Reed 1st XI produced another excellent display with both bat and ball against Hoddesdon on Saturday at The Green to earn themselves consecutive league victories. Bernie Morrs returned figures of 18-1-59-5 to restrict the visitors to 188-9 off their allotted 53 overs. In reply James Heslam scored an unbeaten 94 as he guided his team to 192-3 in the 41st over.
The game began poorly for Reed with some wayward bowling and a number of dropped chances. However in the 9th over with the score on 37 Lee Johnson (1-41) made the breakthrough, trapping Gandon LBW. Hoddesdon continued to take the game to Reed with coach Young looking agonisingly on, until the first drinks break when the game started to go Reed’s way. The decision to take the pace of the ball and replace the seamers from the top end, with the wily slow left arm of Morrs was thoroughly justified as he and Tidey (1-49) began to exert considerable pressure on the Hoddesdon batsman. The next 20 overs yielded just 43 runs for the visiting side for the loss of 4 wickets. Tidey was able to swing the ball throughout his spell and Morss found just enough turn on a batsman friendly track. Tidey’s mammoth 20 over spell comprised of 6 maidens in total including 4 consecutive maidens. As he began to tire, the “spin twins” of Reed were united for the first time, with Dobson (2-16) ably assisting Morrs. Dobson succeeded in removing Coutts in the 50th over, the only batsman to really offer any patience and resistance against the Reed attack and this allowed the opposition’s total to be kept to a manageable 188-9.
Reed’s reply got off to a shaky start when Curtis was surprised by a straight delivery from the Hoddesdon opener and was bowled in the 1st over for 6. Curk came in and started briskly hitting 4 of his first 6 deliveries to the boundary, whilst Heslam dug in for the long haul. With the score on 58 Curk was caught for 34. C. Jackson and Heslam batted steadily, steering Reed ever closer to the victory target. In the 31st over with the score on 130, C. Jackson was caught for 26. With 58 still required and the disappointing loss to Totteridge still in people’s minds, victory was yet to be assured, however some sensible batting from Frenay (24*) supported Heslam as he started to open his shoulders at the disheartened Hoddesdon attack. Heslam accelerated to 94* from just 93 deliveries to guarantee his team victory by 7 wickets.
James Heslam, Reed’s skipper was very pleased with the team’s performance; in particular the character they showed in turning the game around from a poor start before the first drinks break. He said “I hope that we can keep this momentum going forward in to next weekend, probably the biggest weekend of the season for the 1st team”. Reed are set to face Hitchin up at the Green on Saturday and play High Roding away in the last 16 of the National Village Cup on Sunday. Any and all support would be much appreciated by the team.
