Gloucestershire Cricket

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club are one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, currently competing in Division Two of the County Championship. The club's limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators. The club play the majority of their home games at the County Cricket Ground in Bristol. Despite winning a number of unofficial county championship titles in their early years, Gloucestershire have never won a County Championship, finishing runner up on six occasions since 1930.

The club was officially founded in 1840 by Dr Henry Grace and brother-in-law Alfred Pocock, although it wasn't until 1870 before Gloucestershire played their maiden first-class match against Surrey in Bristol. Gloucestershire's early history was dominated by the Grace family, led by the legendary W G Grace, who was the club's first captain until his departure in 1899. Alongside his brother E M Grace, the Grace brothers led the county to three County Champion titles in 1874, 1876 and 1877, with W G scoring 22808 runs during his lengthy career with the club.

Success has been much harder to come by for Gloucestershire since then, however, the club failing to win a single County Championship in their history. Despite all his achievements with the bat, Wally Hammond couldn't help the club win a championship title during his 14 years with the county, although the batsman does still hold the record as the county's all-time leading run scorer with 33,664. Left-arm spin bowler Charlie Parker holds the record for most wickets taken with 3170. 
  
While Tom Graveney, Jack Russell and overseas players Mike Procter, Zaheer Abbas and Courtney Walsh have all graced the club during the 1970s and 1980s, it wasn't until the late 1990s before Gloucestershire fans were given something to shout about, winning seven limited-overs titles under the captaincy of Mark Alleyne. Jon Lewis became the first Gloucestershire player for nearly 10 years to play for England at Test Match level, when he made his Test debut in the Third Test against Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge in June 2006, although the bowler failed to add to his one Test cap. 

There has been a strong New Zealand influence at the club over recent years, with Black Caps stars Kane Williamson, Hamish Marshall and James Franklin all spending time at Gloucestershire over the past few seasons. Australian batsman Michael Klinger is the club's current captain after replacing Alex Gidman in 2012. 

For all the latest Gloucestershire Cricket Betting Tips place check out betting.betfair