It’s an exciting year for cricket in Bristol with a long-overdue return for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club after the pandemic put their promotion to Division One of the County Championship on hold. With a new head coach in place, the club has big hopes for silverware, says Jeremy Blackmore.
Gloucestershire make their long-awaited return to cricket’s topflight next month (April) with a new head coach and serious ambitions to challenge for silverware. It is the end of a long wait for the club who won promotion to Division One on the final day of the 2019 season before Covid caused widespread disruption to the sport and put Gloucestershire’s elevation on ice. County cricket has been played in a makeshift conference type system for the past two years.
Now former South African international Dale Benkenstein has taken on the mantle as head coach from Richard Dawson who oversaw the ‘Glorious Glosters’’ promotion drive in 2019 and their one-day trophy win at Lord’s four years earlier. Benkenstein who arrived at Nevil Road in mid-February is excited to join a club with big aspirations. “Gloucestershire have shown it through last year’s performances, they’ve got a squad that can compete, and if things go their way, they could be successful in all competitions.
“It’s obviously a very tough ask. But I like to always set out at the beginning of the season to compete in every competition. I like that attitude.” Benkenstein tasted success in English county cricket as a player when captaining a largely homegrown Durham side to their first ever Championship title in 2008. He sees a lot of similarities between the two clubs. “Gloucestershire reminds me a bit of my Durham days. It is a club with a lot of potential, but also one that plays with a lot of spirit. They produce quite a lot of homegrown players with a combination of experienced [outside signings].”
Following Dawson’s six seasons in charge, assistant coach Ian Harvey stepped into his shoes in an interim role last season. Both men had distinguished playing careers at Nevil Road. But while Benkenstein will be keen to learn from his predecessors, he feels being an outsider could work in the club’s favour. “I really would like to come in with a fresh mind, a fresh pair of eyes. That could be a really good thing. There have been a lot of [former] players that are part of the club. There are real advantages to that.
“But it would be quite nice to have my fresh ideas, fresh viewpoints on players. There may be something I see in someone maybe other people haven’t seen, and I would like to give myself that chance, rather than have too many preconceived ideas.”
The club has not been shy in blooding young players like Dominic Goodman (21) and the Price brothers Tom (22) and Oliver (20) in recent years. It has boosted competition for places among a squad that now stands at 26 strong. Benkenstein sees future success lying in how the club’s more experienced hands can pass on their knowledge to those youngsters. Former Gloucestershire wicketkeeper Steve Snell will have a key role to play as the club’s first ever Performance Director. Snell will be responsible for delivering success on the field by developing a vision and strategy that puts the team in a position to win titles. He will also oversee talent identification and development of the Science and Medicine team, as well as the performance management of talent pathways and elite squads. Benkenstein says: “I have obviously a big role to play. But I have always felt players learn more on the field through those top professionals than you do off the field. So, what Steve is doing is putting the whole thing together. The pathway is going to be what keeps Gloucestershire consistently at the top.
“You’ve got great schools, you’ve had a great history of producing your own players and coaches. That is something we never want to lose. “Having those young guys as a player, I felt it gave me energy to carry on for one or two years seeing how I could help the [Ben] Stokes and the [Mark] Woods, in the Durham setup. So, that balance works both ways. The youngsters gain from it, but also the youngsters keep the older guys going if they’re still adding value.”
One of those Gloucestershire youngsters, Filton’s James Bracey, 24, made his England debut last year and while he failed to convert his county form into international success, he impressed with a century for England Lions in Australia this winter.
Gloucestershire have also made a number of shrewd overseas signings: Australian Test opener Marcus Harris, Pakistan spinner Zafar Gohar (who made a big impact for The Shire in the final few matches of 2021), Pakistan pace bowler Naseem Shah and Dutch international Paul van Meekeren. Despite this talent at his disposal, Benkenstein acknowledges it is tougher for counties like Gloucestershire, who do not host Test Matches, to be successful. He believes this is in part because of financial reasons but also the perception among some players they are more likely to play for England if they move to a big Test venue county. But he adds: “Smaller counties, if you want to describe them as that, have an advantage in that you can create a real team and the players actually get to know each other off the field.
“They then do play for each other. It’s not just about going and doing a job. There’s a real chemistry that then unites them and a common goal. That is a lot easier to do at places like Gloucestershire, than in some of the big cities where people are a little bit more spread out or getting together is not as easy off the field.”
For Benkenstein personally, he is very excited to be involved in English cricket again. Born in Zimbabwe, he started his career at Natal, in South Africa, and after being named captain at the age of just 22, led the side to both a four-day and a one-day domestic title. That success earned him international recognition and in 1998/99, he made his senior one-day international debut for South Africa against England and went on to play in a further 22 matches for his country prior to his success with Durham. On retiring he moved into coaching, working with South-African side Sunfoil Dolphins before taking over as head coach at Hampshire between 2014-16, leaving for family reasons after the birth of his fourth child. After returning to South Africa he worked with the national team and served as Head Coach at Hilton College, where he is credited with coaching a number of talented young cricketers into the professional game.
A short stint working with Lancashire last summer showed him how much he missed the county game. “I really did enjoy my time in the UK, from a cricket point of view and I am excited to come back and maybe that break, even though it wasn’t planned, more of a forced break, has just kept the energy going and the want, the desire to get back into it.”
Benkenstein follows in a proud tradition of South African legends at Nevil Road and is close family friends with Mike Procter, who captained Gloucestershire to cup glory in the 1970s. He played alongside Jonty Rhodes for Natal and South Africa and cites him as one of his heroes. Rhodes scored prolifically for Gloucestershire throughout 2003.
Benkenstein takes his team on a tour to Dubai in early March as part of their pre-season preparation. The trip will include two red-ball matches against Yorkshire. Gloucestershire then kick off the Division One County Championship season on 7 April, with a trip to Northampton. Their first home match in Bristol takes place the following week, 14 April, when they host Yorkshire.
Photography by Martin Bennett
