GLOUCESTERSHIRE batsman Chris Dent has ‘a massive future’ ahead of him, according to Richard Trotman, the captain of Thornbury Cricket Club where the county batsman learnt his trade.

Dent has thrived for most of the time he has been a professional cricketer although he and the side have struggled to get runs in the past month of the Specsavers County Championship.

On the whole, however, the left-hand batsman has flourished and Trotman hints that the England Under-19 cap could go the whole way and onto the national selectors’ radar.

Dent played a major part in last year’s race to victory in the Royal London One-Day Cup, scoring 22 in the final against Surrey at Lord’s and 28 against Yorkshire in a semi-final Gloucestershire were odds-on to lose.

And he struck a career best 258 in the first innings against Glamorgan in Bristol last year in the last match of the County Championship, hitting 34 boundaries and two sixes.

Now, at the age of 25-and-a-half, Trotman thinks Dent can kick-on and achieve some big things in his career.

The Thornbury skipper said: “Chris is a great role model to have for the young players at our club. He came through the youth team and our first team. Gloucestershire picked that up.

“I think there might be more to come from him and he can aim slightly higher than Gloucestershire’s first team.

“He has a massive future in front of him over the next three or four years if he gets it right,” added Trotman.

It would be good if the national selectors considered Dent for the England Lions next year and maybe one or two other Gloucestershire youngsters, such as bowler Liam Norwell, with both handily placed in this year’s England and Wales Cricket Board County Championship Division Two batting and bowling averages.

Dent, who missed matches with broken finger this summer, has, nevertheless, scored 883 runs from 21 innings at an average of 44.15 a time. That included a season best 180 against Derbyshire – ironically the team Gloucestershire are facing away this week.

Dent, though, knows that selection is all about doing well for the county game after game.

The Thornbury ace said: “I think you have to be as consistent as you can to get those sort of call-ups and there are a lot of consistent batters around at the moment so it is a tough one.

“There are a lot of batters who are slightly ahead of me at the moment and I’m going to have to do something to prove to the selectors that I can be one of them.

“I hope to keep improving and getting better which obviously has to be my aim so that I can get some call in that way. The only way to do that is to keep improving and scoring runs.”

But he admits it is only through making a name for himself with the bat that the England selectors will take notice of him.

Dent said: “I think I have got to try and catch their eye. I have had some good innings this year but I’ve also had some periods of not so good stuff.

“That is the sort of thing that the best players don’t have. Michael Klinger is an example. He is so consistent and that is what I have to strive and be like.”

On a current playing front, Dent admits Gloucestershire are ‘pretty disappointed’ at their form which has seen them succumb to innings defeats in their last two County Championship clashes.

“We are disappointed in how it has gone in the last few games. We have been disappointed with ourselves and it is not nice to play like that. We don’t want to finish our season in the last four games playing like that.

“So we have got to try and buck our ideas up and get better. It is mainly down to the batters. We have to start putting scores on the board.”