Reed began their Sunday friendly fixtures with the first of two annual matches against Barley. Captain Ed Blissett shared the duties with Richard Barlow in a sun-blessed Easter Sunday up at Reed. It was Barley who won the toss and elected to field, this appeared to be the correct decision as opening bowler Shah dispatched of Smith (0) and Barlow (5). Barley must be sick of the site of Sean Tidey though; the talented youngster racked up a double century last year against them and quickly made amends for a sluggish Reed start by posting (53) however it was Matt Bowles who contributed most to Reed’s forty over total and set himself up nicely for the league season ahead with his first ton of 2011. Bowles was run out for 104 shortly after Lovegrove (6) had departed but more importantly the total was a healthy 222. This subsequently finished on 242 thanks to Blissett (33*) and Tidey (13*).
Barley to their credit came out and had a real go at the Reed total with openers George and Bedell scoring 25 and 39 respectively. Spin bowler Jason Pallett had other ideas though. The likeable Pallett chose to play infrequently last season but announced his return to regular cricket with astonishing figures of 4-3 from eight overs! Peckett (2-27) began the wicket-taking, him and Pallett were aptly supported by other bowlers Walsingham (1-29), West (1-18), C. Martin (1-14) and even normal wicketkeeper S. Tidey (1-1) to bowl the visitors out for 159 and make the victory a real team effort with some sharp catches from supporting fielders.
