Reed progressed to the next round of the NVC with a convincing win over Wormley on Sunday. On a wicket that looked indifferent, Reed skipper Chris Jackson was pleasantly surprised to lose the toss and to be put into the field. Reed bowlers started well, making good use of the indifferent bounce.

Peter Tidey bowled as tight as ever at one end, picking up an early wicket in his 3rd over. But it was Richard Johnson (3 for 21), fresh from his Varsity successes, who proved the destructive force in taking 3 key top order wickets. Wormley were struggling on 22 for 4 before Allon and Stephenson made easy work of some loose early bowling from James Allsop. However, it was James Allsop who had the last laugh, as he turned the corner and produced a spell of bowling to be proud of.

His last 5 overs went for just 5 runs and saw him take the wickets of both Allon and Stephenson. Allsop (2-17) was supported well by both Richard Jerome (1-12) and Chris Jackson (1-24). It was club stalwart Peter Tidey (2-13) who took the final wicket to bowl Wormley out for 99 in the penultimate over.

In reply, Reed got off to the worst possible start, losing Tom Fulk without troubling the scorer. This brought Chris Jackson to the crease who batted sensibly and patiently under difficult conditions. Jackson played the anchor role allowing Baz Curtis to play his shots. Curtis too was forced to bat patiently, but was at times ruthless in dispatching the bad delivery. Curtis was caught behind for 42 with Reed in a comfortable position of 62 for 2.

Big hitting Stuart Smith arrived at the crease and soon set his stall out to finish the inning as quickly as possible. Both his improvised and textbook hitting proved too much for the fielding side. Jackson (27 not out) and Smith (22 not out) saw the side home with some 18 overs remaining to take Reed into the next round of the competition.

Skipper Chris Jackson was upbeat about the side’s performance ‘With a few players missing, this game potentially could have been a banana skin for us, so I’m pleased that we made light work of things. The wicket was slow but the bounce offered a lot to the bowlers. I’m obviously pleased that we made the most of the conditions with the ball, and took account of this when we had to bat ourselves’