Chris Dent has been one of the main men at Gloucestershire for a good number of years now even though he celebrated his 28th birthday only at the start of this year.

He first played for the club at the back end of the 2009 season – he’s the club’s longest serving player – and made his first-class debut in April 2010 against Northamptonshire when he batted at number three.

These days he is very much Gloucestershire’s number one opening batsman and is also preparing for his second season as captain of both the county championship and 50-over teams.

He is now one of the most experienced players in the squad having played close to 240 games for the club in all competitions.

And that experience was one of the key factors in earning him the captaincy last season in what is essentially a pretty young squad.

Head coach Richard Dawson has promoted a good number of youngsters over the past couple of seasons, far rather giving a young player a chance instead of bringing in a journeyman cricketer from outside to fill a hole.

It’s meant regular opportunities for the likes of Miles Hammond, James Bracey, George Hankins, Ben Charlesworth and George Drissell in 2018, chances that they certainly took.

Throw in all-rounder Ryan Higgins, the 24-year-old who joined from Middlesex at the end of the 2017 season, and it’s not difficult to see the direction Gloucestershire are heading.

“Yes, we’re a young side, but we’re also a good side.” Dent said. “I think we proved that at the end of the last season when we had some good results.”

Indeed they did because they ended the campaign with three wins and two draws in the longer format of the game – and they were well on top in the drawn game with Middlesex as well.

It was a run of results that saw them finish fifth in the 10-strong Division Two of the county championship and Dent added: “We want to start the new season the way we ended the last one.”

The 2019 campaign gets under way on Thursday 11th April with a championship game against Derbyshire in Bristol before the 50-over competition kicks in almost immediately with a game against Surrey, also at Bristol, on 17th April.

Gloucestershire, of course, beat Surrey in the same competition by six runs in that never-to-be-forgotten final at Lord’s in 2015 and Dent is keen to draw on that experience when looking ahead to the new season.

He played in every round of the competition that year, making a quickfire 22 in the final, and said: “That win was huge. It gives you a hunger to want to try and do it again and if you can replicate that another couple of times in your career that would be a great feeling.

“It’s hard to say we want to win trophies at this stage because everyone does.

“We’ll take it game by game and if we put in good performances that should put us in contention.”

The left-handed Dent would be one of the first names on the teamsheet for championship and 50-over teams even if he wasn’t captain, of course, but the same can’t be said currently of the T20 side.

And that is something he is desperate to change.

“We’ve got a strong side and it’s a competition we’ve done quite well in,” he said, “but I want to play T20 cricket.

“I want to be involved, I’ve just got to find a way to force myself in.”

That won’t be easy of course because one of the opening slots is taken by T20 captain Michael Klinger, who, Dent says, “has done a great job”.

The T20 campaign takes up a big chunk of the second half of the season – the group games get under way in mid-July – but Dent, even when he isn’t playing, doesn’t get the chance to put his feet up.

“I do all the dirty work,” he laughed, “I have to do all the fielding when someone goes off.”

You can see why he is so keen to play! Gloucestershire’s first T20 game is against Glamorgan at Cheltenham on Friday 19th July, the second match of the ever popular Cheltenham Cricket Festival which this year runs from Monday 15th July to Thursday 25th July.

Whether he is on the sidelines or not this year, the T20 at least gives him a break from the pressures of captaincy.

It’s a job he thoroughly enjoys even though he admitted: “It was obviously a challenge when I came in, as I knew it would be.

“I was quite nervous but I feel a bit more relaxed now and have more confidence in myself.”

Leading the side certainly didn’t detract from his batting because he was the team’s leading runscorer in the championship last season and the second highest in the 50-over competition behind George Hankins.

And it shouldn’t be forgotten just how good a batsman Chris Dent is. You don’t score 14 centuries and 47 half-centuries in 129 first-class games, scoring nearly 8,000 runs at an average of close to 38, without being able to play.

Gloucestershire will need his runs again this season, and with the likes of Gareth Roderick, Benny Howell, Dan Worrall, David Payne, Matt and Jack Taylor providing plenty of experience alongside the youngsters, there is certainly cause for optimism ahead of the new campaign.