Reed’s Fourth XI were back to winning ways on Saturday despite three last minute drop-outs. It is testament to the strength of the Reed structure that sufficient colts were available and drafted-in to fill the vacancies. Botany Bay won the toss and batted first. Booth had been prolific until today but was bowled by Christian Martin for a single. Skitt held-out and nearly carried his bat for 45 although his only major support came from Bridges, (19).
The teen-aged Matt Giblin bowled two spells each of 5 overs and returned the astonishing figures of 2 wickets for just 4 runs in those 10 overs; a superb example of controlled, line and length bowling. 3 wickets a-piece from Ian Roberts and Alan Ward ensured that Reed’s target was relatively low as Botany Bay were all-out for 121.
For the first time this season Reed had to bat second and skipper Peter Baker chose utility batter Paul Garrott to accompany him. They set-off at 9 runs an over initially although the rate slowed down after a while. Baker scored 30 then Darren Radford hit an entertaining 20. In the 24th over Paul Garrott hit the winning runs with his eighth boundary and in so doing notched-up his own half-century finishing on 52 not out. Reed IVs are now in third position in their Division and look forward to their visit to second placed Hertford next week. Reed (30 points) beat Botany Bay (4 points) by 8 wickets.
