Craig Collinson will lead from the front when he takes charge of Gloucester Cricket Club this season.

The 33-year-old seam bowling all-rounder has replaced Sam Hewitt as captain and he’s looking to make an immediate impact.

“We want to make a good start, that is the main aim,” said Collinson. “We want two or three wins to get us going, then we’ll take it game by game.”

The West of England Premier League club begin their Gloucestershire Division campaign at promoted Hawkesbury Upton on Saturday 3^rd May before hosting Bourton Vale a week later.

A couple of wins in those opening two games would certainly give the club an early boost, although Collinson has been playing the game long enough to know that won’t be easy.

He’s been in and around the club since he was seven and has been a first-team regular for well over a decade.

The Collinson family is a big part of the club. His grandad Joe is a former club president, his dad Ian was club captain and his cousin Tom, who is also an ex-captain, will again be one of the main players this season.

In addition, his uncle Steve is club president and another cousin, Amy, is club treasurer, so Collinson will certainly not lack support over the next few months.

He will take the new ball and he said: “I want to lead from the front, especially with the ball.

“I’d like to think I will be an aggressive captain but that will be match dependent. In my head I want to be the most aggressive captain the world has ever seen with field placings and just playing attacking cricket, but you’ve got to know when you can do that.”

Collinson has some experience as a captain in midweek cricket back in the day and he’s done the odd 2^nd XI game but he says this is his “first proper go”.

“I put my name forward, I said I wouldn’t mind having a go,” he said. “I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps.”

And while he’s obviously proud to be given the chance, he wants to succeed in the role as well.

Gloucester finished fourth in the 10-strong division in 2024 – they won nine and lost nine and finished more than 100 points behind champions Tewkesbury.

Only one team will be promoted and Collinson said: “The aim has got to be go up. That might be tricky but although we’ve lost some players, we’ve still got a strong team.”

Tom Collinson, who bowls off-spin, will have a key role along with former skipper and opening batsman Jack Whiting.

“Tom will bat in the top three or four and I’ll probably bat five,” said Collinson. “I batted a bit lower than I would have liked last season.

“When I’m batting I like to get myself in and then I like to attack, I normally end up averaging around a run a ball.”

Collinson, a goalkeeper for Tredworth Tigers Football Club in Division One of the Northern Senior League, is also the club’s groundsman, a role he takes very seriously.

“My aim is always to produce a good cricket wicket,” he said. “If a batsman is playing well he should be able to score runs, but if a bowler is bowling well he should be rewarded.”