Cricket: Pawson and Townsend help send Heywood through to second round

Heywood Cricket Club

A powerful batting display, led by captain Danny Pawson and professional Travis Townsend, saw Heywood march into the second round of the Derek Kay first XI Cup.

Pawson, 81, and Townsend, 77 not out, shared a fourth wicket stand of 120 as Heywood reached 238-5 from their 50 overs against spirited Astley and Tyldesley at Crimble.

That proved too much for Astley and Tyldesley, who fell for 165 as they tried to keep up with the testing run rate.

While the contributions of Townsend, who showed commendable application while not being in fluent touch for part of his innings, and earlier opener Bobby Cross with 50 were important it was Pawson’s assured aggression that was the key to the big total.

Pawson strode in following the fall of Cross at 92-3 and dominated to such an extent that his 81 came out of the next 120 runs.

He reached his 50 from 53 balls and his next 31 from 13 balls as he cut loose to send the team total spiralling rapidly. And he deserved his standing reception for an innings that included 10 fours and a six.

Townsend gave him excellent support and he accelerated himself once his partner exited. His unbeaten effort came off 119 balls and included eight boundaries, and in the context of the match was also vital.

It meant that Astley and Tyldesley needed a Herculean effort to reach their target of 239, although they showed plenty of spirit with cameo contributions from Dean Petrie (33), Nathan McDonnell (26), Paul Bennett (23) and Chris Ware (21).

Townsend completed a fine all-round performance with three wickets; Humza Naeem claimed two victims in a rapid and impressive eight-over spell; and Simon Dawson also picked up a couple of scalps.

Heywood

R Cross b P Bennett 50
A Kerr run out 10
J Morley b Ware 0
T Townsend not out 77
D Pawson c Ware b McDonnell 81
A Dawson lbw b McDonnell 3
S Burrill not out 3
Extras 14
Total (for 5 wkts, 50 overs) 238
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-31, 3-92, 4-212, 5-234
Bowling: C Ware 10-2-47-1, N McDonnell 10-1-44-2, J O’Malley 10-1-61-0, J Cutt 10-0-42-0, P Bennett 10-0-39-1

Astley and Tyldesley

N Moore b S Dawson 12
D Petrie b Pawson 33
J Cutt c Cross b Naeem 0
N McDonnell st Cross b Townsend 26
D Harrison c Townsend b S Dawson 13
A Booth lbw b Naeem 16
P Bennett c Kerr b Townsend 23
C Ware c A Dawson b Townsend 21
S Nicklin b Morley 0
T Gregory not out 6
J O’Malley did not bat
Extras 16
Total (for 9 wkts, 44.3 overs) 165
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-39, 3-51, 4-78, 5-109, 6-124, 7-150, 8-153, 9-165
Bowling: S Dawson 10-1-45-2, A Dawson 7-0-25-0, H Naeem 8-3-21-2, D Pawson 5-1-14-1, J Morley 9-1-34-1, T Townsend 5.3-0-23-3