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All to play for

20/ 8/2008

SIX games left, five points clear, and all to play for.

A prized victory on Sunday over near neighbours Norden, and a rain assisted draw on Saturday against Crompton, maintained Heywood’s advantage over their closest rivals, but with yet another 10-point weekend haul, title-chase gatecrashers Oldham have leapfrogged into second place. And in a quirk of fate, the fixture list brings Oldham to Crimble on Saturday, while on Sunday Heywood travel to Wood Cup winners Monton and Weaste, who still have an outside chance of the ‘double’.

On Saturday at Crompton, Heywood’s attack of Steven Cheetham and Tom Hardman produced a hostile opening spell, as Hardman ripped out three quick wickets for 10 runs in his six-over burst. Simon Wright, with a half century, and Kevin Stoute stabilised the innings, but despite Rob Slawson’s three wicket haul reducing Crompton to 127 for seven, Crompton fought their way to 176 for eight in their allotted overs.

The dismissal of Heywood professional, Ruvin Peiris, the victim of a direct hit going for a third run, did not help Heywood’s cause, as the conditions made run-scoring difficult. Wickets fell at regular intervals, and although Bobby Cross was unbeaten on 32, with the score on 115-5 with nine overs to go, it was Heywood who were the happier team when persistent rain curtailed proceedings.

In contrast, on Sunday, although they had a prime opportunity to make up some ground on the League leaders, from the outset, Norden seemed a little reluctant to take up the challenge at a damp Crimble.

Sterling efforts by the groundstaff meant that a 28-over contest got under way just after 3.30pm, Heywood taking first knock. Hardman went cheaply, but with Royce Blight determined not to give his wicket away, Ruvin Peiris took responsibility for scoring the bulk of the early runs. Norden’s attack suffered as Peiris upped the rate, and with Blight clicking into gear, a score in excess of 180 seemed on the cards. Sadly, however, Peiris and Blight were involved in their second run-out mix-up in three innings, with Blight, the unfortunate victim, departing for 35.

Cross, Grogan and Kenny all played some lusty blows in the chase for quick runs, but sadly Peiris perished three short of what would have been an excellent hundred, with Heywood’s innings closing on 164 for five.

At Stag Park, Norden would have been quite confident of chasing down the total at a rate of less than six an over, but Crimble is a different proposition, yet as Tom Hardman steadied himself to bowl the first ball, it was noticeable that Heywood had posted a couple of fielders three-quarters of the way to the boundary in deference to Hashum Malik’s big-hitting reputation. It wasn’t to be Malik’s day however, as Hardman’s first delivery hit him on the front pad, and the appeal was endorsed by umpire Steve Bryan.

Nick Brierley and Jean Symes played sensibly until Hardman managed to sneak one through Brierley’s defences and dislodge his bails. Greg Tattersall joined his professional and with a mixture of watchful defence and controlled aggression gave Symes excellent support. John Storey struggled to make an impression, and with Steven Cheetham bowling off a shortened run up in the damp conditions, Norden began to claw their way back into the contest.

With Symes at the wicket, Norden were still in the hunt. The introduction of Chris Kaye, Heywood’s leading wicket-taker, didn’t make an immediate impact as Symes delighted in displaying his reverse sweep. However, Kaye at Crimble is not to be taken lightly, and he then turned the match as he had Symes caught and bowled and Tattersall caught in the deep. Norden’s middle and lower order were unable to respond and Heywood cruised to what was eventually a comfortable victory.

The second team’s match against Norden fell victim to the weather, but on Saturday, a telling declaration by captain Roger Smethurst gave his team the chance to bowl out Crompton with eight runs to spare, just before the heavens opened, while Bob Dearden’s third team overcame Whalley Range in another close-fought, low-scoring encounter.

On Saturday, after the Oldham game, there will be an ‘80s disco’ in the clubhouse, while on Monday evening, Heywood will be making their floodlit cricket debut at Bury Cricket Club against Greenmount from the Bolton League. Following the death of Bury stalwart, Dave Hindley, Bury have organised a floodlit Twenty/20 week to raise funds for Bury Hospice. Other teams involved include Bury, Elton, Walshaw and Radcliffe. The final is on Thursday evening, with the participants to be decided by a formula that makes ‘Duckworth-Lewis’ look like the two-times table, and the week is capped off by an International Floodlit challenge match between Asia and the Rest of the World on Friday evening.

HEYWOOD v NORDEN
H eywood

T Hardman c Makin b Arthur 6
R Peiris c Fern b Makin 97
R Blight run out 35
R Cross b Fitton 13
M Kenny not out 1
L Grogan c Arthur b Fitton 2
D Pawson not out 2
Extras 8
Total (for 5 wkts, 28 overs) 164
Bowling: Arthur 9-2-32-1; Fitton 8-1-38-2; Symes 5-0-48-0; Malik 1-0-4-0; Fleming 2-0-18-0; Makin 3-0-21-1.

Norden

H Malik lbw Hardman 0
J Symes c and b Kaye 54
N Brierley c Pawson b Hardman 11
G Tattersall c Slawson b Kaye 25
O Makin c Grogan b Kaye 0
Z Arthur not out 20
S Fern run out 6
D Cryer not out 0
Extras 8
Total (for 6 wkts, 28 overs) 124
Bowling: Hardman 6-1-13-2; Cheetham 14-0-59-0; Storey 2-0-12-0; Kaye 6-0-35-3.

Heywood (4) beat Norden (1) by 40 runs