Reed 1st XI managed to clinch a 16 point draw against Southgate Adelaide on Saturday in Herts League Division 3, seeing them slip to fourth position.

Winning the toss on a dry wicket with underlying moisture, Reed elected to bat. A solid 21 from Baz Curtis, and another grafted 88 from Chris Jackson (his third 50 in three weeks) saw Reed to 194 all out in 51.1 overs.

All batsmen chipped in to support the sublime Jackson, but the team lost their momentum after he was dismissed to a contentious edge behind, failing to clinch the maximum available batting points. Daniel Fitzpatrick (15-2-67-3) managed to pick up 3 wickets in a pacey, if wayward spell, in conjunction with spinner A.Morris (15.1-3-45-3), who bowled with superb flight and accuracy.

Reed managed to pinch an early wicket thanks to Peter Tidey (16-2-49-2) with the old ball, whilst Richard Jerome (13-4-14-0) bowled a tight spell at the other end to peg the visitors back to 38 runs off their first 20 overs. Once the patient 42 by D.Whiteing was ended by Clarke, and skipper T.Grover ran himself out, the game looked firmly in Reed’s hands. This was further consolidated when Michael Berks came back for his second spell with a bang by taking 4 wickets in quick succession to leave the visitors on the rack at 137-8.

This follows up his five wicket haul last week. But the effort came too late as Reed were unable to take the final two wickets, leaving Southgate Adelaide on 147-8 in their 48 overs.