Reed electing to field first looked to have chosen correctly as three early wickets fell to the accurate and pacey David Hill, but with Royston’s classical batsman, Martin Goff, partnering the younger Sladen at the crease, Royston began to make some headway. Sladen went for 28 then Goff retired after reaching 51 and these were replaced by Graham, (35 not out), and later by Harris, (17 not out). Using-up their maximum quota of 43 overs in this 80 over match, Royston declared their innings closed on 191 for 7 wickets. Hill had taken 3 for 19 and fellow bowlers Marcus Baker, Keiran Ward, Fergus Martin and Tom Greaves each contributed a wicket.

After tea, the visiting Reed side had only 37 overs in which to reply. There was a steady but slow start as the openers put-on 42 for the first wicket. Ed Garrott scored 15 of them and Ed Blissett progressed to 26. Keiran Ward hit-out for 17, but then there was a flurry of wickets as Reed slipped from 73 for 1 to 191 for 5. Matt Graham took 3 for 29. Roger Bowcock, (10), joined Jason Pallett, (10 not out), for a while, but with only 4 wickets remaining it was left to Peter Baker, (19 not out), to ensure the draw with only 7 wickets down. Reed ended on 147 for 7 but the momentum towards the end of the innings suggested that had this been a 40 over per side match, Reed might well have overhauled a target, which would have been in the region of 170.