The 2nd XI travelled to Flitwick looking to continue their good end of season form. The visitors lost the toss and were asked to field. Mitchell Cooper struck early removing Timms for 2. Nicklin was in positive mood and looked well set. Rupert Martin missed a caught and bowled chance when a return catch came back at him a lot slower than he thought. Nicklin had raced to 33 and it looked like the missed chance might mean a long afternoon in the field for Reed. Peter Tidey had other ideas and a well judged half tracker was misjudged by the Flitwick opener and he was bowled. Thurstance and Alder batted well for Flitwick, but when Roddi Liebenberg caught Thurstance for 27 Reed started to stem the run rate. Rupert Martin completed a fine spell of bowling have Valentine caught for 3 and finishing with figures of 2-51 from 15 overs.
Will Dobson replaced him and the home side struggled again some good spin bowling. Tidey struck twice more and at 132-7 Reed looked well on top. Dobson removed Alder for 34 thanks to a good catch by Fergus Martin at mid wicket. It looked like Reed might be chasing less than 150, but Peters took a liking to the attack and smashed 38. Cooper returned to bowl the all rounder, but not before Peters smashed him for a 6. Flitwick were all out for 178 and more importantly Reed had gained 2 extra overs for their run chase. Tidey ended with 3-52 and Dobson 3-31.
In reply Reed started at a snails pace. William Heslam was dismissed for a duck, but Baz Curtis and Fergus Martin saw off the challenge of Peters and Moxon-Booth with a mixture of good defence and the ability to miss the swing ball. Bailey replaced Peters and Curtis took a liking to the first change bowler. He went for 26 in 4 overs. This got the Reed innings back on track. Wickets in hand could be useful if they could keep the run rate at a decent level. Curtis reached his 50 with a 6, but tried it once too often off the leg spinner Thurstance.
This left Reed 81-2 in the 25th over. 24 overs left to get 98 runs. Matt Bowles along with some excellent running from his running Heslam kept the scoreboard ticking. He put on 46 with Martin and Reed were in the hunt. Bowles was bowled by the returning Peters. This left Reed 143-4 in the 41st over. Roddi Liebenberg joined Martin and added a bricks 12 before he too was bowled by Peters. 165-4 became 165-6 in two balls and suddenly the game was back in the balance. Reed required 14 from from 18 balls, but the visitors were finding it hard to get Peters away with his extra pace.
Reed needed 7 off the last over. Crucially a miss field off the last ball of the penultimate over had put the solid Martin back on strike. He had scored 29 singles in his 62 not out. A fine effort considering the slow outfield and some good field placement. Off the 2nd ball of the last over drama, 4 byes. This was tough on keeper Barzilay who had a fine game behind the timbers. Then more drama with 3 to win, Peters hurt his back and couldn’t finish the over. Moxon-Booth was asked to bowl the last 3 balls. After only going for 17 in his 10 over opening spell this seemed a good choice.
Martin had other ideas. He decided this was a good time to hit his second boundary and smashed it over the bowlers head for 4 and Reed were home. A very enjoyable match played in a great spirit by both set of players.
