Reed entertained Bishop Stortford II’s at the Green on Saturday, desperate to get back to winning ways after a series of draws. With Bishop Stortford down towards the foot of the table, Reed knew that this game could be the one to reignite there season. Skipper Bernie Morss won the toss and elected to bat. Reed suffered an early blow when Phil Frenay was adjudged LBW for 7. However, Bishop Stortford probably regretted taking this wicket, as it united the in-form pair of Chris Jackson and James Heslam who set about amassing a second wicket partnership of 157.
This week it was the turn of Heslam to be the aggressor, although he still took his time early in his innings. As the game moved on, so did Reed’s run rate with Heslam in particular reaching the boundary regularly with an array of pulls and drives. C Jackson, creamed some elegant drives through the covers and the pair looked totally at ease, as the Bishop Stortford bowlers struggled to unsettle the pair at all. Heslam was first to go for yet another magnificent century, leaving C Jackson to finish the innings and reach his ton.
The wicket brought Richard Johnson (3) to the crease, who didn’t last long, chipping a shot to midwicket. Tom Greaves was next in, and although he struggled to find the boundary, much to his annoyance, some good running between the pair and some fine stroke play from C Jackson produced a partnership of 48 for the 4th wicket which ended when Greaves was bowled for 15. Marcus Martin (3) unselfishly gave his wicket away for the team, running a risky second and finishing inches from home. With his brother at the non-strikers end, C Jackson hit 2 boundaries to get to his first century of the season, a fantastic innings which allowed skipper Morss to declare the innings at 242-5 in the 50th over.
In a change to normal proceedings, Richard Johnson took the new ball over Lee Johnson as the captain looked to mix things up in a search of early wickets. R Johnson (5-2-26-1) struggled with his line and length, but he did produce the ball of the day, a snorter of a short ball which the opener could only fend off to gully where C Jackson held on to an excellent catch. Graham Wilson’s figures of 6-0-32-0 were not a fair reflection of how he bowled, with a number of shots played across the line. Bishop Stortford’s middle order offered some resistance but as the openers were withdrawn from the attack it was L Johnson (13-2-41-3) and Morss (13.1-4-32-4) who ended any hope of victory for the visitors.
L Johnson who has bowled his heart out so far this season without much luck, saw his fortunes change as he bowled a fast and accurate spell of bowling which produced 3 wickets. Whilst Morss added to his already impressive tally of wickets for the season, with an excellent spell of tight slow left arm bowling. Andy Young (2-0-6-2) also weighed in with a couple of wickets to complete the victory. Bishop Stortford finished 150 all out, losing by 92 runs. Reed put in an excellent allround performance. The batting, bowling and fielding were all to a high standard and this was reflected in the margin of victory. The team will be looking to build upon this performance and hopefully get a positive result at high flyers, Luton Town and Indians next weekend.
