Start of season has been 'disastrous' - Alleyne

Gloucestershire have had a "disastrous" start to the County Championship season but it not the time to panic said head coach Mark Alleyne.

The club have lost back-to-back matches, losing by an innings away at Middlesex then again at home to Durham.

They sit bottom of the Division Two table, with zero points and host Lancashire in their next match starting on Friday.

"It has been a disastrous start, I don't think there's any looking past that," Alleyne told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"Whether you look at the amount of points we've accumulated or the manner of the defeats, whichever way you look at it, it isn't good enough and we know that.

"I'm not panicking but we need to turn it round very quickly."

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Alleyne is in his third season as head coach after returning to the club he captained as a player.

While Gloucestershire won the T20 Blast during his first campaign in 2024, in the County Championship they have won just two matches in each of the past two seasons.

And with two heavy defeats already in 2026, Alleyne said the players' confidence has already taken a knock.

"It's a collective thing, I don't think it's one person getting it wrong it's everyone just slightly off and confidence does play a big part," he said.

"Initially we've got to rebuild that confidence then we've got to get them back to executing like we know they can."

Gloucestershire came into 2026 having lost a number of seam bowlers over the winter, including Zaman Akhter to Essex and Ajeet Singh Dale to Lancashire.

Will Williams and Craig Miles were brought in along with overseas signing Gabe Bell and Alleyne said he thought the players they had were "more than capable" of playing as he wanted, while conceding building the wicket count would take time.

Yet the first two matches have seen players not playing to their strengths which they have to look at, Alleyne added.

"People have for good reason tried to do things that maybe they weren't here to do," he said.

"Will Williams being an enforcer for instance on day one with his bouncer plan, that is not a role really we had in line for him but it was a needs must at the time, we weren't getting any wickets, we had to try something.

"Gabe I think is feeling the pressure of trying to be a strike bowler as the overseas [player] but we also know that's not his strength.

"Some guys have just come out of character a little bit, so we just need to rebuild that."