After one postponement it seemed the weather was going to be against this local derby for a second time. However, a window of opportunity showed itself and the game was on. Reece Fitzgerald and Owen Hughes opened the batting. The sharp arm of Matthew Share was to make this a short lived partnership after 4 balls Hughes was run out. Owen Church (6) came to the crease but dollied a catch up to Andrew Wyant off of the bowling of Alfie Arnold in the 4 over.
Reed needed to consolidate and they did under the partnership of Fitzgerald and Jack Caine. Both batsman were nip and tuck scoring alongside each other, picking up valuable boundaries. They took the score to 98 when left arm Share struck again and took Fitzgerald’s stumps away. Connor Poulton added 31 runs bowled Wyant and with just 3 balls left of the innings Josh Coldicott-Stephens (0no) partnered Jack Caine to an unbeaten 53. Reed’s final score of 143 was the total to beat.
Buntingford started slowly, Reeds tight bowling and fielding meant runs were hard to come by. Even so Buntingford’s openers made it to the 8th over without loss. Joe Babbage caught by Fitzgerald off the bowling of Freddie Stuart. Stuart struck again in the 10th with the wicket of Reece Kapp caught and bowled, along with the run out of Alfie Arnold (10) by Scott Curtis.
Buntingford were 24 for 3, the 10th over being a milestone, even if the weather gave in there was going to be a result. Two more overs and two more wickets. 7th batsman Frank Bown came to the crease for his match debut and scored 10 including 2 boundaries before the weather cut his promising innings short in the 15th over. The downpour meant play could not carry on, after calculation Reed took the win by 70 runs.
