Morley spins Heywood to cup victory

Seven wickets for 14-year-old Jack Morley

A dynamic display of left-arm spin bowling by Jack Morley lit up Heywood’s eventual seven-wicket defeat of Elton in the first round of the Derek Kay Per-Fit Cup at Crimble.

The 14-year-old returned the extraordinary figures of 7-21 in 10 overs to reduce the visitors, who had looked likely to post a target in excess of 200, from 90-1 to 140-8 before rallying to a final total of 189-9.

Heywood then galloped to their victory target without any real alarms, led by another impressive display by professional Danny Pawson.

However, this was Morley’s day and echoed his seven-wicket haul against Norden at the end of last season.

The youngster had struggled to find his rhythm previously this term, but once he had trapped Adam Stansfield lbw for 49 all his confidence and control returned to bamboozle the Elton batsmen.

Five of his victims were lbw, which raised a few eyebrows, but he had another two or three positive looking appeals knocked back, too, as he bowled skilfully and straight.

His other two victims were clean bowled meaning that not a single catch was taken in his haul.

One of his victims was Harrison Smyth, an Australian pal of Heywood’s overseas amateur Jayden Borg, who stood impressively firm amid the chaos around him before becoming the seventh man out for 62 in a total of 135.

When Morley then claimed his seventh scalp, Elton at 140-8 did not look capable of surviving much longer. However, with Morley’s 10-over spell complete, Steve Filkins and Adam Donnelly gritted their teeth to put together a ninth-wicket partnership of 49 and set Heywood a challenging target.

Openers Bobby Cross and Liam Mason made little of it and galloped to 69 in quick time before both fell to spinner Gareth Edwards - Cross for 37 and Mason 29.

That brought in Pawson and he showed the value of his time spent at the wicket at Bury the previous day to keep the momentum going amid no real further alarms.

The professional was given good support by Dominic Humphreys, who made 22 out of a stand of 53, then overseas amateur Jayden Borg – whose unbeaten 26 underlined that he too just needed time in the middle the previous day to show what he is really capable of.

It was Pawson who dominated proceedings in the second half of the game, taking time to get in and batting responsibly in his unbeaten 60 to guide Heywood past any further alarms.

Elton

M Farley c Borg b C Humphreys 6
A Stansfield lbw b Morley 49
H Smyth lbw b Morley 62
M Bryan-Jones lbw b Morley 3
C Barlow b Morley 4
B Balgowan lbw b Morley 0
M Ward lbw b Morley 0
D Lomax b Morley 3
S Filkins run out 29
A Donnelly not out 16
Extras 17
Total (for 9 wkts, 50 overs) 189
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-90, 3-104, 4-128, 5-128, 6-132, 7-135, 8-140, 9-189
Bowling: C Humphreys 10-2-22-1, S Dawson 6-0-26-0, D Pawson 9-0-51-0, D Humphreys 7-1-33-0, J Morley 10-4-21-7, A Dawson 8-0-31-0

Heywood

R Cross st Lomax b Edwards 37
L Mason b Edwards 29
D Pawson not out 60
D Humphreys b Balgowan 22
J Borg not out 26
Extras 16
Total (for 3 wkts, 40.5 overs) 190
Bowling: B Balgowan 8-0-32-1, A Donnelly 2-0-18-0, C Barlow 4-0-32-0, S Filkins 8-1-29-0, G Edwards 7-1-20-2, H Smyth 5.5-0-28-0, M Ward 4-1-19-0, A Stansfield 2-0-8-0