Bracewell bullish about 'new-look' Gloucestershire

By Richard Latham

John Bracewell is predicting a rosy future for Gloucestershire now that the club's ambitious ground development scheme is underway. The County Ground is literally a building site at the moment as work progresses towards transforming the Pavilion End and building the 147 apartments, which are part of the project.

Gloucestershire director of cricket Bracewell believes the increased income from the new faciities will transform the county' prospects on the field after years of working with a necessarily restricted budget.

He said: "It takes financial resources to invest in cricket. The recession and the delays to our ground development plans have affected our ability to hold on to our best players and therefore our performances on the field have suffered.

"Now we can start to move forward. We have a duty to our young players to help them become successful in an ambitious set-up and this ground project gives us a vision of ambition."

Bracewell expects the new-look County Ground to help Gloucestershire attract quality new players, as well as generating the necessary revenue to afford them.

He added: "When you have an up-to-date ground you are more attractive to players and to sponsors. I want people to come here and see that our facilities are not tired.

"As cricketers, we have been in a holding pattern for the past four years. This is the start of changing perceptions of the club by demonstrating visually that we are an ambitious county. A tremendous amount of hard work has gone into getting the development plans across the line. The building of our future relied on that happening."

Bracewell also believes the ground development will enable the club to stage one-day internationals on a regular basis, despite increased competition. "This is Bristol's only international stadium and the cash injection into our budget that holding ODIs provides is hugely important," he said.


Date: 21/11/2012 13:26:28 by Richard Latham
In: Today | Gloucestershire |