A youthful Reed IIIs went down to a heavy defeat at home to Hertingfordbury IIs on Saturday. On a blissful afternoon at Freeman; Reed skipper Matt Bowles, on his return from a month out with a knee injury, won the toss and elected to put the visitors into bat. The decision proved to be a costly one, as Reed’s bowlers toiled in the hot sun, as the visiting batsman built a solid and steady total of 238-6 from their 47 Overs. The probing bowling of Jim Allsopp being the only real highlight for Reed, as they gave the opposition too many runs in extras and leaked too many singles.
Reeds reply got off to a faltering start as leading run scorer Will Heslam departed early. However a solid partnership from John Heslam, who fell just short of his half century, and Alan Ward (27) did threaten to drag Reed into contention. However when both fell, along with a spectacular middle and late order collapse which yielded four ducks, the game was beyond Reed. Some good blows from debutant 14 year old Ollie Benham (16) and some late boundaries from Julien Fynn and skipper Bowles did drag Reed into the batting points, but it was too little too late as Reed were all out for 138, losing by 100 runs.
