New players, new director of cricket, plenty of ambition. It’s no wonder Gloucestershire’s president-elect David Graveney is looking ahead to the new season with optimism.

The new players include two Australians, pace bowler Gabe Bell and all-rounder Liam Scott, and former all-format England left-handed batsman Dawid Malan, who played well over 100 games for his country.

Jon Lewis, the new director of cricket, will be a familiar face to a lot of Gloucestershire’s supporters, of course, after a stellar playing career with the club in the 1990s and throughout the noughties.

“The changes feel like a breath of fresh air,” said Graveney, who captained the club in the 1980s. “A lot of work has gone on over the winter and the atmosphere is really good.”

The club have also signed experienced seamer Will Williams from Lancashire, and head coach Mark Alleyne and his men will certainly be looking to hit the ground running when the new County Championship season gets under way on Friday 3^rd April.

Bell, who is 6ft 5in, has been signed specifically for the start of the four-day campaign.

The 30-year-old will play in the opening six rounds – the first game is against Middlesex at Lord’s – and Graveney said: “You need to make a strong start to the championship.

“You only have to look at last season. Glamorgan and Leicestershire did just that and were promoted.”

The right-arm Bell has an impressive first-class record for Tasmania, taking 183 wickets in 49 games at an average of 25.27.

He will be supported by another experienced pace bowler, the returning Craig Miles, who played a handful of games for Gloucestershire on loan from Warwickshire at the end of last season.

“You need a bowling attack that can take wickets, I think we’ve got that,” said Graveney, who said there may be another new face or two arriving at the club in the coming weeks.

“I know Jon [Lewis] is keen to look at the loan market to supplement the bowlers,” he added.

The 25-year-old Scott, a right-arm seam bowling all-rounder, will play two championship games midway through the season but he has been brought in primarily for the Vitality Blast.

The South Australian has been a regular in the Adelaide Strikers’ Big Bash squad since the age of 20 and he comes with a reputation as a big-hitting batsman.

“Like Gabe, he comes highly recommended,” said Graveney.

“You’ve got to have people down the order to hit it out of the ground. You need powerful players, we can’t always rely on Jack [Taylor].

“We’ve got a pretty good record at finding talent in Australia. Beau Webster came to us a couple of years ago when not many people had heard of him.”

D’Arcy Short was hardly a household name either when he played for Gloucestershire in the Vitality Blast last season, even though the 35-year-old had previously played more than 30 white-ball games for Australia.

The big-hitting batsman, who also bowls left-arm spin, made a slow start to his Gloucestershire career but, once up to speed, made a big impact.

His upturn in form coincided with Gloucestershire starting to win some games, although they ultimately failed to qualify for the knockout stages after winning the competition so memorably in 2024.

Short is returning this season and Graveney said: “Jon Lewis is really impressed with our white-ball cricket.

“The margins between winning and losing are so small in T20, you only have to look at England in the World Cup.”

Malan was part of England’s T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2022 – “He was the best white-ball cricketer in the world at one time,” added Graveney – and even at the age of 38 Gloucestershire’s fans will still be expecting big things from him.

This year’s competition will see the teams playing in three groups of six instead of two groups of nine, with finals day at Edgbaston on Saturday 18^th July.

“The aim has to be to get to the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast and the One-Day Metro Bank, but that’s the minimum,” said Graveney.

“We also want to win promotion to Division One of the County Championship.”

And in 50-year-old Jon Lewis, Graveney believes Gloucestershire have the right man to lead them forward.

“He’s got a lot of experience from working in various roles with England. It’s very impressive in what he’s done.

“He knows the club well and he’s working well with Mark [Alleyne], it’s like he’s coming home.”

Lewis served as head coach of England’s women’s team for three years – he’s also head coach of London Spirit Women in this year’s The Hundred – and Gloucestershire are keen to utilise his skills to help fast-track their own women’s team.

Fran Wilson was appointed head coach at the end of last year and Graveney said: “She’s an outstanding appointment, women’s cricket is such a big thing now.

“It was a setback when we didn’t get awarded Tier 1 status and it’s something that we need to achieve.”

Gloucestershire are currently a Tier 2 club and Graveney continued: “We need to be ready to accept Tier 1 status at a moment’s notice.

“The aim is to create a situation where girls who want to play cricket professionally can do so at Gloucestershire.”