CRICKET

The club start with a home game against Derbyshire in the LV=County Championship, beginning on April 8, and the captain is optimistic of kicking-off the campaign with a victory.

Gidman said: “Derbyshire are a bit like ourselves in that they are starting afresh after losing a few players and it is a match I will be confident of getting a good points return from.

“We then go to Cardiff to face Glamorgan. There have been some tough games with them over the past few years, but as with many teams they have made quite a few changes in personnel and it will be interesting to see what tactics they employ at home.

“I would imagine playing there at that time in the season would assist our bowlers so I’m quite happy to face them early on.

“We also start at home in the Clydesdale Bank 40 with two games at Bristol against Glamorgan and the Unicorns.

“With no disrespect to those teams, I would expect to pick up maximum points from those matches and get that campaign off to a good start.

“We are in a very tough group, but if I were to pick two teams we would have a good chance against it is those two. We are going to have a very energetic and enthusiastic one-day team and I am very much looking forward to 40-over cricket next season.

“For two seasons in a row we have played very well in that format, reaching a semi-final and getting good points in our group last summer. We know how to perform in that competition and there is every reason for confidence.”

The fixture list hasn’t been so kind to Gloucestershire in the Friends Priovident t20, providing them with difficult trips to The Oval and Chelmsford when the competition gets underway in early June.

“In the Twenty20 we have been given two brutal games to start with away to Surrey and Essex,” admits Gidman.

“It’s a competition in which we need to keep learning and developing.

“Those fixtures will certainly give us an early idea how we are shaping up and we will be going to the two venues aiming to be very competitive against two strong sides.”

Two t20 home games will again be staged at the King’s School, Gloucester, where Hampshire and Surrey provide the opposition on June 10 and 12 respectively.

“We enjoyed playing at Gloucester last year and with it being such a small ground I can foresee some big hitting for the spectators to enjoy,” said Gidman.

“Twenty20 cricket is all about momentum and hopefully by the time we play there we will have built the self-belief to achieve two good results.”

The Cheltenham Festival, starting on July 20, looks particularly attractive with Championship games against Kent and Surrey, plus 40-over fixtures against Nottinghamshire, Essex and Lancashire.

“There will be big name players coming to the College Ground in every one of those teams so it promises to be a great festival for spectators and a really challenging one for our players,” said Gidman.

“You look at the strength of the Kent and Surrey batting, plus the test of facing a top spinner like James Treadwell on a Cheltenham pitch and we know the Championship games there are going to be very tough.

“We need to get the monkey off our backs of winning a four-day game there and I know all the players will be up for doing that.”