After winning their Saracens Hertfordshire League Division 2 title with a win at Dunstable on Saturday Reed moved on to play at Lords Cricket Ground in the 2012 Final of the Yorkshire Tea National Village Cup against 4 times finalists, and twice winners, Woodhouse Grange CC from near York in North Yorkshire.
No Hertfordshire side had previously won the coveted National Village Cup, which is organised by The Cricketer Magazine and has been keenly contested since 1972.
292 sides entered this years competition so competition had been intense with the reward of playing the Final at Lords complete with full Lords match facilities.
After being dropped off by their coach from the hotel at the legendary Grace Gate entrance, Reed were awarded the privilege of occupying the “Home” Lords No 1 Changing Room, usually used by England in Test Matches and Middlesex for County matches.
The weather was truly glorious, hot and sunny with not a cloud in the sky, as the newly commissioned Reed Club Flag was raised over their changing room and a sizeable crowd, which eventually swelled to almost 4,000, filtered into the ground for the 11.00am start. A brass band played behind the pavilion whilst the full range of Lords match facilities were operated – Big Screen TV, Electronic Scoreboard, and MC announcements by the regular Lords Test match announcer.
The Reed side was unchanged from their semi-final, meaning that once again they fielded 10 ex Club Colts in their 11-man team, a truly remarkable proportion especially at the level that they now play, and in such a prestigious competition. Even the 12th man, 16 year old Tom Walsingham, was an ex Colt. The average age of the Reed side is just over 23 with 5 of the players under 21. The Reed side also includes 3 pairs of brothers, and amazingly, so did the Woodhouse Grange team!
Things started well for Reed. Skipper James Heslam won the toss and decided to field first, preferring to undertake a later run chase when the required task was known and a required run rate per over could be measured and paced. Unsurprisingly, given the heady nature of the occasion and scale of the event, both sides started nervously.
Reeds opening bowlers Lee “Red Bullet” Johnson and Jack “Heather” Tidey saw their photographs, names, and nicknames light up the big screens all around the ground as the MC announced their arrival to bowl. Both later reported that their legs turned to jelly when they first ran in to bowl and neither started with their usual discipline and tight line. Even the normally sublime Reed fielding suffered as an early shot was fumbled and an early throw proved less than totally accurate. Woodhouse Grange openers Michael Hattee and Nick Hadfield made a steady if unspectacular start to their innings but in the 8th over a string of 3 boundaries heralded the first Reed bowling change.
The nerves had largely subsided and the introduction of Mitchell Cooper into the attack slowed the Woodhouse advance. With the score on 55 Johnson induced an edge from Hattee and keeper Sean Tidey gleefully took the catch to get Reed into the match. Soon after Johnson took his sweater after 7 tidy overs and was replaced by Tom Greaves bowling his off-spin. With his very first ball Greaves induced an edge from Woodhouse No 3 Chris Bilton and the ever-reliable Chris Jackson comfortably took the catch at 1st slip.
60–2 soon became 66–3 when Cooper had incoming batsman Mike Burdett LBW for 1. Reed were now on a roll and with the score on 75 Greaves turned another ball from the bat of Andrew Bilton into keeper Tideys gloves. 75–4 and Reed now clearly getting on top with the miserly Greaves bowling a fine spell of 9 overs 2 -22 . The Reed fielding had by now returned to its imperious best with Will Heslam patrolling the lonely, closed off, and unpopulated Grand Stand side performing particularly notably.
Opener Hadfield had proved solid and resolute but had gone into a bit of a shell since the tenth over and when on 29 he fell LBW again to the pacey Cooper the Yorkshire team were in deep trouble on 87–5. No 6 Tom Young now came to the party and played some fierce boundary shots to get the score moving again. In company with Woodhouse skipper Steve Burdett they took the total to 109 before Cooper struck again with his 3rd LBW shout and Burdett went for 11. Cooper returned a crucial 3-39 from his 9 overs. Young meanwhile continued to take his scoring opportunities and joined by Chris Suddaby the pair started to build a threatening and impressive Woodhouse Grange revival.
Kallum Ward joined the attack for Reed but suffered as the batting pair realised they had to accelerate the Woodhouse total towards a defendable score. The return of Lee Johnson saw Reed put an end to the partnership in dramatic fashion. A huge skied drive rose high into the sky over extra cover and Reeds Stuart Smith had to turn and chase the rapidly descending ball. A final despairing dive saw an exuberant Smith rise from the hallowed Lords turf clutching the ball and the Woodhouse danger man Young departing to the pavilion for a well struck and much needed 42 with the score 152-7.
Suddaby continued to score freely and the score moved past 170. Opener Jack Tidey was now recalled to the Reed attack and in his first over bowled No 9 Tom Quinn for 3 reducing the Grange to 172 -8. Karl Ward replaced brother Kallum at the pavilion end and immediately got into a grove bowling stump to stump and finding swing where there had been precious little before. Suddaby fell bowled by Ward and at 180 – 9 Woodhouse entered the final over seemingly unlikely to make the 200. So it proved as Ward bowled another over where the batsmen could not get him away and Woodhouse Grange finished their 40 overs on a respectable but not daunting 184-9.
After a 40 minute lunch break, and a chance to cool off from 3 hours in the field in the hot sun, the Reed opening pair, skipper James Heslam and his 17 year old brother William came out to bat. Brothers opening the innings together in a major final at Lords? Surely a rarity? Is it a first?
The tall Tom Quinn opened the bowling for Woodhouse Grange and with the new ball immediately extracted significant bounce from not too short of a length. He surprised both the Reed openers with a couple of sharp lifting balls. However, the Reed pair soon became acclimatised to the pace and bounce and started to get the scoreboard ticking. Their scoring rate averaged just over 4 an over and the Heslam brothers demonstrated good judgement of a run and sharp and effective running between the wickets.
Yesterdays centurion for Reed, James, started to open his shoulders and played 3 delightful boundaries for 4 before pulling a short ball over the longest boundary on the ground for 6. He seemed destined for another major score and the Reed total was beginning to motor, but then Woodhouse struck back as Quinn induced a leading edge from James who departed caught and bowled for 28. The highly regarded Tom Greaves came to the crease loudly applauded by the sizeable Reed contingent and immediately settled into the groove playing solid shots and striking the ball powerfully when a safe scoring opportunity presented itself.
Will Heslam had meanwhile been playing very steadily, supporting the senior batsmen well and gradually growing in confidence. Reed progressed steadily at a rate of just over 4 an over until at 84 Will Heslam, who had struck some good shots that had regularly found the fielders, miscued a drive and was caught out for a patient 17. This brought Reeds “Rock” Chris Jackson to the crease. In the last 3 months he had steered Reed safely home in a number of crucial run chase victories, and this attribute was needed again today. Chris settled in as Tom Greaves continued to make hay scoring at a rate of over a run a ball. The pair ran aggressively between the wickets and Woodhouse Grange could not stem the consistent flow of Reed runs. As the Reed total mounted, and the wickets in hand remained high, the likelihood of a Reed win increased. Tom Greaves pushed on to a magnificently controlled and cultured 51 containing of 7 x 4’s but immediately after acknowledging the crowds rousing applause for what proved to be the only half century of the match, he was surprisingly bowled the very next ball!.
The score stood at 126 for 3 when Reed’s Village Cup Talisman Stuart Smith strode out to the crease. Smith had struck a hard hit century in the semi-final to rescue Reed from a parlous situation and set them up with what proved to be a defendable total. His Clubs supporter’s confidence in him was not misplaced, and any perception that Smith was a mere “slogger” was quickly dispelled. A rasping Smith cover drive for 4 through extra cover produced rapturous Reed applause and with well placed singles and hard run 2’s and 3’s the Reed total moved inexorably towards the required target.
Again the Reed batting pair took every run opportunity and though at one stage the required rate touched 5.5 an over it quickly shrunk back to around 4 an over with the help of a couple of well struck boundaries. Chris Jackson fell caught for a fine 37 (5 x 4’s) with the score at 169 – 4 and Mitchell Cooper came to the middle to join Smith. An eerie silence fell over the ground and the tension rose. 16 to win in just over 4 overs! Surely Reed wouldn’t give it away? But another wicket? New batsmen having to face a diminishing win opportunity under unimaginable pressure! “It’s a funny old game!”. “The match is never over until fat lady sings”!
However, a trademark Smith maximum to the long on boundary broke the back of the required task and minutes later after a late cut to the unguarded third man boundary, Reed needed 4 to win! Into the 3rd last over and what proved to be the final ball of the match saw Mitchell Cooper steer a short fast delivery from Andrew Horner down to backward point boundary and as the ball skipped over the boundary in front of the Reed Hospitality Box the Reed supporters in the ground erupted in relief and ecstasy and the fat lady started singing!
Reed had come home to the required 185 with only 4 wickets down and a magnificent 6 wicket win with 2.4 overs to spare. Stuart Smith ended on 22 not out from 27 balls and Mitchell Cooper 6 not out from 5 balls. Opening bowler Tom Quinn with 7 Overs 1-14 was Woodhouse Granges only bowler to contain the Reed batsmen with all his colleagues conceding 5 runs or more per over throughout the innings.
The large and appreciative crowd congregated in front of the pavilion and witnessed MCC President Philip Hodson make an excellent and complimentary speech which thanked the The Cricketer Magazine as the organisers of the competition, Yorkshire Tea as the Sponsors of the Competition, and praised both sides for delivering a hard fought and technically high quality match which all who witnessed it had hugely appreciated.
The Man of the Match Award was presented to Reeds Tom Greaves who transformed the match with his bowling spell of 9 Overs 2 for 22, and then when batting at No 3 for Reed scored a masterly 51 in only 49 balls.
Medals were presented to both teams and after a magnanimous and eloquent few words from Simon Burdett, the captain of the losing finalists Woodhouse Grange, Reed Captain James Heslam was presented with the impressive National Village Cup and the massed ranks of spectators warmly applauded the players of both sides who had provided excellent entertainment on a wonderfully bright, hot and sunny day. The match had been a fitting testament to high quality Village Cricket and played in a competitive though magnificently sporting spirit.
The players variously retreated to celebrate and commiserate with the large number of family, friends and supporters on both sides, and 90 minutes later the players of both teams, club officials and invitees, and other honoured guests, sat down to enjoy a Gala Dinner which celebrated 40 Years of the National Village Cup.
Guest Speakers included Chris Cowdrey and Darren Gough and eventually around 10pm, with sunset long since a memory, the players of both sides eventually bade farewell to their magical day in the limelight, vacated the magnificent Lords Arena and Pavilion, and drifted home to perhaps once more dream of another day when they might walk in the corridors of an iconic institution, and amongst the portraits and shadows of past immortal cricketers.
