Worcestershire coach Alex Gidman looking for more progress this summer

New club captain Brett D’Oliveira and his squad will start their season with a Championship encounter at Leicester on April 7.

Worcestershire showed signs of improvement last summer with the team putting in impressive displays in the County Championship, Vitality Blast and Royal London Cup.

And Gidman believes the side can go further in all three competition this year.

“It’s still January but, once the fixtures come out, it gives everyone that sense of excitement and buzz, knowing that the season is not a million miles away,” he said.

“I know we played some outstanding cricket last season, but equally the acknowledgement has to be, and it has been with the group, that we slipped up and didn’t quite make the most of some of the positions we got into.

“Certainly lots of great learning to be had from some of the cricket we played but equally learning from some of those tough experiences where we didn’t do quite enough to get over the line.

“I’ve said it before, we were one win away in each competition from having as good a season as we could have asked for last year, but that’s the fine lines of professional sport, isn’t it.

“The challenge is to keep developing and to try and turn a couple of the draws in Championship cricket and the losses in white-ball cricket into wins.”

D’Oliveira has captained Worcestershire in red-ball and white-ball formats before.

But the game against Leicestershire at the Uptonsteel County Ground will be his first as leader in an official capacity.

“For Brett, it will be a very exciting and proud moment,” Gidman added.

“All the players, support staff and members will be right behind him.

“We’re really looking forward to getting going.

““It’s about marrying up all the good cricket we played last season and starting this season well.”