Cricket: Heywood lose as Denton chase down rain-affected target

Heywood Cricket Club’s away day torment came back to haunt them in a rain-affected defeat at Denton St Lawrence.

Heywood managed to rattle up 216-7 from their 50 overs thanks to enterprising middle and late order hitting after a slothful start.

A torrential downpour during the tea interval meant that play did not resume until 6.05pm, and the home side were set a recalculated target of 154 from 26 overs.

That turned out to be an ideal situation for Denton on their fast-scoring Sycamore Park ground, plus the Heywood bowlers having to deal with a wet ball.

Denton did suffer late casualties and only reached their target with four balls and three wickets to spare - they always looked comfortable with the run rate.

That makes it five away matches for Heywood in the Greater Manchester Premier League this season and five defeats. At least three of them could easily have yielded victories.

This latest setback was another story of what might have been.

Heywood were soon labouring after losing the toss and being put into bat. The top order were quickly trapped in the vice like grip of the impressive Jordan Williams, a member of the England Physical Disability side, who bowled 15 overs off the reel for just 18 runs and claimed the wickets of Bobby Cross and Andy Kerr.

Jack Morley found the going particularly tough and when he went for 12 made from 67 balls Heywood were 82-3 from almost 35 overs.

The complexion of the innings changed, however, with the entrance of skipper Travis Townsend to join Danny Pawson, the latter proving at that stage to have been the only batsman capable of getting on top of the home attack.

They put together an exhilarating partnership of 84 from 10 overs, Townsend unveiling his most fluent form of the season with 49 from 37 balls until just failing to convert it into a deserved half-century.

Wickets then started to tumble with Riley Paterson and Sean Burrill going quickly, and Pawson falling in between for an aggressive 55, and at 178-7 with 17 balls left Heywood looked unlikely to get past the 200 mark.

Andy Dawson and Dale Latham made sure they surpassed that landmark and some more with clean hitting. Dawson made 26 off just 11 balls, including three big sixes.

Latham chipped in with 11 off seven balls also containing a maximum, and after their unbroken stand of 38 a total of 216-7 looked something meaningful for Heywood to defend.

Then came the rain and the dynamics changed. Instead of a significant target Denton were set six-an-over from just above half the original 50 overs – and they proved well up to the task.

Tom McQuinn claimed the early wicket of Liam Parkinson, but home skipper Adam Hawley was joined by Kyle O’Reilly to give the innings the impetus it needed.

They both played and missed consistently against McQuinn and Pawson, but Hawley particularly took advantage to keep his side up with the required rate.

O’Reilly was eventually bowled by Dawson for 24 with the score 71 from 13 overs, and Ryan Waterhouse fell for just eight from a stand of 34.

Hawley, having ridden his luck early on, cashed in with an impressive 72 at more than a run-a-ball to take his side to the verge of victory. When he was finally caught by Burrill on the boundary edge off McQuinn it was 129-4 and there were 5.3 overs left to make the required 25 runs for victory.

McQuinn followed up by bowling Ben Tighe first ball, but professional Larry Jayakody kept a cool head to anchor the rest of the innings.

He made an unbeaten 18 from 15 balls, and, with help of 13 from Mark Dillnutt before he and Jody Clough fell within sight of victory, steered the Saints through to the five points.

That could prove significant for both sides currently in the wrong half of the Premier League table come the end of the season.

Heywood

• R Cross c Parkinson b Williams 11
• A Kerr lbw b Williams 27
• J Morley c Waterhouse b Hall 12
• D Pawson c Dillnutt b Tighe 55
• T Townsend c Moriarty b Tighe 49
• R Paterson run out 1
• S Burrill c O’Reilly b Clough 4
• A Dawson not out 26
• D Latham not out 11
• Extras 20
• Total (for 7 wkts, 50 overs) 216
• Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-53, 3-82, 4-166, 5-185, 6-175, 7-187
• Bowling: L Jayakody 8-0-29-0, J Williams 15-8-18-2, B Tighe 12-1-68-2, D Hall 5-0-33-1, K O’Reilly 5-1-20-0, J Clough 5-0-41-1

Denton St Lawrence

• L Parkinson c Latham b McQuinn 3
• A Hawley c Burrill b McQuinn 72
• K O’Reilly b Dawson 24
• R Waterhouse c Townsend b Morley 8
• L Jayakody not out 18
• B Tighe b McQuinn 0
• M Dillnutt c Latham b Pawson 13
• J Clough run out 0
• D Moriarty not out 0
• Extras 16
• Total (for 7 wkts, 25.2 overs) 154
• Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-71, 3-105, 4-129, 5-130, 6-150, 7-157
• Bowling: D Pawson 8-0-42-1, T McQuinn 8-1-46-3, A Dawson 2-0-21-1, J Morley 6.2-0-30-1, T Townsend 1-0-11-0