Jul 082013
 
Travis Townsend pounces on a short ball

Travis Townsend pounces on a short ball

Heywood produced a superb all-round performance at Clifton yesterday to book their place in the final of the J W Lees Wood Cup.

Some powerhouse hitting at the very start and very end of the Heywood innings ensured they posted a formidable target of 295 in perfect conditions for cricket at the well-presented Manchester Road ground.

Then the bowlers held their nerve in the face of a sustained and high-quality chase from Clifton to eventually snuff out the home side’s threat and ease to a 56-run victory.

The win sets them up for a clash at Crimble with Walsden, who hammered Monton and Weaste in the other semi-final. It promises to be a cracker between the two top clubs in the CLL at the moment, on Sunday 4 August.

Heywood got off to a flying start after being stuck in by Clifton, thanks to the explosive bat of Andy Dawson. He took a couple of balls to settle in, but then played some lovely shots, including a powerful pull in front of square from Steve Cheetham, who had recovered enough from the previous day’s groin injury to open the bowling.

With Ross Zelem again able to play himself in while Dawson blazed, this is looking like a recipe for success for Heywood, and when Dawson smashed young seamer Davidson for two sixes in an over, all looked set for a big opening partnership.

But Dawson played one shot too many and was bowled by the experienced home captain Greg Jennings, which again left us wanting more, but with the score on 48 after six overs, no one could really argue.

Zelem and Bobby Cross settled in for the duration, with Zelem playing a crucial role in keeping the runs flowing while Cross proceeded to play a sensible innings.

The young opener found the quick outfield to his liking, and enjoyed picking up anything short of a length as his increasing power and desire to get on to the back foot continues to reap rewards.

They took the score to 118 before Cross was stumped, but Travis Townsend and Zelem made sure things didn’t slow down.

So it was a surprise when Zelem was bowled by home pro Cameron Murray – brought on as every bowler bar the impressive Borritt was leaking runs – for 65, his second excellent 50 of the weekend.

What followed was then exciting stuff, as Danny Pawson and Townsend decided to get cracking. Heywood brought up their 200 with nine overs to go, and the pair cut loose, displaying a full range of strokes to the delight of the Heywood faithful.

Sixes and fours flew all around the tight ground, and by the time the carnage had finished – Townsend was out for 64 and Pawson 68 – Heywood has posted a very challenging target of 295-4 off 50 overs, one which everyone from Heywood thought was more than enough to ensure a comfortable victory.

How wrong this seemed after 14 overs of the Clifton innings when they brought up a 100 for the loss of just one wicket.

Opener Lachie Mason, who batted at eight the previous day, played one of the innings of his life as he smashed everything thrown at him around Manchester Road. He and Adam Holt set the scoreboard racing with shots that went mainly backward of square and through the vacant off-side field as they enjoyed the full-pitched bowling from the Heywood opening attack of Riley Paterson and Travis Townsend.

Holt’s dismissal – the first of four catches for eventual J W Lees man of the match Pawson – only brought Murray to the crease and the pair continued to flay Heywood’s bowlers.

A key moment came with Joe Lovell’s first ball, replacing Townsend at the Manchester Road end. He skidded one through Murray’s defences and the pro was out for 27.

But Mason and Derbyshire continued to play the aggressive game and at the half-way stage Clifton needed less than 140 with eight wickets left.

Lovell then struck the killer blow, bowling Mason for 79, and he and Chris Kaye set about reining things back in.

The wily left-armer struck to remove Derbyshire to level David Fare on 789 wickets as Heywood’s record wicket taker, then passed it when he had Cheetham brilliantly caught behind by Pawson. It was a great moment for Kaye and the support who have enjoyed his commitment to the Heywood cause over the last 25 or more years.

Humza Naeem came back to remove Dean Morris, who had looked dangerous, with an excellent slower ball, and then wickets fell as Clifton’s hopes were left in tatters.

Naeem finished things off, bowling Borritt for three, and Heywood had booked in for what promises to be a cracking clash with Walsden in the Wood Cup Final.

HEYWOOD

R Zelem lbw b Murray 65
A Dawson b Jennings 36
R Cross st Dorsey b Wright 29
T Townsend lbw b Cheetham 64
D Pawson c Derbyshire b Jennings 68
D Latham not out 3
R Paterson not out 1
Extras 29
Total (for 5 wkts, 50 overs) 295
Fall of wickets: 1-48. 2-118, 3-163, 4-267, 5-293
Bowling: Cheetham 9-0-69-1, Jennings 10-0-78-2, Davidson 6-0-51-0, Borritt 10-1-24-0, Wright 10-0-36-1, Murray 5-0-32-1

CLIFTON
L Mason b Lovell 79
A Holt c Pawson b Paterson 27
C Murray b Lovell 27
T Derbyshire lbw b Kaye 24
D Morris lbw b Naeem 32
S Cheetham c Pawson b Kaye 9
W Davidson c Pawson b Naeem 7
G Jennings run out 2
L Dorsey c Pawson b Paterson 0
R Borritt b Naeem 3
M Wright not out 1
Extras 24
Total (45.4 overs 239
Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-111, 3-157, 4-179, 5-200, 6-222, 7-224, 8-224, 9-226, 10-239
Bowling: Paterson 10-0-48-2, Townsend 8-0-57-0, Naeem 7.4-0-40-3, Lovell 10-0-49-2, Kaye 10-0-36-2

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  9 Responses to “Heywood Set Up Walsden Wood Cup Final Showdown After Clifton Victory”

  1. Congratulations to CK on his record breaking wicket haul, probably the best Chris has bowled all season yesterday on a difficult ground to bowl SLA and this went along way to winning the game for us.
    Really good performances from both teams over the weekend, Wood cup final, Burton cup final what could be better.
    Well done Bobby and Roger great effort.

  2. Nice touch Shag with the first post to congratulate CK.

    I would like to add my own congratulations I am sure there will be many more. To enjoy the success combined with Longevity shows what a player Chris is.

    Does the record show the split and how many wickets were Fast left arm over with long flowing blond hair and toothy grin?? Yep thats how long ago this started.

    In this day and age i will be amazed if Chris record is ever beaten.

    well done mate.

  3. congratulations dad you made me so proud yesterday I have been watching you now for over 20 years since I was a young person and I would just like to say I have loved every minute off it.

    you have gave the club everything and stuck buy them for a long time and done them all proud. which I could see that yesterday.

    now we need to go on and win the cup and celebrate in style and what a person to get out for the wicket you needed to pass the record.

    so yeah that’s all from me as this is only the start off the celebration good times are ahead.

    love you.

  4. A gracious tribute from the Former Chairman. Didn’t realise he had so much class. Well done Chris. A reward for ability and loyalty. I’m sure you will talk me through a few of the wickets.

  5. Schnorbitz – you are a legend. Shag – you are still a legend too.
    Proud to have played with you both, even though the nicknames are ridiculous.
    Well done Chris – now go and win the cup for us

  6. Well done CK, well deserved after all your years of loyalty, playing at times in teams who achieved far less success than the current side. Avoiding the warm ups for all these years can only have served you well after seeing the damage one did to Ricky P earlier in the season !!
    Only yesterday I was discussing with Mr Wright the difficulty faced by left arm slow bowlers at Clifton. Can only be 4 years ago that the previous record holder encountered a number of problems at that ground when deposited onto the roofs of the houses on the other side of the main road !!! Walking back to his mark complaining it wouldn’t have reached the edge at Heywood much to everyone else’s merriment.
    A fantastic effort Chris well done.

  7. Many congratulations Chris on a fantastic achievement.
    I’ve played a helluva lot of cricket but I can’t actually recollect having played in the same side as you nor did I ever see you bowl that much as I have always been away playing in the seconds but to be honest I didn’t have to see for myself – the record books show what a cracking good bowler you have been for us.
    In addition to remain loyal whilst many of your contempories have either moved elsewhere or packed in does you tremendous credit.
    You may have broken the record but don’t even think of joining that other tremendous slow left armer in the deck chairs just yet – you are still taking wickets and still have loads to offer so keep going as you will be a long time retired!
    Cheers Chris

  8. what a season it is turning out to be for heywood all round, great weekend, bring on the finals, could it be potentially 2 finals at heywood in a week? the wood cup? and then the burton cup?

  9. Well done Bernie, a great achievement on many levels, congratulations!

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