BY STEVE MCHUGH:

The 23-year-old, who featured in the recent Women’s Ashes Test against Australia, claimed 4-29 in a lengthy, probing spell of 14 overs to topple the top order as the visitors eventually subsided for 85.

And she also claimed a key run-out for good measure, swooping on the ball at cover and claiming a direct hit at the bowler’s end to see off top scorer James Scott for 39.

Then Heywood made light work of the run chase, losing Wes Hunt for nine and professional Rob Nicol for 19 as they sauntered to their target in little more than half the allotted overs.

Royton had raised a few eyebrows when they won the toss and decided to bat, and they were immediately undermined by Simon Dawson and Cross.

Dawson struck the first blow with a ‘jaffa’ to bowl Tony Walsh before Cross took over with the wickets of Liam Brown, overseas amateur Sam Fielding, newly recruited professional Raul Javad and Aqib Zulfiqar.

Then, when she finally ended her tiring stint, 14-year-old Jack Morley and skipper Danny Pawson took over to clean up the Royton tail with a couple of wickets apiece.

The total never looked really capable of testing Heywood despite the impressive efforts of paceman Adam Good, who accounted for both Hunt and Nicol.

Kate’s brother Bobby motored serenely to an unbeaten 29 and Pawson was increasingly impressive on 24 when the match ended early, to leave home supporters probably wishing there was another hour’s play before the evening storms set in.

ROYTON
T Walsh b S Dawson 0
S Fielding c Hunt b K Cross 14
L Brown c A Dawson b K Cross 0
J Scott run out 39
R Javad c R Cross b K Cross 1
A Zulfiqar b K Cross 0
D Hulme c R Cross b Morley 11
M Smith c Latham b Morley 4
A Good c Nicol b Pawson 0
K Warwick not out 5
J Royales b Pawson 0
Extras 11
Total (35.5 overs) 85
Fall of wickets: 3-1, 8-2, 30-3, 41-4, 53-5, 61-6, 73-7, 74-8, 83-9, 85-10
Bowling: S Dawson 8-2-22-1, K Cross 14-2-29-4, J Morley 10-3-25-2, D Pawson 3.5-0-8-2
HEYWOOD
R Cross not out 29
W Hunt c Hulme b Good 9
R Nicol lbw b Good 19
D Pawson not out 24
Extras 5
Total (for 2 wkts, 26.4 overs) 86
Fall of wickets: 20-1, 48-2
Bowling: A Good 12-2-36-2, L Brown 7-4-12-0, K Warwick 6-0-25-0, J Royales 1.4-0-13-0

A superb all-round performance from HCC skipper Danny Pawson

Heywood bounced back from the disappointing performance on Saturday with a stunning 201 run victory over mid table Royton on Sunday.

Visiting skipper Danny Pawson won the toss and elected to bat first and there were no signs of the run feast that was to follow as the Royton openers bowled a good line and length at Bobby Cross and Wes Hunt.

Both played with patience and Hunt in particular showed a willingness to apply himself and wait for the bad ball. After 10 overs the score had crept to 19 without loss but with bowling changes came opportunities to score and the Heywood pair began to put away loose deliveries.

Hunt fell for a patient 27 when he was trapped LBW by home professional Alwis but this only brought Rob Nicol to the crease and he looked fluent from the off playing a couple of powerful straight drives down the ground.

Cross meanwhile had started to accelerate and hit both Taylor and Durose out of the attack before also falling leg before to off spinner Callum Porteous for a well made 94.

Even at this stage there was little to suggest the carnage that would follow as Pawson and Nicol took full advantage of a tiring attack and added 132 runs in the last ten overs with a mixture of power and placement.

Pawson hit some wonderful strokes over extra cover whilst Nicol showed how destructive he can be with a couple of huge sixes over square leg and wide mid-on. The innings finished in style with a huge six over midwicket from the Heywood captain. Nicol finished with an excellent 74 whilst Pawson raced to 71 off just 32 deliveries faced.

Any hopes that the hosts had of getting off to a fast start were quickly snuffed out as Simon Dawson quickly found a good rhythm and was well supported by Pawson who again opened the bowling in the absence of Andy Dawson, Kate Cross, Jon Keyworth and with Humza Naeem having only just returned from injury.

Pawson made the breakthrough with Liam Brown edging a full delivery to Cross at first slip who took the catch at the second attempt. Dawson then joined the party having Walsh caught and bowled before producing a beauty to trap Alwis right in front. 11-3 became 11-4 next ball as Wilson missed a full one and was bowled and Zulfiqar became Dawson’s fourth victim with another LBW plunging the home side into disarray at 21-5.

Durose looked in no mood to hang around and after a couple of boundaries he became Pawson’s second victim, again caught at slip by Cross.

Porteous showed some fight with a battling 31 but the tail fell away and it was good to see Humza Naeem return with the ball to collect the last two wickets to leave Royton 87 all out.

Simon Dawson finished with the excellent figures of 5-27 and Pawson had another three wickets to complete an impressive weekend with the ball.

It was as complete a performance as you could hope to witness in the sunshine on what may be the last visit to the Paddock for some time and it will surely give the players increased belief as another big weekend is ahead.

HEYWOOD
R Cross lbw b Porteous 94
W Hunt b Alwis 27
R Nicol not out 74
D Pawson not out 71
Extras 22
Total (for 2 wkts, 50 overs) 288
Fall of wickets: 1-104, 2-156
Bowling: S Fielding 13-2-77-0, M Smith 6-4-13-0, G Alwis 12-3-46-1, C Taylor 7-1-60-0, A Durose 8-0-52-0, C Porteous 4-0-35-1
ROYTON
T Walsh c and b S Dawson 5
L Brown c Cross b Pawson 2
G Alwis lbw b S Dawson 1
A Durose c Cross b Pawson 8
D Wilson lbw b S Dawson 0
A Zulfiqar lbw b S Dawson 2
C Porteous b Naeem 31
S Fielding c Naeem b Pawson 7
D Hulme c Latham c S Dawson 13
M Smith c Evans b Naeem 6
C Taylor not out 1
Extras 11
Total (25.2 overs) 87
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-10, 3-11, 4-11, 5-21, 6-28, 7-37, 8-63, 9-81, 10-87
Bowling S Dawson 12-2-27-5, D Pawson 8-0-30-3, H Naeem 4.2-0-27-2, R Nicol 1-0-2-0