DETERMINED Nelson professional Ryan Canning has lavished praise on his young Seedhill team-mates after they propelled themselves up the Foster’s Lancashire League table with four straight wins.

And the South African believes there could more more to come from the youngsters as they continue to impress.

Nelson got off to a slow start as they struggled to find their rhythm but their recent run has seen them surge into the top five and they also have a Worsley Cup quarter-final with Haslingden to look forward to this weekend.

In addition to that, Nelson beat holders Lowerhouse in the opening round of Moorhouse's Twenty20 matches on Friday and Canning enthused: “It’s going well at the moment and the lads are all stepping up when needed.

“We had a difficult start to the season but that is always going to be the case when you lose so many players over the winter.

“We all had a good chat and challenged everyone to do just that and Tyler McGladdery is scoring runs and Harrison Phelan is also chipping in.”

Phelan is the son of former Nelson star Marcus Phelan and nephew of ex-Claret and former Manchester United assistant boss Michael and is a real rising star of the game after breaking into the first team last summer and claiming 36 wickets.

And Canning thinks the 16-year-old has a bright future and added: “We knew Harrison was a good bowler but we asked him to step up with the bat and he did that on Sunday when he made 29.

“You need all your lads chipping in, cricket is a team game and everyone needs to contribute.”

Canning is also full of praise for captain Neil Thompson, left, who is in top form with both bat and ball this term.

“Thommo was the first person to stand up and say he needed to contribute more and he has certainly been doing just that,” added Canning.

While the batsman is enjoying Nelson’s current run he does yearn for some better weather so he can start to find his own top form.

“We have Haslingden at home on Saturday in the Worsley Cup and there would be nothing better than to play them on a really good cricket wicket,” he said.

“At the moment the weather is not doing the groundstaff any favours and we need a few days of it staying fine.

“It was difficult on Sunday against Rawtenstall, the wicket was tough and we batted well to get up towards 160.

“And then the bowlers really hit the spot with Rawtenstall 45 all out. That’s the way cricket goes sometimes and it was nice for me to come out on top against Brett Pelser.

“It’s always good to play against fellow South Africans – and even better when you beat them.”