Cricket: McQuinn tears through Woodhouses to lift Heywood to seventh

Tom McQuinn’s second seven-wicket haul in the last four Greater Manchester Premier League games spearheaded a convincing Heywood victory at Woodhouses.

The 28-year-old Aussie pace bowler claimed 7-49 from 12 overs as the home side subsided to 81 all out in reply to 165 by the visitors.

McQuinn also had a 7-32 return at Clifton on 30 June 30 and he has now taken 40 wickets in his debut season for Heywood.

The victory lifts Heywood to a respectable seventh place in a congested Premier table, just six points off fourth place but only five points from second bottom.

The win at Woodhouses made it three wins in four games, punctuated by the defeat at champions Flixton, and even a slightly weakened team proved too much for the Failsworth area side.

Heywood’s total, after again losing the toss and being inserted on a green wicket, was a decent one but in the ensuing circumstances possibly could and should have been significantly more.

After losing Andy Kerr for a duck, a second-wicket partnership of 57 between Riley Paterson and Bobby Cross set up the prospect of a challenging total until both fell within the space of three runs.

Cross made 23 before falling to a spectacular one-handed catch on the boundary edge by Josh Butler. And Paterson soon followed bowled by Alex Spender for 23.

Travis Townsend was also bowled by home skipper Nick Hardman for 17 to make it 89-4, only for Jack Morley to be joined by Danny Pawson as they forged a 59-run partnership that threatened to take the game away from the home side.

Morley produced one of his most assured innings of the season despite the testing conditions, and Pawson was in aggressive mode. And, at 148-5 and more than eight overs remaining, the prospect of a total approaching 200 looked a realistic one. Then came the collapse of all collapses.

Pawson was bowled around his legs for 32 by Josh Butler, who, aided by his fellow left-arm spinner Hardman, ran through the Heywood lower order batting line-up.

The wickets of Andy Dawson, Morley for a fine 39, Simon Dawson and Mikey Grogan all fell with the total 151, and it was left to Mikey Witts supported by McQuinn to scrape together a further 14 vital runs for the last wicket.

Still, a score of 165 looked appreciable in the conditions, and McQuinn, aided by his fellow paceman Simon Dawson, responded to the challenge.

The Aussie made the initial breakthrough, having Matt Taylor well caught by Pawson over his head at mid-on. Then Dawson trapped Lewis Johnston lbw without addition to the score and followed up by having Andy Hayes snapped up by Paterson at second slip.

Dawson continued to bowl a tight and probing spell, evidenced by his final figures of 2-23 from 10 overs, but it was McQuinn who really took over to wreck the rest of the Woodhouses line-up.

Hardman briefly threatened with an aggressive 17, Chris Reeves battled hard and Ryan Sloan looked comfortable with 12. Yet they all perished to McQuinn along with Spender, Butler and James Taylor.

All that was left was for Townsend to replace Dawson and apply the finishing touch by bowling James Coote and clinch six points for Heywood as they enter the last third of the league season.

Heywood

• R Paterson b Spender 26
• A Kerr c Sloan b M Taylor 0
• R Cross c Butler b M Taylor 23
• T Townsend b Hardman 17
• J Morley c Johnston b Butler 39
• D Pawson b Butler 32
• A Dawson c and b Hardman 1
• S Dawson c J Taylor b Butler 0
• M Grogan c Hardman b Butler 0
• M Witts lbw b Hardman 8
• T McQuinn not out 2
• Extras 17
• Total (48.2 overs) 165
• Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-58, 3-60, 4-89, 5-148, 6-151, 7-151, 8-151, 9-151, 10-165
• Bowling: A Spender 12-6-36-1, M Taylor 11-2-39-2, J Butler 13-2-40-4, N Hardman 12.2-0-42-3

Woodhouses

• M Taylor c Pawson b McQuinn 6
• L Johnston lbw b S Dawson 4
• A Hayes c Paterson b S Dawson 8
• C Reeves c and b McQuinn 9
• N Hardman c Kerr b McQuinn 17
• R Sloan b McQuinn 12
• A Spender c Cross b McQuinn 8
• J Butler b McQuinn 0
• J Taylor c Morley b McQuinn 11
• M Ball not out 0
• J Coote b Townsend 0
• Extras 6
• Total (23.4 overs) 81
• Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-12, 3-21, 4-43, 5-54, 6-63, 7-63, 8-68, 9-80, 10-81
• Bowling: T McQuinn 12-1-49-7, S Dawson 10-4-23-2, T Townsend 1.4-0-8-1