On what looked like a pitch where a large number of runs were going to be scored and humid weather conditions the toss seemed an important one to win. Reed skipper Simon Jackson won the toss and batted first.

Regular openers Tom Fulk and James Heslam set upon the opening bowlers with some stylish drives and flicks of the legs. Ampthill picked up their first victim Fulk unluckily caught behind for a fluent 22. This then brought Chris Jackson to the wicket who with Heslam kept the scoreboard ticking along at a healthy rate. Heslam was unfortunate to be dismissed by a dubious lbw dicision for an outstanding 54.

Baz Curtis (28) and Jackson put on another good partnership for the 3rd wicket until Jackson was caught for a scrappy but effective 49. With six overs to go Richard Jerome joined Simon Jackson (14 not out) at the crease and Jerome went about demoralising the already fragile morale of the Ampthill bowlers with a destructive 29 off only 18 balls. 3 late wickets in the search of quick runs saw Reed finish up on 227- 8 of there allotted overs.

Ampthill Town reply got of to a miserable start with Jerome taking 2 early wickets with his effective slow bowling, one being a elegant diving catch by Tom Fulk at long off. When veteran Pete Tidey joined in the fun with a wicket Ampthill were teetering at 15 for 3. Even at this early stage it looked like Ampthill were shutting up shop and settling for a draw. The run rate for the first half of the innings was never exceeding 2 an over. When both Michael Berks and Ray Kinshott took a wicket there was still an outside chance of a Reed victory and with Tidey picking up the valuable wicket of Clark in a very circumspect innings Reed needed 3 wickets with 8 overs to go. In a glimpse of aggression Flintoff hit a hard-hitting 45 (like his namesake) in conjunction with a consolidated performance from Ross saw Ampthill accomplish a hard fought draw. Jerome was the pick of the Reed bowlers taking 3 for 37 off 18 overs.

This 17 point result saw Reed jump 10 points ahead of Ampthill Town to 7th in the
table. The next opponents are mid table Eversholt at home at The Green on
Saturday.

Reed skipper Simon Jackson said “we fought hard for our total of 227. It was great seeing the batsman dig in for their runs without throwing their wickets away against a good varied Ampthill attack. However it seemed the same old story of us taking a couple of early wickets and the opposition deciding the best result against a strong Reed side would be a draw”