The seven wicket victory over promotion rivals Hatfield Crusaders II was based on effective and disciplined bowling by the quartet of Reed bowlers used on Saturday. The loss of Rupert Martin, promoted to the 2nd eleven, would have been a setback for many teams but with the strength in depth the thirds have, the Thirds Skipper Naeem had no reservations that his remaining bowlers would do the job, this proved to be the case. After winning the toss the visitors decided to bat. Karl ward and Julian Fynn opened the bowling and made life very difficult for the opening batsman, Fynn bowling an exceptional 15 over spell for a miserly 33 runs.
Just as the Crusaders Captain Anil (35) appeared to be getting to grips with the bowling Ward had him caught at mid off attempting a drive. The introduction of the wily Jason Archer to the attack was the catalyst to the collapse of the Crusaders batting. Abbas batting at 5 was an exception, making defiant 60. This was 55 runs more then he should have got, as he survived a plumb, hitting the back leg on the full in front of all three stumps, LBW shout off the bowling of Archer. To make matters worse he also managed to be dropped 3 times on the way to his 60. Archer finished his 15 over spell with 4 for 50, Ward had figures of 1 for 50 off his 11 overs. The fourth Reed bowler used was 15 year old Lewis Fitzgerald, who took 2 for 36 of off his 6 overs, clean bowling two of the Crusaders batsman including the top scorer Abbas. The visitors finished on 171 for 9 of the allotted 47 overs.
Skipper Naeem was confident 171 was well within Reeds ability to chase, Mark King and Richard Barlow opened the batting and the score board ticked along at more than the asking rate. King was especially ruthless sending the ball racing to the boundary at regular intervals. Richard Barlow was caught for 13 and then his replacement Ian Fulk nicked one to the keeper for 11. Roddi Liebenberg joined King and the run rate increased sharply, the fielders running to all parts of the ground to retrieve the ball.
Kings entertaining innings came to an end when he was caught on 73, and Reed needing 40 more to win the game. Maseeh Naeem (21n.o) joined Liebenberg (49n.o) and the pair saw Reed home with 7 wickets to spare. The man of the match award was close, with King, and Liebenberg in the frame for their batting, but in the end it was given Archer for the second week in a row. Skipper Naeem was content that a 23 point gap had now opened up between Reed III in 3rd place and Hatfield Crusaders II in 4th. Reed III travel to Hemel Hempstead, with the prospect of another 30 points against the bottom of the league side, whilst Crusaders play 2nd placed Frogmore.
