Louis Whitmore turned 18 on Saturday and it’s fair to say, in cricket terms at least, he is a young man in a hurry.

He is one of the first names on the 1^st XI teamsheet at Tewkesbury, he captains one of their midweek teams and he also plays for Worcestershire Under-18s.

Unsurprisingly, he’ll also captain his school team next term as well when he will, in all likelihood, be opening both the batting and the bowling.

At 6ft 4in, Whitmore is clearly a cricketer of some promise but while he’d love to make the step up from Worcestershire’s academy into the full-time game, he also has a sensible head on young shoulders.

“That’s always the ambition but I’ve got a plan in place if that doesn’t work out,” the King’s School pupil told The Local Answer.

That plan is to study sports science at Exeter University which, as plans go, is a pretty decent back-up.

Whitmore, whose stepdad Mark Tompkins is director of cricket at Tewkesbury, clearly loves all things cricket and he has been a familiar face at Tewkesbury for some seven years.

“I started when I was 11,” he said. “I was one of the juniors who used to go along on a Friday night.”

It was obvious almost from day one that he had plenty of potential, of course, and he was soon getting the occasional game for Tewkesbury’s senior Sunday team.

By the age of 12 he had broken into Gloucestershire’s district squad and within three years he was in their county set-up.

He was there for two years before linking up with Worcestershire Under-17s – he lives in Bredon – and one thing is for absolute certain, he is going to get plenty of opportunities to play cricket at Tewkesbury in the coming weeks and months.

“I broke into the 1sts in 2020 and I started opening the batting last season,” he said. “I also bowl first change, although I bowl at the death too. I bowl right arm seam.”

That’s quite a lot of responsibility for someone who has only just been given the right to vote!

Ask him if he considers himself a better batsman or bowler and he gives his answer some thought before saying: “I think batsman.”

Whitmore clearly thinks about the game, which will certainly help in his role as captain of Tewkesbury’s Tuesday team.

“It’s my first season as captain,” he said. “I volunteered to do the job, it’s something I wanted to do.

“I captained the Gloucestershire development side when I was 14 and I’ve captained the odd Sunday game for Tewkesbury.”

That experience will stand him in good stead for the challenges that lie ahead.

“The Tuesday team play in the West of England T20 league so it will be competitive,” he said. “We play some good teams.”

Whitmore is clearly confident in his own ability – you have to be if you are prepared to lead people who are sometimes more than twice your age – so it doesn’t come as a surprise when he says he’d like to captain Tewkesbury’s 1^st XI some time in the future.

The flagship team will play in the Gloucestershire Division of the West of England Premier League after last season’s promotion from the Gloucestershire County League and Whitmore has high hopes for the new campaign.

“We’re looking for another one or two players but I think we can definitely push towards promotion, mid-table at least,” he said.