Reed 1st XI were left reeling on Saturday after conceding a heavy 6 wicket defeat to Old Finchleans CC, who stood below them in the league. This marks their first loss in 5 weeks.

Despite a depleted side, with skipper Simon Jackson nursing a broken finger after Reed?s victory in the Keatley Cup final earlier that week, Chris Jackson as a best man and Ray Kingshott unavailable, the match was always going to be difficult. Baz Curtis, stepping into S.Jackson’s boots opened the innings, but it couldn’t have been worse for the home team, as Mayur (14-3-37-3) yorked Curtis with the first ball of the game. He followed up with the wickets of Will Clarke and James Heslam in quick succession leaving Reed struggling on 9 for 3. However Tom Fulk (23) held his nerve and stabilised with Stuart Smith (10), before he too fell to a magnificent catch by the wicket keeper off Darshan (6-2-16-1). However, it was Richard Jerome who assumed the pressure with a scintillating innings of 71* which helped haul Reed to 141 all out. Notable bowling performances for Old Finchleans included Somani (13-3-34-2) and Depala Jnr (12.2-2-32-4).

The total never looked enough as Depak hit an imperious 54 giving the visitors a lightning start. Although Peter Tidey (10-1-48-1) had Depala Jnr LBW, and Richard Jerome (17-4-44-2) quickly followed with wicket of Depala snr, the writing was on the wall, and it only took them 34.5 overs to reach Reed’s total with Chetan Depala scored a flowing 61* assuming the leading role of Depak after his dismissal. The most notable event of Old Finchleans? innings was a stunning one handed diving catch by Tom Fulk at gulley.

Stand-in skipper Baz Curtis commented: “Of course we are disappointed with our performance today, but we have had a solid past few weeks. It would have been helpful to have had a full strength team out today, but I think the team that played the better cricket on the day won.”