Reed 3rd XI faced there hardest fixture so far this year in a closely fought game on Saturday, when we played Hatfield Crusaders 2nd XI. However, after nervous finish we mangaed to win. This was a top of the table clash and it showed with some of the play in the game. We set off from Reed with a sense of optimism as a strong team was selected as a number of guys came back from university into all the teams in the club. It was the debut for the 3rd team for Richard Barlow, Rupert Martin, Ed Garrot, and Michael Robertson. There was also a new captain for this week, Rob Willoughby.

Reed lost the toss and were put into bat first. This seemed a good move by the Crusaders’ captain as the top order collapsed, with the exception of Richard Barlow. At one point we were 32-4. However young Fudge Martin came in and steadied the ship along with Barlow. Some fine shots were played by the both of them. Fudge eventually getting out with a very good 27. Michael Robertson then came in and played his customary attacking style scoring a quick 14, before being caught after trying to play one shot too many. At this point Reed were 99-6, and were really struggling.

However the partnership of the innings was to come when Ed Garrot came to the crease and formed a fantastic partnership with Richard Barlow, taking the score to 192-7, when Ed was bowled for 36. Reed were now back in the game and arguably on top, especially after a poor start. The opposition’s heads were noticiably dropping as we kept on scoring runs. Reed ended there innings 243 all out, with Richard Barlow getting 107 not out, after hitting a six to bring up his ton. This was certainly a very good score and gained us max batting points, but little did we know at that point that the game would end up as tight as it did. The pick of the opposition bowlers were their Captain Starr (4-53) and Cooper (3-37).

After tea Reed came out to field knowing that the opposition would be handy with the bat as they were the team top of the table. However a wicket in the first over from the bowling of Dave Hill and a fine catch from Robertson certainly helped to get the ball rolling. The second wicket was to come reasonably soon with Dave Hill (2-19) finding the edge for Steve Lovegrove to take the catch behind the stumps.

Things seemed to be moving along nicely for Reed, but the 3rd wicket did not fall easily with that partnership putting on 99 runs. The wicket eventually fell to make 123-3. This was from some fine work from Lovegrove who stumped the batsmen, off the bowling of Garrot. The next 5 wickets then came for just 45 runs, thanks to some very good bowling from Garrot (3-75) and Alan Ward (3-57). The game at this point looked very much in Reed’s hands but the last few wickets proved difficult to get, and Crusaders started to up the run rate to point themselves in a position to win the game.

The next wicket didn’t come fror a while and it was the returning Rupert Martin for his second spell who got the break through, thanks to a wonderful catch from his brother, Fudge. This left Crusaders on 212-9, but their captain was still in and was scoring rapidly to take the winning score to within touching distance. However, the game was finished by fine bowling from Rupert (2-22), who got the captain out thanks to a fine catch behind the stumps by Lovegrove. In the end it turned out to be a fantastic match with both teams batting and bowling well, and with either team being in a position to win. However, Reed won by 12 runs though remain in second place. The Man of the Match for Reed will have to be shared between Richard Barlow and Ed Garrot.