The much-anticipated Cheltenham Festival gets underway tomorrow with head groundsman Christian Brain expecting a “good cricket wicket” for the County Championship opener against Glamorgan.

The recent unsettled weather has made preparations for this year’s showpiece, which runs until Friday 4^th August, that bit more difficult but Brain was in optimistic mood when he spoke to The Local Answer.

“The outfield is fine although it’s a lot lusher than it usually is at this time of year because of all the rain,” he said.

“The pitch is hard and dry, it should be a good cricket wicket,” before adding with a laugh, “but ask me at lunch on the first day!”

Brain has been preparing wickets at Cheltenham College for a number of years now and he continued: “There should be something in it for the bowlers when the ball is hard, but if a batsman gets in there should be quite a few runs.”

Brain and his team have been preparing five pitches for this year’s festival – a separate one for the four-day championship game against Worcestershire which starts on Wednesday 26^th July and then three more for the various one-day games that are being staged.

Gloucestershire supporters will be hoping for an upturn in their team’s fortunes over the next couple of weeks after a disappointing season that has seen them fail to qualify for the knockout stages of the Vitality Blast.

They are also still looking for their first win in Division Two of the County Championship. Six draws and three defeats left them seventh in the eight-strong division after the recent three-day reverse at Durham, and earlier this week it was announced that Performance Director Steve Snell had left the club.

Over the years, the festival has often inspired the home team, however, and as well as the two championship games, Gloucestershire also play One-Day Cup games against Derbyshire (Tuesday 1^st August) and Northamptonshire (Friday 4^th August), plus a National Counties fixture against Wiltshire on Sunday 30th July.

Western Storm play Sunrisers in a 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy game on Monday 24^th July.

The Professional Cricketers’ Association day, which has become an annual event at the festival and is always popular with autograph-hunters, will take place on day two of the game with Glamorgan.

Former players across all generations are invited to Cheltenham for the day, a day when the PCA raises money for the Benevolent Fund which provides funds for cricketers or ex-cricketers who have fallen on hard times.

Tomorrow’s game starts at 11am.