Bancroft's winning experience 'boosts' Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire's new red-ball captain Cameron Bancroft has an experience of winning that can "boost" his team-mates, says head coach Mark Alleyne. The Australian was named Gloucestershire's new captain last month for the 2025 County Championship campaign.Bancroft, who has played in 10 Test matches for Australia, has won three Sheffield Shield titles - the country's domestic first-class competition - with Western Australia."What he brings is experience of winning four-day competitions; over the last five, six years Western Australia have been prolific, so having someone who knows how to get over the line leading the group is another boost for the rest of the team," Alleyne told BBC Radio Bristol."They know he's been there, done it and there's nothing like that in sport. He sets a really good example, great professional, has the respect of everyone in the group and works well with the coaches."Gloucestershire finished seventh in Division Two in 2024, winning just two of their 14 matches - although six ended in draws.Alleyne, who is Gloucestershire's most decorated player, returned to the top job last season for a second spell. He said the team showed a "glimpse" of their potential in 2024. "We've got a group at the moment that the world's their oyster, these guys haven't reached potential yet," Alleyne said. "It's exciting in the batting and bowling groups and if you can put that together as a team, they can be really awesome. They showed a glimpse last year and I'm hoping that's just a start of what they can do."
'The players' ability is there to see'
At the end of last season, Alleyne said the campaign had been "massively disappointing" despite the club winning a first trophy in nine years when they claimed the T20 Blast title in September.Speaking before their opening County Championship match of 2025 away to Derbyshire starting on 4 April, Alleyne believes his squad can finish in the top two of the table and win promotion to Division One."We're good enough to finish in the top two out of eight teams in the competition, we're not going to hide away from it or try and dress it up any other way," he added. "That's what we really want this season and we'll be trying our best to make it happen."The players' ability is there for everyone to see but I now need to keep teasing a bit more performance out of them, which I think everyone is up for."
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