Experienced seam bowler Luke Sellers has heaped praise on his young new ball partner Liam Walker as Cheltenham have made a quickfire start to the 2017 season.

Five wins out of five leave the club sitting pretty at the top of the West of England Cricket League’s Premier Two Glos/Wilts Division and player/coach Sellers believes 20-year-old Walker has had a lot to do with their early-season progress.

“He’s one of those unsung heroes,” said Sellers. “He’s been terrific for us this season. He’s a Cheltenham lad who has come up through the juniors and he just doesn’t bowl a bad ball, he’s metronomic.

“It’s helped my game as well because I can be a little bit more attacking as he has kept it so tight at the other end.”

Sellers and club captain Will Simmons have given Walker extra responsibility this season and their faith has been rewarded, most notably on Saturday when he took 4-28 in the 34-run win over previously unbeaten Westbury and District.

“He’s been getting the choice of ends and he’s come into his own this season,” Sellers said of the right-armer. “He’s 6ft 4in and moves it into the right-handers and away from the lefties.

“His bowling with the new ball has set the tone for the whole innings. In all but one of the matches we’ve taken at least a couple of wickets in the opening 10 overs and in the other match we picked up one wicket and kept them down to under two runs an over in that opening spell.”

The signs are certainly encouraging for Cheltenham as they prepare for Saturday’s trip to lowly Chippenham, not that Sellers is getting too carried away just yet. The memories of last season’s failed Premier One promotion bid remain prominent when they made a similarly impressive start only to fall away in the second half of the campaign.

The understandably cautious Sellers was, however, delighted with the win over Westbury.

“Yes, that was particularly pleasing,” he said. “They were probably most people’s favourites to win the division, they probably still are, so that was a good win.

“We’ve tried to build on last season and increase our intensity when we bowl and field. We’ve been going out with the aim of taking 10 wickets and so far we’ve managed that.

“We’ve always been a good fielding side – I’d back us against any side in the division – but we could be a bit patchy.

“Last season we could be excellent but at other times we could let it slip. This season we’ve been very good.”

It’s not just the bowlers and fielders who have hit their straps in recent weeks with five of the top seven making significant contributions to their total of 239-8 on Saturday which saw Michael Kelly and Peter Woodland both make half-centuries.

“The batters really came to the party against Westbury,” said Sellers. “It really was a good performance.

“We’ve had to work hard for our wins and we’ve found ways of getting out of tough situations. We’ve shown some fight and some nous to pull us through.”