Reed were surprised to be offered the first chance to bowl on the track and Graham Wilson and Lee Johnson found the right areas straight away. They managed to tie the Hemel batsman down, giving them no bad balls and with the hope the wicket would do something for them. With Hemel on 23, Wilson got the first wicket after a great catch by Chris Jackson and then the flood gates opened with Johnson ripping through Hemel leaving them at 54-7.
Johnson got his first 5 wicket haul of the season and the man of the match award taking 5-43 off 13 overs. Wilson bowled throughout the innings taking 3-54 off 19 and Jack Tidey cleared up the tail taking 2-17 off his 5 overs. Reed caught some great catches from Stuey Smith, Liam McKechnie and 2 from Jackson in bowling Hemel out for 125 in 37 overs. With Reed missing 2 regular first team batsman and having a testing 15 overs to bat before tea it was going to be a tough session.
However Hemel did not have the bowlers that Reed had and interestingly opened with a spinner, on a wicket that was doing something for the seamers. Reed lost young Tom Greaves with the score on 14 however with Greaves out, Aussie McKechnie came in and gave them no grace. McKechnie and captain James Heslam took the game to Hemel and proved that it was good bowling and not the wicket that bowled out Hemel. Reed reached 61-1 at tea, which without doubt was the best and most delightful away tea that we had this season (so thank you for that Hemel).
Luckily with the game nearly won all the Reed players bar Heslam and McKechnie could enjoy it to the full. After the lovely tea Hemel tried more spinners and some seamers however winning seemed a formality, with how well the Reed players were batting and with Hemel seeming to realise the game was over.
With Reed racing to victory in 26 overs and without losing further wickets, Heslam finished on 65 and McKechnie on 47. James Heslam said “it was a great victory for the lads. It was great for Lee (Johnson) to get amongst the wickets and for Liam (McKechnie) to get some runs at last. All the guys bowled well, on a track which was better than we thought. With us getting 30 points and Hemel 1 point showed how much we were on top in the game. Hopefully we can keep this going next week away to Redbourn.”
