Reeds young Sunday seconds came so very close to snaring an unlikely victory when they played away at the charming village of Aston.
Peter Baker had won the toss and inserted the opposition and after 20 overs the hosts had only managed 61. Tom Walshingham (8-4-11-2) and Joe Graves (6-1-21-1) had opened the bowling and held good lines, Graves yet again hit the off stump whilst Walshingham bowled four maidens of his first six, however, there was the unlikely occurrence of 5 penalty runs being given after the ball hit the keeper’s helmet. Dominic McOmish jokingly said “If we now loose by less than 5 runs, there will be trouble!!”
Jack Hart (5-0-28-0) and Rhoddri Hughes (7-0-32-0) backed up the openers by also restricting numbers 3 and 4 Wylie and O’Hanlan, however after drinks the pair started to be more aggressive with O’Hanlan punishing anything short or wide. They also took advantage of some poor and sometimes sloppy fielding as the young Reed side toiled under the sun, dropping several easy chances. Mitchell Cooper (5-1-21-1) was then brought on to break up the partnership which had now exceeded 100. Dan Howard also chipped in with 1 for 24 from his 4 overs, however, by the end of their innings Aston had reached 193 with O’Hanlan 98 not out.
After tea Mitchell Cooper and Dominic McOmish opened the Reed innings with a steady 22 when McOmish (8) was bowled. Tom Walshingham then stayed with Cooper for a time before falling for 7. Reed were struggling on 69 for 5 from 16 overs when a promising partnership between Cooper and Marcus J.E. Baker was spoiled when Cooper fell for a good 26. In the 24th over Reed reached 100 but were now 7 down, Peter Baker coming and going for a quick fire 20. M.J.E. Baker was now left to salvage Reeds innings with the tail, which they did.
Rhoddri Hughes (9) stayed with Baker for 9 overs playing a crucial innings, Dan Howard (1) and then Joe Graves (0*) continued in his stead. Baker had eventually reached his 50 in the 36th over with Reed on 144 for 9 needing 50 from the last four overs. 19 came from the first 3 leaving 31 needed from the final over. Baker smashed the first two balls for 6 and the third for 4, as Aston began to sweat.
But the fourth ball only gained two meaning victory had now eluded Reed but with the fifth ball going for 6, another 6 was needed to tie scores. Alas only four was achieved meaning Reed lost by 2 runs. The final boundary brought up Baker’s century (10×4, 4×6) but he would never have achieved the score without Joe Graves who backed up fantastically running quickly between the wickets putting the hosts under pressure in the closing stages of this exciting match.
