Table-topping Tewkesbury look to extend their already considerable lead in the Gloucestershire Division of the West of England Premier League when they host nearest rivals Gloucester on Saturday.

Tewkesbury have already beaten Gloucester by 55 runs in the league this season – they’ve won 11 of their 12 games – and with just six matches to play hold a 45-point advantage over the second-placed side.

They’ve led the way pretty much all season, just as they did in 2023 before being overhauled right at the end of the campaign by Dumbleton.

That was a painful experience for Tewkesbury, one that nobody at the club wants to see repeated.

But such has been their run of form, a repeat of last season is starting to look increasingly unlikely although skipper Tom Allcoat is refusing to take anything for granted.

“Results have gone our way this season, there’s a bit more daylight between ourselves and the other teams,” he said.

“But last season showed us that anything can happen. We still have a lot of work to do, we’re taking it one game at a time.”

Tewkesbury’s only defeat was by 64 runs to third-placed Chipping Sodbury last month and Allcoat continued: “We’ve been really, really lucky with the weather, we’ve had no cancellations.

“We’ve always managed to get a game played, when we’ve been at home  we’ve had 11 blokes working as groundstaff.”

And it’s that sort of teamwork that has helped Tewkesbury to thrive this season.

“The runs and wickets have been shared round,” said Allcoat. “Josh Barnes has had a good season, he’s got a hundred, a 99  and a couple of 50s but everybody has chipped in.”

Top-order batsmen Tom Stevens and Louis Whitmore have certainly made some important contributions and it’s been a similar story with the bowling which has also been very much a collective effort.

“We bowl a lot of spin which is very effective,” Allcoat continued. “We’ve got four spinners and they bowl 40 overs.

“We open with spin, opening batsmen don’t play it very well.”

Player/coach and former skipper Wade Ridsdale takes the new ball and he’s followed by fellow spinners Will Lucas, Matt Stevens and Sanath Jayawardhana.

It’s a tactic that has been working all season and Allcoat, who is in his second term as captain after leading the side a few years ago, is enjoying every moment.

“The game has changed since I was last captain,” he said. “Batsmen are more attacking, players take more risks.

“As a captain you’ve got to be a lot more forward-thinking but you can take risks with the group of players we’ve got at Tewkesbury because their skill levels are so sharp.

“We’ve got a lot of depth in both our batting and our bowling.”

Gloucester have won eight of their 12 league games, including a seven-wicket win over Frocester 2nds in a rain-affected game last week.

Only the champions of the 10-strong Gloucestershire Division will be promoted to the West of England Premier League’s Premier 2 Glos/Wilts.