The seconds had to endure a rather one sided affair in their opening game of the 2011 season. Peter Baker led a weakened, ten man side down to Enfield for the friendly fixture.
The hosts batted first and took full advantage of the gap in the field as they took Reed for 10 an over in the first fifteen. The break through finally came as Julian Fynn had Naughton (30) playing on. Jason Pallett was then introduced and soon had the wickets of opening bat and top scorer Barrell (84) and hard hitting number three Raffa (43). During the middle overs of the innings Reed slowed Enfield down as under 15 Joe Graves and Fergus Martin bowled well to the middle order. Returning spells produced wickets for Mitchell Cooper, thanks to a good catch at deep extra cover from F. Martin, and Jason Pallett who had Fereday (35) stumped by Marcus J.E. Baker. Enfield’s final total of 334 for 5 after their forty overs was greatly assisted by the number of wides which were adjudged by the Minor Counties umpire as anything that went down the leg side.
In reply Reed never looked anywhere near as comfortable as the hosts at the crease. At 39 for 5 M. Cooper was joined by Josh Conley who swung hard and made contact sending several well bowled deliveries to the boundary including a huge six, but his cameo came to an end the next ball caught for 24. Meanwhile, Cooper had played a mature innings until he was also out caught for 27. Julian Fynn added 24 and Jason Pallett 14, before Reed were all out for 146. Reed had displayed some dogged resistance in places and there was certainly a lot of promise for the coming season from Reed’s performance which in the end is the ultimate purpose of these early season games.
