HEYWOOD cranked up the power to knock Prestwich off the top of the Greater Manchester Premier League – and boost their own survival hopes.
The scorecard shows an authoritative six-wicket victory for the visitors at The Heys, but the match hung in the balance halfway through the Prestwich innings.
Big-hitting Ryan Stanbury and Ali Raza had put together a quickfire stand of 80 and at 129-3 were threatening to take the game away from the visitors.
But 15-year-old left-arm spinner Jack Morley, joined in the attack by professional Danny Pawson, then turned the game around in dramatic style.
The South African-born Stanbury, who had smashed 48 in 29 balls, sliced a catch off Morley to Dominic Humphreys at gulley, and in the next over the youngster also got rid of the other half of the partnership – having Raza caught for 32 by Jayden Borg, who had an excellent match behind the stumps.
With Pawson also settling in to an impressive spell at the other end, the tide had turned. Morley claimed two more wickets to finish with 4-34 from 12 overs, Pawson claimed 3-9 from 8.3 overs and the home side lost their last seven wickets for just 24 runs.
A target of 153 looked eminently gettable and Bobby Cross in particular and Borg made sure that they got the chase off to a dynamic start.
Cross pounced on anything loose and forced home captain Andy Bradley to repeatedly switch his bowling attack around in a bid to find the right combination, while Borg looked secure at the other end.
Even when Bradley had overseas amateur Borg caught behind for 12 to a ball that reared sharply after a stand of 72, Heywood still looked well in control.
But distant alarms bells started to ring when Bradley then bowled Cross for a belligerent 54, and Dominic Humphreys was trapped lbw by Stanbury.
That brought Andy Dawson in to join Pawson and both, in their own ways, went on to turn in responsible displays.
Dawson, renowned in the past for his big-hitting, kept the ball on the floor and blunted the home attack along with Pawson, who was happy to look safe and secure and let his partner do the bulk of the scoring.
They put together a stand of 49, with 31 of them going to Dawson, before he played on to Bradley. It was a reassuring contribution and one that bodes well for the future.
And there were no further setbacks as Pawson resolutely saw his side home with an unbeaten 19 after being joined by Wes Hunt.
So two league victories in succession for Heywood, who now go third bottom and face a crunch home game with fourth bottom Bury at Crimble on Saturday.
PRESTWICH
J Wharmby c C Humphreys b S Dawson 21
M Walters lbw b S Dawson 9
S Holden c C Humphreys b D Humphreys 7
A Raza c Borg b Morley 48
R Stanbury c D Humphreys b Morley 48
T Gibson lbw b Pawson 4
L S Smith b Morley 2
T Scott c Borg b Pawson 5
M Finan c Borg b Pawson 2
A Bradley lbw b Morley 1
W Reeve not out 2
Extras 20
Total (41.3 overs) 153
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-34, 3-49, 4-129, 5-130, 6-132, 7-141, 8-145, 9-151, 10-153
Bowling: S Dawson 9-0-30-2, D Humphreys 7-1-27-1, C Humphreys 1-0-13-0, J Lovell 4-0-38-0, J Morley 12-2-34-4, D Pawson 8.3-2-9-3
HEYWOOD
R Cross b Bradley 54
J Borg c Wharmby b Bradley 12
D Pawson not out 19
D Humphreys lbw b Stanbury 7
A Dawson b Bradley 31
W Hunt not out 4
Extras 27
Total (for 4 wkts, 30.5 overs) 154
Fall of wickets: 1-72, 2-83, 3-92, 4-141
Bowling: W Reeve 2-0-19-0, M Finan 2-0-16-0, A Bradley 11-4-45-3, S Holden 3-0-13-0, R Stanbury 9-0-42-1, T Scott 3.5-0-16-0
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