There were some memorable moments in this hastily arranged fixture between Reed’s Developmental side and their visitors from north-west London, Gubbays. One was opening batsman, Vishal, striving for his century in the closing overs of Gubbays’ innings. Giving the charge to each of the bowlers, he managed to reach the milestone before holing out to a well-judged catch by Fergus Martin in the deep off skipper Peter Baker’s off-breaks for 102.

Another moment to relish was the first wicket for local debutant, Tom Greaves, who had Neriav, (39), mis-timing a shot so that fellow villager, Jason Pallett, could nonchalantly pouch the resultant skyer.

A further excellent catch was by Keiran Ward latching onto a low, hard-hit return catch off his own bowling. Gubbays ended on 235 for 6 wickets in their 40 overs. Roger Bowcock, (19), and Matthew Bowles set a solid platform for Reed’s reply as they posted 52 for the first wicket. Ward, (13), and Pallett, (18), contributed useful runs too, but Bowles increased in confidence by putting away the bad balls to reach a round 50 before advancing too far to Vishal and being stumped.

Robert Willoughby on his return to the Reed side, clonked some hard-hit boundaries in his 39 as he carried-on Reed’s spirited response. Unfortunately for the hosts however, was the lingering memory of Neriav displaying his all-round ability by claiming 5 lower order wickets including a spectacular hat-trick. P Baker and Sam Bowles were bowled but David Hill looked to have avoided the achievement as he played a very hard-hit offside shot downwards.

However, instant reflexes from silly mid-off meant that the ball was caught inches from the ground. Number eleven Tom Greaves then hit-out for 8 runs, but eventually Reed were all-out for a creditable188 even though they had lost this competitive and well-contested fixture by 47 runs.