A MAN who has dedicated his life to coaching young cricket players has been awarded one of Australia's highest honours.

Toowoomba resident Owen Sperling was today announced as a recipient of the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the Australia Day Honours List.

"I'm very surprised and a bit overwhelmed that I was nominated in the first place," Mr Sperling said.

"I never expected it."

Mr Sperling, who is also a groundsman at Downlands College, has an extensive CV with various cricket organisations in Toowoomba, including roles as the president of the Toowoomba Cricket Association, president of the Southern District Magpies Club and a delegate of the Queensland Cricket.

He has also coached many children in cricket.

"It's something I've enjoyed doing, I enjoy cricket and am hopefully helping others," he said.

"It's great to see kids learn the skills of playing cricket, hopefully they can continue to play on and enjoy it.

"That's the biggest challenge, to try and keep young players in cricket."

Mr Sperling, who will next month celebrate his 60th birthday, said the highlight of his career was seeing children he coached go on to achieve great things.

"A number of them are still playing," he said.

"(Former Australian Cricket captain) Shane Watson, he'd be one of the highest for sure."

Mr Sperling said his love of cricket began when he was a child.

"I started playing junior cricket back in the day," he said.

"I also played tennis and football, that was about it.

"There weren't many other sports around then, there were no electronics, so you had to play sport as it was your outlet."

Mr Sperling's love of the sport even led to him meeting his wife Janet.

"I met her at a cricket banquet," he said.

"My life is definitely a lot different to what it would have been without cricket."

He said the support he received from his family was why he received the OAM.

"My wife has been a rock all my life, her brothers played cricket and one of them is still playing cricket," he said.

"No one ever came up to me and said you should give it away. The support has always been there which is a big plus for me.

"I probably wouldn't have been nominated if I didn't have the support of those people."

He said it was a relief not to keep the award a secret any longer.

"It's been a bit hard to keep it secret," he said.

"Especially when you have close friends sit down and talking about cricket, maybe watching the T20 bash, it's hard not to bring it up in conversation."

Mr Sperling said he would keep going with his involvement in cricket, inspiring young players, for as long as he could.

"If they want to succeed they need to listen to their coaches, train hard and always have concentration," he said.

"Try to concentrate all the time when playing, a lot of them when they're younger tend to go off, thinking about other things and don't concentrate on the game as such.

"If they've got good basic skills they'll enjoy playing cricket."

Mr Sperling said he would travel to Brisbane in a few months to receive the medal.

"There will be a ceremony at Government House," he said.

"I've never done anything like this before.

"I've received a few life memberships from clubs, but I've never received anything from the Governor before. It's a bit nerve-wracking."

As for how he would personally celebrate the achievement, Mr Sperling said he would combine his upcoming 60th birthday celebration with a celebration of the award.