Reed 2s hosted Eversholt 2s on Saturday, looking to kick start their league season with a 1st win of the campaign.
After winning the toss, Captain Jason Archer decided to bat in the overcast conditions. Brothers Ben and Matt Bowles opened the innings for Reed and went about the task of building a total in a typically cautious manner. Despite a few scares, particularly for Matt Bowles, the pair successfully negotiated the tricky conditions, and saw off the opening bowlers. The opening stance yielded 64 runs, before Matt Bowles was finally out, caught behind for a gritty 38. Reed then suffered a batting collapse, going from 64-1 to 78-6, with John Heslam and Chris Shorrock both failing to work the scorers, and Ed Garrott (5) and Karl Ward (9) also succumbing to good bowling, To add to the woes, Ben Bowles soon followed for 18.
With a measly total on the cards, the job of salvaging the innings fell on the shoulders of Richard Robertson and Steve Lovegrove. The pair batted magnificently in first steadying the ship, and secondly building not only a respectable, but challenging total. Robertson was timing the ball perfectly, and made his way to a score of 43, and Lovegrove nudged and nurdled the ball around to great effect on his way to a score of 40. When the pair finally departed, Reed were in a far healthier position. Big hitters Andy Young and Jim Allsopp then added a few more valuable runs to the Reed total with some hefty blows to leave Reed on 183-9 off of their allotted 53 overs.
Eversholt struggled early on in their innings whilst trying to reach Reeds total. The pace of Andy Young was clearly unsettling the opening batsmen, and with Jim Allsopp bowling a nagging line at the other end, Eversholt found themselves two wickets down before they had reached the 18th over. However, a good partnership saw the game swing Eversholts way, lifting them to 100-2 with plenty of overs left to reach the Reed total.
The introduction of young bowlers Ed Garrott and Karl Ward proved to be a masterstroke however. Ward bowled superbly, and was unfortunate to only take one wicket in his spell. It was Garrott that stole the plaudits, with his spell of vicious and clever off spin yielding 5 wickets for 50 runs, in a tense and nervy finish.
Despite the best efforts of the Reed bowlers, a late show from Eversholt captain L Singleton nearly won the game for the visitors, but Captain Jason Archer and youngster Garrott held their nerves to bowl the last overs very economically and leave Eversholt 3 runs short of victory on 180-8 off of their 47 overs. Both sides were relieved to have come away with a draw, and equally disappointed not to snatch a win.
