ALEX GIDMAN believes Gloucestershire are capable of doing well in both one-day competitions this year.

The county finished third in their CB40 group last season with five wins and five defeats, and reached the Friends Life T20 quarter-finals for the first time in five years before losing a high scoring contest to Sussex.

Former skipper Gidman has seen signs of improvement over the last few years and thinks a good start in both competitions will be vital to their chances of progressing further.

Gidman is also excited to play T20 games at the Cheltenham Festival for the first time.

He said: “The College Ground is an amazing place to play any type of cricket and for T20 games the atmosphere and the buzz there will be unbelievable.

“It will be pretty intimidating for our opponents and a hugely exciting venue for us. “We had a bit of luck in 20-over cricket last year, but we created it with some very good displays and we should be looking to build on reaching the quarter-finals.

“As we learned last year, momentum is vitally important in T20. We need to achieve it earlier in next season’s competition by getting some victories under our belts early on.”

Gloucestershire face Leicestershire, Unicorns, Middlesex, Glamorgan, Yorkshire and Somerset in Group C of the CB40 and Gidman believes they will need to improve their consistency to reach the semi-finals.

He said: “We have played some decent 40-over cricket in recent seasons and our skill levels are constantly improving.

“Our boundary count is increasing and our death bowling is better than it used to be so we just need to add that vital element of consistency.

“I am looking forward to playing in the format again and I believe we can finish in one of the top two places in our group.”