GLOUCESTERSHIRE will open their 2018 season with a Specsavers County Championship second division clash away at Canterbury against Kent on Friday April 13.

And they will host Kent Spitfires in the first T20 Blast clash on July 11 after the announcement of the new fixtures for the season, and tackle Glamorgan in Cardiff to open their Royal London One Day Cup on Friday May 18.

Meanwhile, the fixtures for the Gloucestershire and Somerset combined women’s team, Western Storm, who won their Super League last season, have also been announced with them starting against Yorkshire Diamonds on Sunday July 22, and playing at the Cheltenham Festival for the first time.

Gloucestershire open their season with a warm-up match against the students of Cardiff MCCU at the Brightside Ground, Bristol, over three days, starting on Sunday April 1 before they get into serious action.

After the Kent match, head coach Richard Dawson will bring his players back to their home ground for an Anglo-Welsh Severnside County Championship derby with Glamorgan from Friday April 20 The Cheltenham Festival will see Sussex and Durham visiting the county during July, with the final County Championship games being a home match against Northamptonshire from Tuesday September 18 and an away game at Derbyshire from Monday September 24.

The One Day Cup will see eight matches during May and June, starting with the Glamorgan match and finishing at home to Middlesex on June 6.

Gloucestershire open the T20 Blast season with a superb clash away at arch rivals Somerset on Friday July 6 before playing Middlesex on Sunday July 8 at Uxbridge, before their July 11 date with Kent at the Brightside Ground in Bristol.

Home fixtures following this are the return against Somerset, which is on July 13, two Friday matches at the Cheltenham Festival against Essex Eagles and Glamorgan on July 20 and 27 respectively, with matches against Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex Sharks to conclude the home games in August.

Western Storm, meanwhile, will follow their opening match against Yorkshire Diamonds with home games against Surrey Stars, whom they beat in to win the trophy last summer, and Loughborough Lightning before an away strip to Southern Vipers. They are away for four of their six games in August with the home fixtures against Lancashire Thunder, on August 9, and Southern Vipers on August 11.

The Brightside Ground also hosts England v India in an international T20 game on Sunday July 8 plus two women’s T20 clashes when New Zealand take on South Africa and England, both on Thursday June 28.