Capped by an excellent club victory the previous day in the Herts League, Reed advanced to the final 16 in the country for the National Village Cup, by overcoming Buckinghamshire champions, Bledlow Village, by a massive 178 runs, in what proved to be a destructive afternoon.
The Bledlow contingent arrived in numbers early to the Reed ground, but they were soon joined by a pulsating crowd of home supporters of all ages, who cheered on the home team with every run and wicket.
Having lost the toss again, James Heslam was asked to bat, in what proved to probably be the worst decision of the day – Reed advanced to 280 for 6 off their 40 overs, marked by a thumping 45 from Baz Curtis, 99 off James Heslam and 70 from Chris Jackson.
A Mould (9-0-57-0) was first to the sword as he was flayed to all parts of the ground by Curtis – 40 of his 45 in boundaries. James Heslam built a superb momentum on the back of his 64 the previous day as he too pressed the boundaries with some powerful strokes laced with an arrogance of an in-form batsman. With the score on 77, Chapman (5-0-49-1) bowled Curtis, but this only served to worsen the situation as this brought Chris Jackson to the crease who thumped his first 3 deliveries for boundaries through midwicket and the covers. With Heslam, he shared a partnership of 126 with some huge boundaries and an enormous six over mid wicket from Chris Jackson.
When Heslam fell on 99 to King (7-0-49-1), Phil Frenay (2) tried to maintain some momentum but was run out trying to advance the run rate further. Richard Johnson (16) and K Ward (20*) both batted sensibly to support Jackson, Ward smashing a huge straight six in the closing overs. When Johnson was dismissed trying to force the pace in the closing overs, and C Jackson was eventually bowled trying to open his shoulders, Simon Jackson (10) and Marcus Martin (5*) chipped in with some useful late runs.
With the score to chase of 281 off 40 overs, this added pressure from the first over for Bledlow, which they could not handle, as the deficit grew each over, due to some tight and probing bowling from Peter Tidey (9-2-15-4) and Andy Young (9-0-41-2). Between them, they removed the top six batsman for a handful of runs leaving the visitors on 58 for 6. When their allotted overs had expired, William Clarke (4-0-13-1) injected some good pace and sideways movement into the attack, as he had J Sherly caught at mid on by James Heslam. Heslam followed up with a sharp run out with a direct hit to reduce the visitors to 88 for 9. It took a good delivery and a full toss from Richard Johnson (3.4-0-30-2) to end the innings with Bledlow on 102 all out off 25.4 overs.
The visiting crowd left disappointed, but Reed were jubilant advancing to within a handful of games of the final at Lords, surged on by all round support from the pavilion and boundary.
James Heslam commented after the match: “This was one of the best all round performances I have seen the 1XI play. Supported by the crowd, we felt that we could beat anyone. We batted superbly, bowled with control and fielded flawlessly – we can’t wait for the next round”
