Reed recorded there 5th league victory of the season on Saturday against relegation threatened Hemel Hempstead II, but unfortunately failed to progress any further up the division.

Hemel Hempstead batted 1st on a green wicket that looked like it might assist the bowlers. Reed got of to a fantastic start when Michael Berks uprooted the middle stump of Hemel opening batsmen Chesters for 3. Both Berks (2 – 33) and Richard Johnson (0-16) kept the pressure on the Hemel batsmen, allowing them very few scoring balls. After 20 overs Hemel had crawled to 45 for 1, but after Berks had picked up his 2nd wicket, club stalwart Pete Tidey was introduced and with his whirly medium pacers almost halted the run scoring to a standstill. With the pressure intensifying on the batsmen he ripped though the middle order to finish up with 4 for 37 of his 18 overs. Richard Jerome who bowled very tightly to finish up with 3 for 22 ably supported Tidey’s heroics.

The only Hemel batsmen who showed the skill required to thwart the Reed bowlers for a
sustained period of time was Turbutt who finished up on 30 not out. Hemel’s afternoon of batting finished up on 119 all out of 51.3 overs.

Reeds start got of to the worst possible start when in form batsman Tom Fulk was caught without troubling the scorers and Chris Jackson was caught behind to a decision that enraged Jackson, Reed were struggling at 6 for 2. However this brought Baz Curtis to the wicket and with James Heslam they steadied the ship with a much needed partnership of 50 until Heslam holed out on the mid wicket boundary for 21. Curtis carried on the good work with some punishing shots to all parts of the ground until he was eventually removed for a lovely 52. With only 32 runs required Richard Jerome scored a quick fire 34 not out and Stuart Smith who ended up with a dogged 6 not out from 50 balls saw Reed to a deserved victory in the 35th over.

Reed captain Simon Jackson commented “it was great to get another win under our belt. Especially as it was only the 2nd time we have chased all season. We bowled tight and despite losing Tom Fulk and Chris Jackson for very little a superb innings by Baz Curtis and Pies saw us through. The only shame was that all the teams bar 1 above us won on Saturday so we didn’t move up the table at all”