Pathway programme

Chris Dent: Gloucestershire’s long-serving opening batter Chris Dent has announced his immediate retirement from professional cricket. The 34-year-old played 356 matches for the club, amassing over 15,000 runs across all formats. In first-class cricket alone, he scored 11,237 runs at an average of 36.01, making him the 28th highest run-scorer in Gloucestershire’s history.

A Bristol native, Dent joined Gloucestershire’s Pathway Programme at the age of 12 and made his senior debut in 2009 in a Pro40 fixture against Nottinghamshire. He went on to surpass 1,000 first-class runs in a season on four occasions, with his most recent coming in 2019 - a standout year when he led the team to promotion to Division One, their first top-flight appearance since 2005.

However, Dent found form hard to come by this season, struggling in the early rounds of the County Championship, and hasn’t featured for the first team since April.