Will Simmons is preparing for his 10th season as captain of Cheltenham Cricket Club and he is desperately looking for the perfect ending to the campaign.

That perfect ending for Simmons is quite simple… promotion to Premier One of the West of England Premier League.

They have come very close over the past couple of seasons – agonisingly so last time out – and Simmons would love nothing more than to make the dream a reality in 2018.

“The objective is the same,” said Simmons. “We slipped up in a couple of games last season and we’re trying to improve on that.

“We don’t want to leave it to the last game again. We want to try to win the division before that if we can.”

That won’t be easy of course, and wicketkeeper Simmons is aware that they’ll have to be at or very near their best week in, week out if they are to reach the Promised Land.

“We feel that’s where we should be,” said Simmons. “But we’ve got to earn the right to play against the likes of Frocester and Bath.

“We’re a good club with a rich history playing in a big town, but that doesn’t count for anything if we don’t perform on the pitch.”

Cheltenham’s cause has certainly been helped by the fact that Gloucestershire wicketkeeper/batsman Gareth Roderick may well be able to play four or five games for them this season.

Seamer Liam Norwell, like Roderick a former Cheltenham player, may also be available, although his workload with the county may be such that he doesn’t actually get out onto the park for Cheltenham.

“It’s great that they both want to play for Cheltenham if they can,” said Simmons. “Gareth could play four, five or six games and if he did that would make a big difference, of course. But what we can’t do is just rely on him, he’s the cherry on top of the cake.”

One of the players Simmons has high hopes for this season is new overseas player Josh Breed, who has replaced Jeremy Duncan.

“He’s from South Africa and has just beaten Jacques Kallis’ run record at Wynberg Boys’ High School, so that’s not a bad start!” added Simmons.

“He’s 19 and I’d like to think he’ll bat in the top four. He also bowls leg spin, so that should keep me on my toes if he gives it a bit of a rip.”

And while Breed is starting out on his career, Simmons is hoping that one of the club’s older hands, Luke Sellers, can continue to show the form that has served him so well over the past couple of seasons in Premier Two Glos/Wilts.

Sellers, a player/coach, is about to start his third season with the club and Simmons said: “He’s been brilliant for us. He was the top wicket-taker in the division last season but it’s more than just his bowling, it’s his coaching and mentoring.

“He’s a good guy to have around the place and has a really good partnership with Liam Walker, who has great control and bowls real big in-duckers.”

And while Sellers and Walker could be relied upon to make an early breakthrough pretty much throughout last season, Simmons is also hoping for more from his batsmen in 2018.

“Kieran Smith didn’t have his best season but he’s a very good player,” said Simmons. “And Alex Haworth was injured a lot but he scored 600 runs the year before.

“Nick Evans walked into the club two months into the season, breezed through the 2nds and cemented his place in the 1sts. He looked a cut above.

“Then we’ve got Pete Woodland, James Schofield and Mike Kelly in the middle order; I like to think we’ve got strength in depth.”

Simmons will bat at his normal number eight and, depending on the game situation, will throw the bat or put up the shutters and defend as if his life depended on it.

The team always come first for Simmons, and he’ll leave no stone unturned in his bid to see the club rubbing shoulders with the big boys in the top flight in 2019.

And if they did go up, how would they fare?

“That would be the next big challenge,” said Simmons, “staying up.”

It would be a challenge, of course, but you wouldn’t bet against Simmons, who is Cheltenham CC to the core, achieving those two aims over the next couple of seasons.