Reed chased 186 in vain this Sunday in an entertaining North Herts League game at home to Ickleford. A frustrating afternoon for the hosts began when they lost Neil Haslam and Karl Ward shortly before the game due to injury and Village cup commitments. However as usual Reed were able to call upon some promising youngsters with Mitchell Cooper and Naeem (Jnr.) both taking three wickets a piece.
The warm conditions and suprising lack of bounce at Reed made it hard work for their young bowlers, subsequently waiting untill the twentieth over for the first breakthrough, that of the hard hitting Millword (44)with the score on 84. Incidently many batsman on both teams made good starts but failed to post a substantial score. Ed Blissett looked well set for Reed before being caught on 47, Barlow (19) and Naeem (snr.) (21) perished in the same fashion leaving Reed with a mountain to climb. T. Greaves (5) and captain P. Baker (30) threatened to take the score on but some tight bowling from an experienced Ickleford side sealed a 38 run victory. Reed eventually finishing on 147-8 from their 40 overs.
