Cricket: Heywood middle order pile on the agony for Worsley

Heywood Cricket Club

Heywood’s 168-run defeat of Worsley in Division One of the Greater Manchester League was not totally unexpected given the respective positions of the teams in the table.

Heywood can take great encouragement from the performance of the lower order batsmen who paved the way to an imposing score of 275.

And the bowlers, led by Simon Dawson, showed no respite to Worsley in the field – which featured one of the catches of the season by Andy Dawson.

Captain Danny Pawson had no hesitation in batting on a steamy day but Heywood quickly lost openers Andy Kerr and Bobby Cross with just 10 runs on the board.

The captain continued his tremendous form when joined by professional Travis Townsend, but when the latter fell for 28, Jack Morley went for two, Sean Burrill for 15 and Pawson eventually for 53, Heywood were wobbling on 133-6 with more than half their allotted overs left.

The prospect of being toppled for a reasonably cheap score with plenty of overs unused was a real one, but Andy Dawson joined Wes Hunt to make sure that did not happen.

They put together a stand of 68 for the seventh wicket to take the total past 200, and, although Dawson eventually went for 41 and Hunt for 30 their resolve was heartening.

15-year-old Mikey Witts and Simon Dawson rubbed salt in the Worsley wound with the former impressing with 31 and Dawson smacking an aggressive, unbeaten 28 off 25 balls to virtually bat Worsley out of the game.

Simon Dawson mopped up the first four Worsley wickets in a deadly new ball spell, and when Andy Dawson claimed the fifth victim the home side were 19-5 and in danger of being routed.

Opener and home skipper Nathan Rushton stood firm at the other end as wickets tumbled around him, with another 15-year-old in Cabhan Hilton claiming a couple of victims to underline that Heywood certainly have emerging young talents.

Rushton found an ally in Mike Gould, who made 15 in a sixth-wicket stand of 25 before smashing a Morley delivery high and handsome and looking bound to clear the ropes.

Andy Dawson raced back from deep mid-off and, with the ball sailing over his head, never gave up the chase and lunged to catch the ball a foot from the ground just inside the boundary. Gould could not believe it, and neither could anyone else.

Rushton continued his one-man stand and it was therefore a personal pity that he could not achieve the rare feat of carrying his bat throughout the innings when becoming Simon Dawson’s fifth victim for 61 to end the Worsley resistance on 107.

Heywood

R Cross c McClellan-Grant b Eric 10
A Kerr b Gould 0
T Townsend c McLellan-Grant b Eric 28
D Pawson c McLellan-Grant b Rushton 53
J Morley lbw b Eric 2
S Burrill c McLellan-Grant b Gould 15
W Hunt c Gould b Rushton 30
A Dawson c Henshaw b Rushton 41
M Witts c McLellan-Grant b Eric 31
S Dawson not out 28
C Hilton b Eric 1
Extras 35
Total (49 overs) 275
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-10, 3-69, 4-90, 5-124, 6-133, 7-201, 8-225, 9-271, 10-275.
Bowling: M Gould 10-0-72-2, A Eric 15-2-54-5, B Coleman 5-0-31-0, N Rushton 13-0-74-3, P Pervez 6-0-33-0

Worsley

N Rushton c Hunt b S Dawson 61
A Hussain c Pawson b S Dawson 7
M McLellan-Grant lbw b S Dawson 0
E Eric c Kerr b S Dawson 0
S Hall b S Dawson 0
S Patel c Burrill b A Dawson 0
W Fakher c Townsend b Hilton 6
M Gould c A Dawson b Morley 15
D Henshaw c Morley b Hilton 2
B Coleman run out 3
P Pervez not out 8
Extras 5
Total (28.1 overs) 107
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-9, 3-14, 4-18, 5-19, 6-44, 7-63, 8-71, 9-87, 10-107
Bowling: S Dawson 12.1-1-38-5, A Dawson 6-1-20-1, C Hilton 6-0-35-2, J Morley 4-0-14-1