Gloucestershire are primed, ready and looking to build on the success of last year with the start of the new domestic cricket season just around the corner.

Their stunning victory in the T20 Blast has lifted expectations in and around the county and head coach Mark Alleyne is hoping to carry that momentum into the 2025 campaign.

The new season gets under way with a County Championship Division Two game against Derbyshire in Derby on Friday 4^th April and Alleyne wants his team to make an immediate impact in the longer form of the game.

The early signs are encouraging. Former Australian opening batsman Cameron Bancroft will lead the red-ball side after Graeme van Buuren stood down, while fellow Australian Cameron Green has been signed up to play in five of the early games.

Those are two big statements of intent and Alleyne, who returned to the club at the start of last season, is looking forward to working closely with both of them.

He already knows Bancroft well, of course, and he is a big fan. The 32-year-old has previous captaincy experience with Durham back in 2019 and Alleyne said: “He’s really invested in the club and he gets on well with the boys.

“We’re hoping to use his experience to help us get over the line.”

Gloucestershire finished seventh of eight last season after winning two of their 14 games – two more than in 2023 – and despite the lowly finish Alleyne saw signs of encouragement.

With half the games played in April and September, victories weren’t easy to come by and Alleyne said: “I think two wins last season was a bit misleading.

“We didn’t quite get it right but with the improvements that we did make, it was disappointing  that our performances didn’t see us finish higher up the table.

“Our bowling was inconsistent but we showed glimpses that we can threaten teams and our batsmen were scoring hundreds and even double hundreds.”

Bancroft was one of those to enjoy a very productive season, scoring 832 runs at an average of 48.94, and Alleyne said: “His contribution is not just about the volume of runs he scores.

“He understands how to absorb tough times and set it up for others, he’s very unselfish. He’s flexible and adaptable, he’s my kind of player.”

Bancroft also had a part to play in Green joining the club. The two play together for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, although Green has been sidelined in recent times with a back injury.

Green’s first game for Gloucestershire is expected to be the championship game at Kent on 18^th April – he will play only as a batsman – and Alleyne said: “He’s a quality cricketer working his way back, we’re hoping to see the best of him.

“He’s a good age – 25 – and he’s got a good relationship with Cameron Bancroft.”

The last of Green’s five games is at Northampton at the end of May – Australia’s World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s starts on 16^th June – but Alleyne is hopeful that Green may also be able to play a couple of T20 games for the county.

“We’ve kept the option open but it may be a bit soon,” said Alleyne.

Green’s involvement in the T20 Blast would be a huge bonus for the defending champions.

Gloucestershire begin this season’s competition against Kent in Bristol on Friday 30^th May, with their final group game in Taunton against Somerset on Friday 18^th July.

Under the astute leadership of Jack Taylor, Gloucestershire demolished Somerset in the final of last season’s competition, a day that will live long in the memory of their supporters.

They also beat Sussex by eight wickets that day, victories that followed their 14-run quarter-final win over Birmingham Bears, also at Edgbaston, a few weeks earlier.

Their success was all the more impressive because they only just squeezed into the knockout stages after winning seven, tying one and losing six of their group games.

“The group stage was really tough,” admitted Alleyne. “The knockout games are one-off games, we back ourselves to beat anybody in those games, but you’ve got to be really good over 14 games before that.

“That’s the tough part, finishing in the top four is not easy.”

That’s particularly true in Gloucestershire’s group with all four teams on finals day having played in South Group.

“We had some thrilling games last season which went down to the last ball, they’re not good for the coach’s ticker,” said Alleyne with a laugh.

“There were other games we thought we could have won more easily than we did and we lost against Kent at Cheltenham, that’s a game we really should have won, so there are lots of areas we can improve.

“We want to try to secure an easier passage into the knockout stages this season if we can.”

If they do that, it will go a long way towards confirming them as one of the best white ball sides in the country, something Gloucestershire achieved around the turn of the century when they won one-day trophies for fun under Alleyne’s captaincy.

There were more county competitions in those days, of course, but by winning a trophy last season, Gloucestershire have certainly proved they are a force to be reckoned with again.

“One of the main purposes of last year was to raise expectations internally within the group and among the fans, we want to be ambitious,” said Alleyne.

“Winning the cup was brilliant but the aim was to play a style of cricket that people found interesting and could enjoy watching.”

They certainly did that and not just in white ball cricket as those who were at Cheltenham for the county championship thriller against Glamorgan at the start of July will testify.

The match ended in a tie after Glamorgan, chasing a highly improbable 593 for victory, needed one run to win from the final ball with their final-wicket pair at the crease.

But then wicketkeeper Jack Bracey, who had already hit a double hundred, took centre stage, taking a stunning catch to dismiss no 11 Jamie McIlroy off the bowling of seamer Ajeet Singh Dale to spark joyous scenes around the ground.

It was just the 69^th time in the history of first class cricket that a game had ended in a tie, a game that had everything – first innings collapses, last-wicket heroics, 600-plus and 590-plus totals in the second innings, a double century, four centuries, two five-wicket hauls and some wonderful fielding.

This year’s Cheltenham Festival runs from Thursday 17^th July to Tuesday 5^th August and features a T20 Blast game against Sussex (17^th July), County Championship games against Lancashire (22^nd July) and Middlesex (29^th July), and a One Day Cup game against Derbyshire (5^th August).