Reed swept to a convincing 7 wicket victory against Preston in the John Barker Cup on Wednesday. Preston, 2 divisions above Reed, fell victim to some accurate and tight opening bowling by Wilson (2-24), and raw pace delivered by Richard Johnson, saw him bag 4 wickets, helping to reduce Preston to a total of 128 off their allotted 20 overs.

With a steep target before them, combined with statistically superior bowling, Reed proved the critics wrong by scoring heavily early on. James Heslam (34), was well supported by Simon Jackson (26) before Chris Jackson assumed the mantle of run scoring responsibility by hammering a quickfire 32. After he fell to some fast bowling by Gatehouse, Ray Kingshott saw saw the local lads home with a patient 18. A dejected Preston, saw Reed cruise to victory with more than 4 overs to spare, allowing them to advance confidently into the next round.