THREE Football League teams all playing within 30 minutes of Cirencester and all in the same division! The battle for bragging rights in League Two will dominate the season.

Of course, I put Forest Green Rovers first and expect them to finish sixth. Swindon, even under new boss Dave Flitcroft, may aspire to 10th. Despite Gary Johnson’s talent as a manager Cheltenham Town will again battle relegation. It is going to be fun finding out.

As a true child of the Cotswolds I am proud to be this newspaper's man at The New Lawn – reporting exclusively to you all.

Guessing team selection is always interesting before the opening day. As brave as ever (but as wrong as usual, Mrs Light utters) I predict boss Mark Cooper's first-day line-up will be as follows: B Collins, Bennett, L Collins, Monthe, Laird, Cooper, Noble, Brown, James, Doidge and Fitzwater. Subs: Russell, Wishart, Bugiel, Marsh-Brown, Traore, Mehew.

Sentimentalists will pick Sam Russell in goal, but that is a quality Mark does not deal in.

Still in selection mood I have some advice for our county cricket club as the T20 Blast challenge sinks because of rained-off matches and poor cricket.

This was especially true in the game against a side of six South Africans, one Australian, two nomadic county cricketers and two token Welshmen – a motley crew competing under the name of Glamorgan.

What has happened to Welsh pride?

Gloucestershire coach Richard Dawson must include Chris Dent and Gareth Roderick in place of serial failure Phil Mustard and the inexperienced Hankins. Captain fantastic Maxy Klinger needs their batting support. Liam Norwell must become a belated addition to the bowling unit, too, or the sinking will continue.

Women’s cricket is burgeoning locally and nationally, being what true sport should be, both competitive and fun.

Two names we may hear much more about in the future are Hannah Francis and Layla Colley. Hannah is a left arm quick bowler and plays for Bucks Under-17s; Layla is having trials for Middlesex.

The Cirencester connection is a strong one. Hannah is coached by Rich Hudson, formerly of Cirencester CC. He is a Level 4 coach leading the Emerging Players' Programme in Buckinghamshire.

Both girls are the great nieces of Mike Smith, popular for all the right reasons in Cirencester sporting circles.

A true warrior on the field, a convivial host at the Golden Cross and an exemplary steward at Cirencester Golf Club, Mike is currently wheelchair-bound but still active on various committees.

Hannah and Layla are the grandchildren of his sister Margaret and her husband Tony. They have the surname Clack and are also well known in Cirencester circles, but not for sport, Tony being one of the least sporting people I know (but one of the nicest).

Margaret was a distinguished head girl of Farmor's School in Fairford.

More ladies feature this week, this time those of Cirencester Bowls Club. Individually and collectively they are reaching the highest levels. I know many of this successful group and am always stunned that they change from being gracious, pleasant and almost demure – the exact qualities I would like in a sister – to become hardened competitors, sweeping the opposition away.

Well done Ann, Vera, Liz and the many others I do not know personally. You have done Cirencester proud.

There are many good reasons for visiting the Twelve Bells in Lewis Lane, apart from the excellent beer.

This weekend I was due at Malmesbury Cricket Club for the Lighthouse League finals that Penny and I sponsor.

I mentioned in the bar that I was uncertain of my way to the ground, not having been there for more than 60 years. Instantly a convivial fellow drinker came to my aid, producing one of those 'tablets' I have yet to master. Thanks ‘Sooty’, also known as Martin.

Many readers have contacted me via this newspaper regarding the death at Christmas of my brother Bob, a keen Prescott Hill Climb man.

At the recent concourse d’elegance, Bob's ashes sped up the hill in a 1928 Bugatti. Nothing could have been more fitting. He would have loved it.

I close by referring back to Forest Green.

All of us will need to be patient. Larger crowds will mean traffic jams as well as queues at the bar and for tickets. This is the price of success, but it is a price worth paying.

It isn’t just the splendid food Penny and I will enjoy this season.

Postscript: re Moeen Ali's hat-trick to clinch the Test series against South Africa today; the last England spinner to take a hat-trick in a Test match was Tom Goddard of Gloucestershire in the Christmas Test, also against South Africa, in 1938-9.