Reed Sunday XI bolstered by up and coming youngsters Johnson & Heslam played wandering side Saracens at The Green. Tom Fulk and James Heslam got off to a flying start. Heslam making his Sunday debut showing no signs of nerves as he caressed the ball to all parts of the ground in an excellent knock of 40. At 61-0 off 10 overs the heavens opened forcing the teams off the pitch. The wicket a wash out, but after taking an early tea and consulting with the grounds man, both skippers agreed to move pitches and start a new game 25 overs per side. Reed batted again but this time it was Fulk, who proved the star scoring 62 in rapid time, and along with veteran Blissett 25 and M.Robertson 17 helped Reed achieve a respectable 128-5. The start of the second innings gave away little of what was to come as Archer removed both openers in consecutive overs. Johnson bowling a tight spell of 6 overs the main support. Number 4 Gaiger became a thorn in Reeds side after surviving consecutive close LBW appeals from Archer, he took the change bowling to task scoring 61 before Archer returned to dismiss the cavalier batsman. The introduction of Heslam brought on to bowl the closing overs started the excitement taking a wicket in his first two overs. Archer then had an easy chance dropped off him by Johnson at backward square, two fours followed, leaving Heslam the job of bowling an over in which only 2 runs were required. The first ball was pushed to Naeem the batters set off only to see the stumps shattered by an excellent direct hit. The next ball a single. The next ball a dot. The 4th ball the batsman dropped the ball in front but Heslam following through picked the ball up and sprinted ahead of the despairing batsman to run him out. Scores tied 2 balls to go . The next ball edged one bounce to Collins at fly slip no run. The sixth ball, Heslam ran in and clean bowled Bigby. Saracens, 128 all-out a tie for the second year in succession, Heslam picking up 3-9. |
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