Subbies cricket: Matthew Crozier appointed senior coach of Noble Park

Parkers lock in club great to take the reins from Luke Wintle, who will stay on as First XI captain.

First XI premiership player. Club life member. Lower-grades captain. Junior coach.

And now Matthew Crozier has another title at Noble Park: senior coach.

The Parkers turned to their 20-year stalwart to replace Luke “Juice’’ Wintle, who after four years stood down as coach but will continue as captain of the firsts following his golden summer with the bat.

Crozier said he was pleased to be sounded out for the role and happy to accept once he talked it through with his family and worked out he could fit it in around his job as a mortgage broker.

He said he was particularly keen for Noble Park’s thirds and fourths teams to improve, making the club more competitive in all grades.

Crozier, 47, coached the Under 17s last season and he expects a number of those players to flow through to senior cricket.

He said it was important they were supported in the transition.

The young group includes his son, Josh.

A right-arm paceman and clean-hitting middle-order batsman, Crozier has given the Parkers excellent service since joining them from Dandenong, where he played a handful of First XI matches.

Noble Park star Luke Wintle.

An influential player in the top team — after blasting a crucial half-century, Crozier won the Jack Batty Medal as player of the grand final when Noble won the 2002-03 premiership — he was happy drop down the grades as a veteran and lend his experience to younger players.

He started his cricket at Springvale South, figuring in its 1992-93 Turf 1 premiership team.

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Crozier said Noble Park had retained all of the players involved in last season’s grand final, which lost to Plenty Valley.

He said there was also a possibility 2017-18 Val Holten Medal winner Mevan Fernando would return for “a few cameos’’ early next season.