Gloucestershire Women have been promoted to Division 2 of the ECB T20 County Championship after going through the competition unbeaten.

The side – who won six out of six completed games – were crowned champions of Division 3A after their final two games were washed out.

Gloucestershire Women’s coach Steve Dent hailed the squad’s successful T20 campaign as a case of mission accomplished.

He said: “At the start of the season one of our objectives was to win our T20 group and secure promotion to Division 2. This is a great reward for all the hard work the players have put in since the beginning of the year and reinforces my belief in the capability of this squad.”

Gloucestershire’s promotion was their second in successive years in the T20 County Championship and was confirmed in the same week that all-rounder Danielle Gibson became the first Gloucestershire player to be selected for the Western Storm Kia Super League squad.

Dent added: “On top of the news that Dani has made the Western Storm squad it’s been a great week for women’s cricket in the county.”

And Gibson hasn’t been the only Gloucestershire player to catch the eye this season with Abby Evans finishing the T20 competition as the highest runscorer across the four Division 3 leagues with 206 runs at 51.5. In the bowling department wickets have been shared around with teenage spinner Alice Hill and seamer Sidra Khan making the top 10 across Division 3 with six wickets each.

Gloucestershire now turn their attentions back to the 50-over County Championship where they face Essex in a play-off for promotion to Division 2. Gloucestershire reached the play-off after topping their group with four wins out of four.

Once again Evans has been in superlative form with 226 runs – more than any other player in Division 3 at an average of 113. With the ball, spinner Charlie Phillips is the top wicket-taker in Gloucestershire’s league with 10 wickets at an average of 5.4 and an incredible economy rate of 1.64. All-rounder Gibson has impressed in both averaging 36 with the bat and 7.5 with the ball.

In addition to maintaining an unbeaten record across both competitions Gloucestershire have also continued to give opportunities to young players with under-17 trio Naima Milhofer, Molly Thomas and Chloe Skleton making their debuts in 2017. They join the likes of established players Gibson (16), Natasha Wraith (15), Hill (17) and Eve Alder and Mollie Robbins (both 18) in a youthful squad.

The Division 3 promotion play-off against Essex will be played at Dumbleton CC on Sunday 27th August. Attendance is free.