Long-time captain Jack Hobbis will lead Painswick again as they look forward to the new campaign in the West of England Premier League. 

They travel to Hatherley and Reddings tomorrow ahead of their fourth season in the second tier of cricket in the West, a notable achievement for a village club.

They’ve finished fifth in each of the last two seasons in the 10-strong Premier 2 Glos/Wilts and chairman Andy Barnard is hoping the team can do even better in 2026.

“We feel that we have established ourselves in this division and we’re optimistic for the season ahead,” he said. “We’re hoping we can push on.

“We’ve had a team that has been exceptional and the challenge is to maintain those standards.”

The likes of Hobbis, Alastair Connolly, Reece Morris and former Gloucestershire all-rounder Benny Howell will be key to how they go this season, but while it is obviously important that they continue to flourish Barnard is not focused solely on the flagship team.

“We want to keep our village identity,” said the 46-year-old, who will play for the 2nds and 3rds this season.

“We want to build foundations that will allow us to build a club beyond our strong first-team.”

And those foundations are certainly in place because they run three competitive men’s teams on Saturday afternoons as well as a social team, women’s hardball and softball teams - the hardball side is captained by Chloe Jones - and a walking cricket team.

On top of that they’ve got a thriving youth section, including girls’ teams. The juniors start at under-7s and go all the way through to under-19s.

Tom Hill captains the under-19s and Barnard said: “We reached the County Cup final last season.

“It’s was postponed because of the weather but it will take place this season at the County Ground in Bristol, the other teams taking part are Cheltenham, Golden Hill and Bristol.”

Those Painswick Under-19 players are very much the future of the club and Barnard continued: “We’re trying to grow these players and the youth section as a whole as the first-team grows.

“We’re energising the club lower down.”

Reece Morris, a seam bowling all-rounder who opens the batting, is the club coach and clearly has an important role to play.

“We’re trying to identify youngsters who we think will be successful and give them more opportunities,” added Barnard.

It helps if the 2nds and 3rds are playing a good level of cricket themselves because it means the  step up to the flagship is not so big.

The 2nds will play in Division 6B of the Gloucestershire Cricket League this season while the 3rds will play in Division 8D and the club will be hoping that both can make promotion pushes.

That won’t be easy and it will be even tougher for the 1st XI as they continue to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, as well as Hatherley.

Batsman/wicketkeeper Luke Woolway has joined Frocester but Barnard said: “We feel we’re stronger. 

“We’re hoping Benny Howell will be able to play six or eight games, we’re expecting big things from him.”

They’ve also brought in Greg Ford, their overseas player from South Africa, and Barnard continued: “He’s an all-rounder. He’s an opening bowler and middle order bat, he’s very young and raw.”

Former Gloucester captain and opening bowler Craig Collinson, who has taken 200-plus WEPL wickets, has also joined the club and Barnard is certainly counting down the hours until the start of the new league campaign.

He intends playing as often as he can for the 2nds and 3rds and his big hope is that everyone takes the opportunities that the club provide at all levels.

“We just want people playing cricket,” he said.