Reed were again left disappointed by the rain at home on Saturday to Hemel Hempsted 2s. After winning the toss Hemel decided to bat on a good wicket. With speedster Andy Young regularly beating the bat without success, Reed got 2 early break throughs with the combination of bowling from senior pro Pete Tidey (2 for 43 off 13) and sharp catches form wicketkeeper Simon Jackson. Hemel lost a further wicket thanks to a great catch by Tom Fulk off Michael Berks (1 for 47 off 14) before West (54) and Petchell (77) put on 115 for the 4th wicket.

However the introduction of all-rounder Will Clarke (2 for off 4 overs) before the heavens opened got Reed back into contention as Hemel finished their innings on 186-5. However with rain all throughout tea and puddles starting to appear on the square both captains and umpires called a halt to the game, with the game being drawn.

Reed skipper Simon Jackson, said he was “obviously disappointed getting rained off against a team 2nd from bottom, after we bowled very tightly with the strongest ever Reed team that we have fielded in all the years I have captained the side. Unless Hemel had some special bowling I would have thought we could easily have knocked off the total to set ourselves up for big games against the top 2 sides in our league (Dunstable and Bishops Stortford) in the coming weeks.”