 50 and Over 60 years teams across three divisions.
The Grey Cavaliers represent the Toowoomba Region in the state’s winter Queensland Veterans Cricket competition.
Toowoomba Grey Cavaliers Cricket Club President Ian Reimers said the club was founded so that senior cricketers could keep enjoying the game into their 50s, 60s and beyond.
“We are a group of people who love playing cricket, want to be involved and want to play against people our own age,” he said.
“You’re not 60 years old, and wanting to play cricket facing up to a young 19-year-old who’s trying to take your head off!
“We’re playing people our own age and (are) able to compete and really enjoy ourselves.”
TGC competes against teams from Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Brisbane, Redlands, Logan, Wide Bay, Gympie, Lockyer Valley which also take part in the competition.
Along with the chance to travel around South-West Queensland, Veterans Cricket also provides older cricketers with a pathway to play at representative level.
Toowoomba grade cricket legend Brian May is the foremost example of this.
May, known as “The Bush Bradman”, continues to flay bowling attacks.
In February last year, he captained the Australian Over 50s team in New Zealand.
All in all, 19 current or former TGC cricketers played in the 2025 Cricket Australia Masters National Championships.
Along with satisfying a competitive drive, Veterans Cricket also provides a social environment for older people of both genders to come together and maintain long-lasting relationships through the game of cricket.
“As much as competing, I think one of the biggest things about our cricket is the mental health and well-being side of things,” Mr Reimers said.
“It gives guys who are retired somewhere to go, something to build on, something to think about, and something to occupy their mind and stay fit.”
Close to 200 people have played for TGC over the course of the club’s 9-year existence.
At the time the club was founded in 2017, those numbers would have seemed optimistic as they did not have a permanent place to call home.
“Our problem at the start was that we were competing against clubs from, as I say, Brisbane, Gold Coast and so forth,” Mr Reimers said.
“They’ve got established cricket centres that have cricket 12 months of the year.
“We needed a field.
“We looked in Toowoomba, (and it was) very difficult, because they’re short of ovals for what they’ve already got.
“Kingsthorpe came up.
“When we first came out here it was a synthetic wicket, (with a small) club house.”
In the intervening nine years, TGC have worked hard to upgrade the facility into a turf wicket, recently adding an awning to extend the pavilion to provide more shade.
Two locals, David Reuter from Gowrie Junction and Ian Sippel from Kingsthorpe, have maintained the turf wicket for the past two years.
“We were both virgins at (pitch preparation) when we started,” Mr Reuter said.
“The wicket was in a bit of mess and we said ‘We’ll take it on!”
As a team, Mr Sippel and Mr Reuter put in around 12-15 hours each into maintaining the wicket every week, mowing, fertilising, pulling weeds, spraying for bugs, and transplanting grass into the wicket.
“We’re the only wicket in Toowoomba that goes 12 months of the year, Mr Reuter said.
“We mow the whole square two to three times a week, we’re out watering every day, and use the four tonne roller from Wednesdays to Fridays.”
“You are on your hands and knees a lot looking at it.
“Having the right water profile helps.”
Their hard work paid off last summer with Toowoomba grade cricket matches being played weekly in summer for the first time, on top of the 27 TGC matches during the winter months.
Mr Sippel and Mr Reuter say pitch preparation isn’t without its challenges.
“We had a disease in it which killed half the grass. it’s 90 per cent back now,” Mr Reuter said.
“We’re hoping to get it 100 per cent back for the summer.,”
Ian Reimers says the partnership between TGC, Toowoomba Cricket, and Kingsthorpe Recreation Reserve owners Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC), has been a fruitful one.
“Toowoomba Cricket invested money to put the turf wicket out there,” Mr Reimers said.
“Since we have come out here, we’ve invested money to get the turf wicket up to an acceptable standard.”
“We’ve now put up this awning which is a $45,000 investment that we were able to get a Gaming Fund grant for, as well as money from Toowoomba Regional Council.”
TRC has also chipped in to provide a camera to deter returning hoons from driving on the wicket.
“We were looking at getting our own security cameras and Council came up with a solution for us in relation to a camera which provides very good coverage of the clubhouse and the shed,” Mr Reimers said.
If you’d like to play Veterans Cricket for the Toowoomba Grey Cavaliers, contact Ian Reimers on 0409 994 167 or email ianreimers57@gmail.com.
