Reed captain Marcus Martin won the toss and elected to field. Reed opened the bowling with Richard Johnson and Andrew Wholley, and the pair got Reed off to a great start with some good pace and swing. Both bowlers bowled 8 Overs straight, with Wholley impressing with figures of 8-1-2-22, and Johnson also picking up 2 wickets with figures of 8-0-2-45, leaving Hatfield struggling a bit on 57 for 4. Hitchiner scored 20 quickly, but was caught well at backwards point by Bowles off of Wholley, who also bowled Causton for 4. Johnson’s 2 wickets came about with 2 sharp catches by wicket keeper Graham Hazard.
However, Hatfield dug themselves out of a hole well and showed why they are pushing for honours in the league, after superb innings from Golder and Whitehead. Golder scored 48 before he was eventually run out, and Whitehead scored a cultured 41 before youngster Mitchell Cooper performed heroics to catch him 1 handed off of the pacey bowling of Marcus Martin. Cooper also impressed with the ball, and was unlucky to have come away without reward from his 5 Overs. Jason Pallett was also in good form, his clever off spin only going fro 32 in 7 Overs, bowing at the death. A good partnership from Braine (11 Not Out) and Wynne (31 Not Out) at the end of the innings pushed Hatfield’s score above 200 to a challenging 214 for 7 off of their 40 Overs.
In reply, Reed sent out Fergus Martin and Phil Frenay to open their innings. Frenay got out of the traps well, and looked classy as he kept Reed up with the run rate early on. Martin was a perfect foil at the other end, running singles when required and ensuring no early wickets were lost. Reed got to 44 before the 1st wicket went down, Martin harshly adjudged LBW for 4. Frenay remained however, and raced onto 45, looking set for a big score when he holed out on the long off boundary. This left Reed in a bit of trouble, and things only got worse when Johnson chipped one to mid wicket for 5, and then Marcus Martin played down the wrong line and was bowled for 1. Reed were in real trouble at 59 for 4 off of 16 Overs.
Matt Bowles and Ed Blissett then set about trying to get Reed back on track. Blissett was rotating the strike well, and Bowles began to free his arms to help get Reed up with the required run rate. Bowles hit five 4’s and combined with Blissett’s clever nurdling of the ball, the pair were able to take the score to nearly 100, when Bowles was bowled attempting to drive a leg spinner for 24. Karl Ward then joined Blissett, and took up where Bowles left off, hitting a couple of hard boundaries, before the re-introduction of the pace bowler accounted for his middle stump whilst on 13. When Blissett was then stumped for 11, Reed looked dead and buried at 113 for 7. However, Graham Hazard followed up his good display with the gloves and in unison with Mitchell Cooper, began to take Reed towards 150. Hazard was in a punishing mood, and struck seven 4’s and one 6 as he reached his first 50 of the season in combative style. Cooper batted brilliantly as his foil, and when Hazard was eventually caught for 50, Cooper began to take the lead and hit some lovely shots as he reached 14. Reed were eventually all out for 186, with 3 Overs to spare.
A disappointed Marcus Martin was left ruing his side’s batting, as so many seemed to get themselves out with poor shot selection: “after a good start with the bat I’m hugely disappointed we managed to fall short. Phil Frenay did well early on, and Graham Hazard was excellent at the end, but we really should have capitalised in the middle period and made their total. The positives are there however, we are a very young side and bowled well. Andy Wholley was brilliant, and Jason Pallett and Mitchell Cooper excelled against good opposition. We will learn from this.”
