Cricket: Heywood Cricket Club v Lancashire Under 19s

Plenty to work on! That was the verdict after Heywood Cricket Club’s opening pre-season friendly of the 2019 cricket season on Saturday 13 April.

The home side were comprehensively outgunned by a talented Lancashire Under 19s outfit, who strolled to a 131-run victory at Crimble.

The visitors, who led by a fine 95 from former Norden junior Rehan Udwadia, piled up 239-8 from their 50 overs.

And if Udwadia was the stand-out with the bat then Lewis Pearson hit the high spots with the ball when Heywood replied.

The young paceman claimed a hat-trick to get rid of Bobby Cross, new skipper Sean Burrill and Wes Hunt to send Heywood tumbling to 23-4 and facing a mountain to climb.

They eventually subsided for 108, with the highlight a 46-run stand for the sixth-wicket between Andy Dawson and Mikey Grogan.

The latter contributed 22 before departing and Dawson went on to make a spirited 47 until being the eighth man out. No other Heywood player reached double figures.

Earlier, Heywood’s bowlers had plugged away willingly and at 74-4 looked capable of toppling the Lancashire lads for a reasonable target.

But the classy Udwadia – with significant help from Sam Perry (22) and 23 apiece by Jack Wynn and Jake Hill – marshalled the rest of the innings superbly.

So, it was a shame that he failed to reach a deserved century, becoming the seventh man out towards the end of the innings.

The Heywood bowlers never let their heads drop with Cav Hilton and new boy James Kettleborough making the biggest impression.

Hilton, who opened the bowling and came back well at the death, claimed 4-35 from his nine overs, a creditable return in the overall scheme of things.

And Kettleborough, mainly acquired for his batting prowess, showed that his off-spin will be a handy bonus during the season proper as he returned figures of 3-31 from eight tidy overs.

So, for Burrill, who fell for a first ball duck as as part of Pearson’s hat-trick, it was an unfavourable start to his captaincy reign.

Lancs Under 19s

• A Chugtai c Kaye b Hilton 15
• W Turner c Hunt b S Dawson 3
• S Perry b Kettleborough 22
• R Udwadia st Hunt b Hilton 95
• O Feakes b Kettleborough 8
• J Wynn lbw b Kettleborough 23
• L Pearson c Hunt b Hilton 19
• J Hill c Cross b Hilton 23
• M Ahmad not out 4
• R Parekh not out 2
• Extras 25
• Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 239
• Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-28, 3-64, 4-74, 5-136, 6-192, 7-221, 8-235
• Bowling: S Dawson 15-2-65-1, C Hilton 9-2-35-4, A Dawson 5-0-29-0, J Kettleborough 8-0-31-3, M Grogan 5-1-29-0, S Byrne 4-0-24-0, S Burrill 4-0-20-0

Heywood

• J Kettleborough c Feakes b McCormick 7
• R Cross c Feakes b Pearson 9
• A Dawson lbw b Hill 47
• S Burrill lbw b Pearson 0
• W Hunt b Pearson 0
• S Dawson lbw b Parekh 4
• M Grogan b Parekh 22
• J Kaye b Ahmad 5
• S Byrne not out 4
• W Taylor c Feakes b Hill 0
• C Hilton lbw b Udwadia 0
• Extras 10
• Total (33.3 overs) 108
• Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-23, 3-23, 4-23, 5-33, 6-79, 7-95, 8-107, 9-107, 10-108
• Bowling: G McCormick 5-1-14-1, J Hill 7-3-15-2, L Pearson 4-1-15-3, R Parekh 7-2-18-2, M Ahmad 7-1-37-1, J Wynn 3-1-5-0, R Udwadia 0.3-0-1-1