Reed remain unbeaten in the North Herts League Division 1 after comprehensively beating the table topping Crawley Green Nomads at The Green on Sunday.
In glorious sunshine, Reed captain Marcus Martin won the toss and chose to bat on a typically good Reed wicket. Opening pair Richard Johnson and Matt Bowles did well to negotiate the Opening 10 Overs, bowled well by A. Jethwa and M. Jethwa, as they took the score to 33 before Bowles was bowled by Reed for 4. Johnson was then joined by Joe Curk, and the pair set about upping the scoring rate and setting a good total. Curk (47) soon got into the groove, as he plundered two 4s and five 6s before G. Hull had him caught in the deep. Johnson remained composed however, and played some classy shots as he passed 50, ably supported by Phil Frenay. Frenay looked in good nick as he began to find the boundary too regularly for the visitors liking. Johnson eventually went in the 37th Over for a superb 64, but Frenay remained not out on 44, helped by some very handy late runs from Fergus Martin (3) and the big hitting Graham Hazard (11 Not Out). Reed finishing on a good 216-4 off of their allotted 40 Overs.
After Richard Johnson’s superb showing with the bat, it was left to another Johnson to star with the ball. Lee Johnson ripped through the hapless Crawley Green batsmen with a spell of vicious and accurate pace bowling. Johnson ended up with figures of 7-1-21-6, and of those 6 wickets, 5 were clean bowled. Marcus Martin (6-1-27-2) also bowled well as he took two wickets, including the dangerous A. Jethwa (32). The final two wickets came as just reward for spin bowler Jason Pallett, who bowled a superb spell of 4.1-3-1-2 to leave Crawley Green all out for just 66 in 22.1 Overs.
Reflecting on his sides emphatic 150 Run victory over the league leaders, captain Marcus Martin commented “I was very pleased with the performance today, both with bat and ball. Richard Johnson was superb, and its great to see Phil Frenay looking in fine form too. Then with the ball Lee Johnson was brilliant, as was Jason Pallett, its just shame we have had 3 of our 5 games rained off in the league as we could have been looking at top spot after today”
