A DEPLETED Hanging Heaton side were grateful to a heavy rain shower as they rescued a bizzare draw against title-chasing East Bierley in Bradford League Division One last Saturday.
Heaton were already without suspended Chris Schofield, overseas man Rizwan Ahmed (returned home), Nick Summerscales (knee injury) and Mark Inwood when they also lost the services of opening pace bowler Imran Arif who was making his County Championshi
p debut for Worcestershire against Glamorgan.
With James Stansfield prevented from bowling with a back injury, Amar Rashid was the only recognised first teamer able to bowl as the Bennett Lane side were forced to field four second teamers.
The depleted Heaton bowling attack were put to the sword as East Bierley racked up 301-6 from their 50 overs.
Amar Rashid (3-90) was the pick of the Heaton bowling, while Ryan Senior, Umar Rehman and Andy Nettleton picked up a wicket apiece.
Andrew Rennison smashed 97 not out including eight fours and five sixes, while Gharib Razak (46), Lee Goddard (48) and Greg Wood (46) also made useful contributions.
It was something of a surprise that Bierley did not declare their innings, having picked up maximum batting points and it proved crucial as a rain shower saw Heaton lose five overs from their innings.
Richard Thomas made a defiant 74 from 102 balls, including 13 fours and a six, as they closed on 177-6 from 45 overs.
Bierley claimed 10 points from the game, while Heaton ended with eight and lie eighth in the first division.
Heaton’s second team suffered an agonising one-run defeat in a low scoring game with Spen Victoria.
Captain Mick Horner claimed 4-31, Pete Byrne bowled an economical 15 over spell which yielded 3-33, while Chris Goodair picked up 2-4 from six overs as Spen were dismissed for 92.
Howard Ellis (47) appeared to be guiding Heaton to a comfortable win but when he was fifth man out with the score on 63 it sparked a collapse.
In a dramatic finale, Heaton’s young tail end struggled to cope with the pace of Jonny Ireland (4-31) and Maddy Jamal (2-10) as the final four wickets fell for just one run and they ended 91 all out.
n Arif produced a 5-50 from 10.2 overs on his County Championship debut as he helped Worcestershire to a 10-wicket win over Glamorgan.
The county has given Arif a two-year contract starting next season.
The full article contains 424 words and appears in Batley News newspaper.
