Reed second eleven, continued their interrupted Saracens Herts division 7 campaign, with a hard fought draw away at table topping Broxbourne on Saturday. With the sun finally making an appearance, after two weeks of incessant rain, Reed lost the toss and were forced to field under cloudless azure skies.

On a wicket reminiscent of Reed’s own road, it was always going to take something special to make an early breakthrough, and Matt Bowles provided it. A rank long hop from Martin was dispatched with great power and aplomb by opener Wilkins, only for Bowles to leap Salmon like and pluck the rocketing ball one handed and at full stretch out of the air.

The next wicket though seemed to take an eternity to arrive. Archer relieved the opening pair of Ward and Martin, who despite their youth seemed to toil in the relative heat. It was the introduction of Archer himself and Robertson that proved decisive. With Robertson bowling 14 overs of tidy swing and off cutters that started to restrict the scoring, this left Archer who seemed a yard quicker than the others on show to bag 3 wickets for 7 runs off 6 overs, before the late onslaught Danny Champion, and Richard Robertson both picked up deserved wickets and along with a run out, restricted Broxbourne to 227 – 7.

A seemingly large total, but given the ideal batting conditions, not an unachievable target. Reed started strongly 47 runs on the board before Ian Fulk fell for 28. Matt Bowles (21), Richard Robertson (13) and Richard Poole (44) all kept the run rate ticking over before each fell looking to accelerate. The overs were ticking down as Karl Ward (31no) and Archer took Reed to within site of maximum batting points and perhaps victory, before Archer was yorked by Bailey (5-54), thus ending Reeds run chase. Champion and Ward then settled for the draw, with Reed finishing only 34 short despite having 4 fewer overs than the opposition.

Captain Archer commented, “we chased the total all the way, and the guys were disappointed not to win, but it was important not to let Broxbourne get too far ahead by giving them all 30 points, so I was pleased with the sensible way Karl and Danny batted towards the end. Broxbourne 227- 7 off 52 overs, Reed 193-8 off 48 overs.