County Championship preview: Gloucestershire

2009 in a nutshell Gloucestershire won six Championship games in 2009, sometimes enough to get promoted, and they reached the semi-finals of the Friends Provident. Otherwise their one-day performances were disappointing. If anyone can fix that, John Bracewell can. LV County Championship Division 2 4th Pro 40 Division 1 8th Friends Provident Trophy Lost semi-final to Sussex Twenty20 Cup Eliminated in group stages What they'll playing in this season LV County Championship Division 2 Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B Friends Provident T20 South Captain Alex Gidman. Will hope it all goes rather better than the expedition to Abu Dhabi, where he led MCC to a thumping defeat against Durham last week. Gidman was once earmarked as an England hopeful; now his ambitions are limited to leading Gloucestershire, which he managed adroitly in his first year in charge in 2009 while scoring 1,000 runs. Coach John Bracewell. Once a fire-breathing radical Kiwi, Bracewell now has a professorial mien. His return to Bristol last summer saw an upturn in Gloucestershire's performance. An astute, deep thinker about the game (or is it just the way he peers knowingly over his gold-rimmed glasses?), Bracewell can make a difference back in Bristol. Ins and outs In Jonathan Batty (Surrey), David Payne, Chris Dent Out David Brown (Glamorgan), Matthew Gitsham, Grant Hodnett, Craig Spearman, Tom Stayt, Steve Adshead Overseas James Franklin (NZ). Operates as a genuine all-rounder at county level with his forthright left-handed batting as important as his swing bowling. Not quite Mike Procter but in this era the fact that he is likely to be available and an integral part of the team for the entire summer is a bonus. Key player More than their names, the key will be the fitness of an ageing but very capable pace attack. Jon Lewis is 34 and, believe it or not, the former Yorkshire firebrand, Steve Kirby, can now be regarded as something of a gnarled old pro. He is 32. This pair took most of the wickets last year. Jonathan Batty, signed from Surrey in the winter, also offers vast experience. Ashes factor Richard Dawson is their only player with Ashes experience but he has disappeared off the radar – he is not even a regular in the county side. Gloucestershire are very unlikely to have an input next winter unless a rash of injuries to England's pacemen results in an SOS to Kirby. Prediction for 2010 Second in Division 2. In the hunt for promotion even if they lack the resources of Surrey or Sussex. Expect them to punch above their weight in one-day cricket, even though their side looks flimsy and unthreatening on paper.