Reed III stayed in touch with the league leaders and pulled a little further away from chasing pack with an away win at Hatch End. Winning the toss for the fourth match in succession, Reed skipper Maseeh Naeem put the hosts in on a dubious looking track, and Reed’s young opening bowlers took full advantage of the circumstances. Matt Giblin and Louis Fitzgerald gave the Hatch End openers few opportunities to score runs.
Fitzgerald removed Richardson with his first ball, the opener edging to a very appreciative Ian Fulk at first slip. After that Matt Giblin ripped through the top and middle order taking 5 wickets in his opening seven over spell, leaving Hatch End teetering on 25 for 7. Williams and Short attempted to consolidate and their partnership managed to push the score, albeit slowly towards 50 before James Hooper (4-0-1-13) had Williams caught behind by Steve Lovegrove for 17.
Matt Naeem (7-2-1-27) then removed Short for 10, Hooper taking a sharp catch at short mid on. The Hatch End skipper Sherman (27n.o) then rallied what was left of the tail and managed to push the Hatch End total to 104 after 36.2 overs. The standout performances were that of Matt Giblin (8-0-5-24) and Louis Fitzgerald (12.2-4-2-13), both youngsters bowling with pace and control.
Ben Bowles and Richard Barlow opened the batting for Reed, on a pitch that was still very unpredictable. The opening Hatch End bowlers bowled a steady line and length and it was obvious to all that patience was going to be needed to reach the 105 total. Barlow was again unlucky edging to slip with the score on 3. He was replaced by Ian Fulk returning after a few weeks absence. Bowles played a concentrated innings running singles and hitting the rare bad ball to the boundary in his knock of 24 before edging to the slips with the score on 45.
Fulk was joined by Scott Caine and the pair slowly kept the score heading towards the 105 needed for victory. Fulk was unbeaten on 30 and Caine, played a very mature innings finishing on 25 not out. Reed needed 34 overs to chase down the target and win by 8 wickets.
