IT IS an ominous sign for the rest of the GMCL’s Division Two A that Elton have won five games from six, with the other rained off, and yet captain Gareth Edwards believes they are yet to reach full potential.

Elton beat Roe Green seconds by 66 runs away from home on Saturday and sit top of the table ahead of Shaw firsts, who were rained off.

Edwards’ side were bowled out for 169, with opener Mike Hall’s 53 the feature, before Roe Green replied with 103 thanks to four wickets from opening bowler Stephen Ritchie.

Edwards, a former England under-19 international and county pro with Glamorgan and Surrey, admits to being “absolutely delighted” with their start.

But, despite his feeling that the best could be yet to come, he is refusing to get carried away.

“It’s a great start. I couldn’t really have asked for more,” he said.

“The really pleasing thing is that it’s not the same people taking the wickets or scoring the runs. It’s been a real team effort.

“Saturday was our fourth different player to score a half-century, and we’ve had four different bowlers taking four wickets.

“But we know we haven’t hit full potential yet. Having won every game we’ve played, that’s a nice position to be in.

“The one caveat I would add is that we’ve only played six games.

“I’ve said to the lads, ‘I don’t want to look at the table until after halfway once we’ve played everybody'.

"Only then can we get a proper sense of what we think we can achieve.

“At the start of the year, the aim was to get promoted (top two places).

"We’ve missed out by one place for the last two years, which has been frustrating.

"We haven’t been quite good enough to get up.

"But this year, with this team and this group of players, the aim was promotion. And we’ve started really well.

“There’s been moments that we’ve bowled or batted to our full potential, but we haven’t done both disciplines in the same game.

“We are still trying to come up with our best batting order and our best bowling combinations, but we have a lot of options, especially with the ball.”

Edwards comments regarding improvement was highlighted on Saturday when Elton, who elected to bat, slipped from 88-0 to 95-6 inside six overs.

Edwards has taken 16 league wickets with his off-spin, but he only struck once on Saturday: “That’s important for me, to be a captain who contributes and leads from the front,” he said.

Elton have brought Gavin Nichol in from Woodbank, while Michael Farley has returned from captaining Radcliffe.

“Over the five years I’ve been at Elton, it’s been a lack of runs we’ve struggled with. So we’ve consciously strengthened our batting,” added Edwards, who also praised teenage seamer Hisham Masood.

“He’s getting bigger and stronger all the time.

“We’re playing our cricket the right way, with a smile on our face.

“It’s not just us who’ve started well, it’s the seconds and thirds as well.

"That’s great because we’re trying to build that environment where people can move up through the teams.

"That’s really healthy.”