Cricket: Townsend, Grogan and Smethurst to captain Heywood senior sides

Heywood Cricket Club

Heywood Cricket Club has finalised captaincy appointments for their three senior teams during the coming season.

Travis Townsend, who took over the first XI towards the end of the 2017 season, will carry on at the helm in the side’s return to the Greater Manchester Premier League.

Mikey Grogan will be second team captain for a second successive season.

Roger Smethurst will lead the third team in its series of Sunday matches.

Roger is also chairman of the Club’s Cricket Committee, and said: “Travis took over as first team captain towards the end of the 2017 season and helped us achieve our objective of gaining promotion.

“If it had not have been for bad weather on the final day of the season I think that most people in the club were convinced we would have beaten Greenmount on our own ground and subsequently won the Division One championship.

“Travis has been around the club, on and off, for a number of years now. He knows the players and is also popular with the supporters and our junior players.

“He is experienced and will hopefully help us push on and become a force within the Premier League.

“Mikey proved to be a popular second team captain last year and did a good job in steadying performances to ensure that the team finished mid-table.

“It was unfortunate in a captaincy respect that he ended up playing for the first team quite a bit.

"Now the hope in 2018 is that player availability will improve and Mikey gets to run the seconds on a weekly basis, and encourages the team to compete near the top of the table.

“As for myself, I played a lot of games last season with the third team and, with Dom Fawcett more committed at work it was felt that the side needed some continuity.

“I am looking forward to playing Sunday cricket and hope to find sufficient senior players to ensure we can find the right balance.”

The opening Saturday fixtures are on 21 April, with the first team at home to Premier champions Flixton and second team going to Failsworth Macedonia.

Cup draws and fixtures for the third team have yet to be released.