Cricket: Measured Townsend plays perfect innings to put Heywood on road to victory

Travis Townsend comes down to Babar Naeem and hits him for six

Measured Townsend plays perfect innings to put Heywood on road to victory.
A superb, controlled innings of 67 from professional Travis Townsend set Heywood up for an excellent 52-run defeat of Milnrow at Ladyhouse.

On a bowler friendly Milnrow pitch, the South African produced an innings of high-quality and restraint that with some valuable contributions from down the order allowed Heywood to post a total of 175 for eight off their 50 overs.

It was a score that the visiting supporters thought too much for Milnrow and so it proved as they were bowled out for 123. A total which owed everything to a superb solo rearguard action from the impressive Max Power, who finished unbeaten on 47 as no one else could cope with the Heywood attack.

Bobby Cross lost the toss and his side was put into bat. Andy Dawson played a couple of mice shots, but he and Ross Zelem were unable to hit straight with any confidence on the slow Ladyhouse track.

Zelem was brilliantly caught at cover for nine, playing a shot off the hard-working Aaron Brown that would have gone far squarer on a quicker wicket and soon after Dawson perished to the same bowler, caught behind swinging at a length ball.

Cross and Townsend set about setting a decent target. The pair both faced some determined home bowling and fielding.

They never played with any fluency. The shots that flew for four backward of square or straight the previous day went to midwicket or extra-cover respectively.

Townsend though, knew he could not afford to get bogged down by Babar Naeem and when the field was up he liked to use his feet to the left-armer. He stroked a lovely shot over long-on for six as he made sure the scoreboard ticked over.

He lost Cross and Danny Pawson failed to last long as he was the victim of a wonderful bit of fielding by Power at midwicket off Naeem, caught as he smashed a pull shot seemingly for four.

Townsend had decided that he had to bat long and he reined himself in well, playing delicate sweeps and cuts and running well. He never allowed Naeem in particular to settle.

However, he continued to lose partners and he himself perished to Butler when he tried to paddle a straight one to vacant fine leg and missed it completely.

At 150-8, two quick wickets would have meant a sub-par total. However, Humza Naeem and Paterson hit well, run well and placed the ball with skill to ensure Heywood got up to 175 off their 50 overs.

It didn’t take long for Heywood to scupper the Milnrow innings, with Paterson and Townsend removing the home openers’ early on.

They took another wicket apiece in their opening spells with Paterson grabbing the key wicket of Babar Naeem as he flashed at a short, wide delivery.

There were two wickets for Humza Naeem, and Paterson returned to pick up two more, one a marvelous one-handed catch from Pawson behind the stumps to get rid of Brown.

Chris Kaye then edged closer to his cherished record when he picked up the wicket of Yates, as Milnrow looked like being bowled out for less than 90.

Whilst wickets tumbled at the other end, Power was playing a masterful little knock and he found an ally in number 11 Darren Smith. The pair put on 45 for the final wicket before Kaye snapped up his second wicket of the match.

This was another excellent performance from Heywood; it was one of their best this season in difficult conditions. They picked up a crucial five points that closes the gap at the top of the competitive CLL Premier Division.

Heywood

R Zelem c Sinkinson b Brown 9
A Dawson c Yates b Brown 17
R Cross b Butler 22
T Townsend b Butler 67
D Pawson c Power b B Naeem 11
D Latham c Smith b B Naeem 8
W Hunt c Yates b B Naeem 4
S Dawson b B Naeem 0
R Paterson not out 7
H Naeem not out 17
Extras 13

Total (for 8 wickets, 50 overs) 175
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-29, 3-78, 4-104, 5-123, 6-143, 7-143, 8-150
Bowling:
Brown 7-1-21-2
Butler 24-4-81-2
B Naeem 19-2-68-4

Milnrow

A Bartley b Townsend 8
N Sinkinson c H Naeem b Paterson 3
B Naeem c Cross b Paterson 9
M Power not out 47
Wilson c H Naeem b Townsend 0
Wilkinson c Pawson b H Naeem 0
S Dryden lbw b H Naeem 5
A Yates c Townsend b Kaye 12
J Butler b Paterson 0
A Brown c Dawson b Paterson 0
D Smith st Pawson b Kaye 16
Extras 23

Total (42.5 overs) 123
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-18, 3-32, 4-34, 5-39, 6-47, 7-75, 8-78, 9-78, 10-123
Bowling:
Townsend 17-5-38-2
Paterson 11-0-39-4
H Naeem 7-2-23-2
Kaye 7.5-0-21