Kingsholm Cricket Club are celebrating their centenary and they would love to mark their special year by winning promotion to the West of England Premier League.

And in new skipper Matt Cayless they have someone who knows what it takes to get out of the Gloucestershire County League.

The 30-year-old was in charge when the club last won promotion from Division One back in 2017 and he is optimistic that history can be repeated this summer.

“We have the capability to get into the WEPL and be competitive, especially with some of the younger guys coming through,” Cayless told The Local Answer. “Two teams usually get promoted and we’ve been there or thereabouts in the past couple of seasons.”

They certainly have because they finished fourth in both 2021 and 2022, and Cayless continued: “We’re playing a good standard of cricket but as one of the flagship clubs in Gloucester it would be nice to play in the West of England. To win promotion would be a real bonus in our centenary year.”

The last time they played in the Gloucestershire Division of the WEPL they lasted only a season and Cayless stepped down as skipper at the end of the campaign.

“I’ve continued playing,” he said. “I stepped back to give others a chance. I took on other roles at the club – I’m club secretary – but I’m a little bit older now, being captain again is something I want to do with all the younger lads coming through.”

Those younger lads include opening bowler Luke Bond who Cayless describes as “one of the quickest in the league”.

Medium-pacer Seb Pascoe is another youngster who has been among the wickets in recent times, while Cayless is also pleased that batsman Dom Court, who he describes as “very promising” will be available for the whole season.

Cayless, of course, will be an important player as well.

He will bat at four this season and will also be a key member of the bowling attack with his medium pace.

“I took 41 wickets last season, more than anyone else in the league,” he said with justifiable pride. “It was a bit of a shock really, the most I’d previously taken was 25.”

Cayless will also be looking to new ball bowler Sam Wheeler, who he says has been “knocking around the league with me for many years”, to get among the wickets and it’s easy to see why there is such optimism at the club.

“It’s a competitive league with a lot of good sides,” said Cayless. “But we’ve got a young team and everything looks pretty positive. I don’t see why we can’t be at or near the top.”

And if they do go up they’ll want to stay at the higher level for more than one season this time around, with Cayless adding: “I intend being captain for longer than two seasons.”

That would give their second 100 years a very good start, of course, although the first 100 will be very much to the forefront this season.

A week-long series of celebrations will begin at the club on Monday 24th July, with a centenary dinner taking place on the Friday when former England star Graeme Swann will be the special guest.