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It's A Big Winter For The Club - Will

17 October 2013

Will Gidman has stressed the importance of a hard-working winter for Gloucestershire’s bowlers in the bid for success next season.

The popular all-rounder scooped the Bowler-of-the-Year prize that the club’s recent Awards Night, despite a niggling ankle problem, which needed managing for much of the campaign.

Will is optimistic that surgery to remove a bone spur from the inside of his left ankle will cure the problem and is then ready spend the winter months at home building his general fitness for 2014.

He believes Gloucestershire’s seam bowling unit as a whole need to work hard on strength and conditioning before next season so that team selection can be more consistent.

Will told this website: “Some of our young seamers had a stop-start summer with injuries, which I know from experience makes things very difficult.

“But they have all shown their potential at times. It is a very important winter for the club to get these guys fit and strong, so our bowling unit can get through an entire season.

“We don’t have the luxury of a huge squad like some other clubs so it is vital that all our bowlers use the winter sensibly in the gym and on the track, making sure we are ready to take a full part in 2014.

“If all of us are firing we have a great chance of achieving some success. But we have to face facts and we have been saying that for the last couple of years.

“We haven’t been able to keep the same bowling attack together for long enough periods of time. Northants managed to do that with their bowlers this season and reaped the rewards.

“I think we are going in the right direction. Our batsmen had a wonderful season and the bowlers did okay.

“We are learning and gaining experience. If we can only stay on the park more regularly next year it could be a very good one for us.”

Will claimed 55 first class wickets this summer and was equally encouraged by the tally of young team-mate Craig Miles, who took 43 in his breakthrough season into regular first team cricket.

“I’m thrilled for Craig because he is still very young, but enjoyed a fantastic season,” said Will..

“You could see from the filmed highlights of his performances shown at our annual awards evening how strong he is already and the weight of the ball he bowls.

“He hits the bat hard and produced some cracking deliveries, which showed what he is capable of in the future.

“With a good winter behind him in the gym, he will be even stronger and I’m sure we will see him progress into a very fine player.”

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