New season, big expectations and real excitement at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.

That’s the message from chief executive Will Brown as the 2017 campaign gets under way.

The club have been on an upward curve in the past few years – with that Royal London One-Day Cup win in 2015 the obvious highlight.

But it’s not just that success that has given cause for optimism. Some sparkling T20 displays as well as some of their performances in the four-day game last season have encouraged many of the club’s supporters to think that this season could be up there with the very best.

And Brown is not about to dampen that enthusiasm.

The lifelong Gloucestershire supporter, who took charge of the county in 2013, said: “It’s a time of hope and aspiration and it’s always an exciting time for the club.

“My expectations are that in the T20 we should be looking to get to finals day. We did particularly well in T20 last season, dominated our group and it was just one bad day at the office against Durham that cost us. We’ve proved that on our day we can beat anyone and I definitely expect us to be there or thereabouts this season.”

Brown is targeting a place in at least the knockout stages of the 50-over competition after their “blinding” 2015 campaign and also has high hopes in the four-day game.

“Obviously, we want to win promotion if we can,” said Brown. “That won’t be easy to achieve because we’re up against some good teams like Durham and Nottinghamshire. But it’s easy to forget that if we’d beaten Leicestershire at Cheltenham last season – or even drawn with them – we’d have gone top of division two.

“We’ve shown we can mix it with the best and if we’re in the top three or four towards the end of the season, who knows?”

Brown insists that Gloucestershire will give equal priority to all three competitions this season.

“Absolutely,” he said, “Richard Dawson and I want to be competitive in all formats. A lot of counties bring in two or three T20 specialists but we’ve only got one specialist, Andrew Tye.”

The young Australian fast bowler will be joined by compatriot Michael Klinger in the quickfire format, with Klinger also committing to the 50-over competition this season before playing just T20 for the county in 2018.

Such has been the 36-year-old’s impact at the club that it feels like he has been with them for years and years.

In fact he only joined in 2013 but like another opening batsman from the southern hemisphere before him – New Zealander Craig Spearman – he has been taken into the hearts of Gloucestershire fans.

Brown is a big supporter and was absolutely delighted to see him finally win his first cap for Australia in the winter.

“That was so right,” he said. “He’s waited for so long and it was lovely to see him get that call-up. Some of his supporters may have become a bit embittered because he was continually being overlooked but ‘Maxy’ was just so chuffed and proud. Brilliant.”

Another Australian, Cameron Bancroft, is back at the club after a tough first season and Brown is hoping that he can kick on in 2017.

“Yes, it was difficult for him,” admits Brown, “but he went back to Australia in the winter and hit the ground running.

“We’re hoping he can be a big player for us in red ball cricket. He’s a gutsy player and has got all the right skills.”

At the age of 24, Bancroft is one of a host of players at the club who are approaching or are enjoying their best years in the game.

That has been a deliberate policy and Brown said: “We’ve managed to keep hold of all the players we wanted to whereas before that may not always have happened.

“Players like Craig Miles, Gareth Roderick and Chris Dent have all signed up for decent periods of time.

“What we’ve done is get a group of youngsters and blooded them together – sometimes at a young age. Now they are in their mid or late 20s and moving into their prime.

“David Payne is a great example. By the end of his current contract in 2019, he’ll have been with the club 10 years but he’ll still only be 28.”

And the club are not just concentrating on the here and now. They are already preparing the next generation who are starting to push for places in the first team.

George Hankins broke into the team at the end of last season and Brown said that Ollie Currill, Callum Gregory and Miles Hammond were all names that could become familiar to the club’s fans over the months and years.

The responsibility for picking the right time to introduce them to first-team cricket rests with head coach Dawson and Brown says there is no person he would rather have in charge of their futures.

“Richard is a fantastic coach,” he said. “He’s done a really good job since taking over in 2015 and has got a great coaching set-up.

“Owen Dawkins looks after our 2nd XI, Tim Hancock is in charge of the academy and Ian Harvey is Richard’s assistant.

“They are all Gloucestershire through and through and it’s great for the current players that they can look at the coaches and know that they know what they are going through, know what it takes to win trophies and know what to do at a given time.

“And because they are all so young, they are relevant to the players and can easily relate to them.”

Brown himself is one of the youngest chief executives on the circuit. He was appointed four years ago at the age of 37 and says it is a “massive honour” to be part of the club.

Despite being born in Bath – yes, he does support Bath Rugby Club! – it was Gloucestershire rather than Somerset that caught the imagination of the young Brown and he remembers: “My first experience of watching Gloucestershire was as a six-year-old in the early 80s and I’ve never lost my love for the club.

“I see my job as looking after the club, hopefully improving it and enjoying successes.”

At this stage Brown is clearly ticking all three boxes and he also takes great satisfaction from some of the achievements off the field.

The club are financially robust having just recorded a surplus for the third year in a row. “That’s something that hasn’t been achieved for a long time,” said Brown, “and that’s credit to everyone’s hard work at the club.

“We’ve installed new floodlights, we’ve had good support from the ECB, our membership is up to the levels of five or six years ago and from 2016 to 2019 we’ll stage 10 men’s and women’s one-day internationals which is more than anywhere else in the country.”

It’s all looking good and even the uncertainty surrounding the new city or region-based T20 tournament which is due to be launched in this country in 2020 is not causing Brown any sleepless nights.

Typically, he takes a positive view. “I think you have to see the bigger picture,” said Brown. “I saw a survey the other day which revealed that something like 80 per cent of kids in this country did not list cricket in their top 10 sports.

“We need to think about the next generation and my view is that we need a new product to excite kids.

“I know the Big Bash is different because of the weather but the principle is the same. Sixty-five per cent of their tickets are bought by women and kids.

“It’s built for families and kids and if on the back of it they become interested in the purer forms of the game then happy days.

“It’s about exciting the next generation and because it’s so different it shouldn’t damage anything we’ve got now. I’m very supportive.”

The forward-thinking Brown is also a big supporter of All Stars Cricket which aims to give easy access to the sport for all youngsters.

“It’s a first-time cricket experience,” he said. “You don’t need pads or whites, just a bat and ball and go out and play cricket.”

If, as is hoped, these youngsters get hooked on cricket then they could be the future stars of the new all-singing, all-dancing T20 tournament.

While being a confirmed supporter Brown admits that he does not know whether Bristol will be one of the eight venues selected to host the games.

Rest assured he will be working day and night to convince the powers-that-be that Bristol should be part of the tournament going forward but even if selected – it may come down to Bristol or Cardiff – he would prefer the competition to have a regional identity rather than a city-based brand.

“If we were called Bristol, it may be more difficult to attract fans from Cheltenham, Gloucester and Taunton,” he reasoned.

“Supporters from those places would find it a lot easier to get excited if it were a West Country team representing Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.”

At just 41, and with three very young children, Brown has plenty to look forward to in both his personal and professional life, although as a West Ham football fan he knows that life can throw up plenty of twists and turns.

He says that his Gloucestershire job “won’t be his last”. At some stage the innings will have to end but in the meantime he will continue batting for the club he loves to the very best of his ability.