Tewkesbury Cricket Club are going into the new league season in very positive mood.

Their first campaign back in the Gloucestershire Division of the West of England Premier League last time out was a successful one and they are looking to build on that in 2023.

They finished eighth in the 10-strong division after winning promotion from the Gloucestershire County League, but were only 22 points behind third-placed Gloucester and almost 100 points clear of the bottom two.

“The aim is to improve on last year’s position,” said cricket manager Mark Tompkins, who is looking forward to his fifth season in the role.

“We have a fantastic group of players and last season the average age was only 22. We could have finished fourth but we threw away games we should have won.

“The players will be better for those experiences this season.”

Tewkesbury will again be led by Wade Ridsdale – it will be his fourth season as captain – and he and Tompkins, who has just turned 61, work closely together.

“We’re very excited,” continued Tompkins. “Wade and I are very pleased with the development of the club over the past few years, we think we’re a club going places.”

And their grounds for optimism are obvious.

Overseas player Randeera Ranasinghe is back for another campaign after impressing with bat and ball in 2022.

“He’s a good player and a great fit with the group of players,” said Tompkins.

The Sri Lankan will line up alongside new signing Tom Stevens, an all-rounder who has joined the club from Woodpeckers.

“We’re looking forward to seeing him play for us,” added Tompkins. “He’s a right-arm quick bowler and top-order batsman, he’s had a very impressive few years in the County League.”

Stevens has followed the same route as Josh Barnes, another all-rounder, who joined Tewkesbury from Woodpeckers a couple of years ago.

It’s fair to say that Ridsdale will not be short of options this season because he will also be able to call on the services of new signing Josh Mill, an all-rounder who will add variety with his left-arm seam and left-hand batting.

Ridsdale, a middle-order batsman who bowls off-spin, will also be looking to maximise the talents of Henry Snow, another all-rounder and a Gloucestershire Academy player who, Tompkins says, “bowls quick and is a good batsman”.

The club are also looking forward to Tom Allcoat returning to the club after several seasons with Premier One club Bridgwater.

Allcoat, a former 1^st XI captain, is moving back to the area, and brings with him plenty of experience.

But while the flagship team appear in very good shape, Tompkins is keen to stress that his role at Tewkesbury takes in the whole club.

They will run a 4^th XI for the first time this season while the 2nds and 3rds will be competing in Division Three of the County League and Division One East of the Cheltenham/Gloucester/Forest of Dean League, respectively.

“The aim is for the 2nds and 3rds to win promotion and for the 4^th XI to become established,” said Tompkins, who will play for the 4ths in Division Two East of the Cheltenham/Gloucester/Forest of Dean League.

That team, who will be captained by Andrew Sherbourne, will largely be a development side, with Tompkins explaining: “We’ve got a group of under-14s and under-15s coming through who we want to play adult cricket.

“We will teach them how to play league cricket, I like seeing players develop.”

That development involves training correctly and approaching matchdays in the right way, something that is applicable to all of the club’s teams, of course.

The youngsters are very much the future of the club and Tompkins, who first got involved with Tewkesbury eight years ago, has been working hard over the past few years to ensure that the club are in the best possible place to maximise their potential.

“I’m responsible for all the cricket at the club,” said Tompkins. “I head up the junior section, I’m on the selection committee and my job is also to go out and find players.

“I’m the advocate for the players. We’ve upgraded the facilities and changed the culture of the club, players want to come and join us.”

Not that it’s been a one-man operation, far from it.

“Wade and I have had the club’s full support on all cricket matters,” said Tompkins, whose stepsons James and Louis Whitmore play for the 1^st XI. “Hilary Caudle, the club president, and chairman Gary Hughes have been fantastic.”

Tompkins, a commercial director, clearly knows what he’s talking about when it comes to cricket.

Originally from north east London, he learned all about the game at Ilford in Essex where he was lucky enough to play alongside Steve Waugh and Nasser Hussain, two of the biggest names in the game.

Tompkins, who was a middle-order batsman, is reluctant to talk too much about those days – “I like to operate beneath the surface and just make sure everything is working properly,” he insisted – but those early days went a long way to shaping his cricketing philosophy.

“It was the best cricket education you could have,” he said. “They did everything correctly and it’s that culture we’re trying to introduce at Tewkesbury.”

Tompkins also faced tearaway Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes back in those days, something he described as “interesting”.

“He didn’t pitch it up much and we didn’t have helmets back then,” he said. “He was nuts, absolutely bonkers, a real fun guy.”

Tewkesbury’s opening Gloucestershire Division game is at Chipping Sodbury on Saturday 6^th May.