Reed 2nd XI traveled to London Colney on Saturday for their last warm up game before the league season. Reed lost the toss and were asked to field. Opening bowlers Joe Curk (5 ov 3mdn 0 for 6) and Marcus Martin (7 ov 0 for 19) got Reed off to a good start with tight early season spells of line and length bowling. The first 12 over’s conceding just 30 runs.
Colney were under pressure and the introduction of Louis Gearing (7ov 0mdn 1-17) and Michael Robertson (10ov 0mdn 3-33) intensified that, following on from the spells of Curk and Martin in terms of accuracy but picking up 4 wickets along the way. At drinks Colney were 62-4.
The last 15 over’s of the innings were going to be crucial for Colney as they looked to push on the scoring rate and set Reed a reasonable target to chase. Reeds “death” bowlers captain Jason Archer (8ov 2mdn 2 for 17) and young leg spin bowler James Bloor kept the run rate down to just over 3 an over but also snaffled 5 big wickets, to rip the heart out of Colney’s middle order. At tea Reed had restricted Colney to 140 for 9 off their allocated 45 over’s.
Reed’s young opening double act of Fergus Martin (32) and Tom Greaves (0) suffered an early setback with Greaves getting one that nipped back to knock out his off stump. This brought Chris Jackson (68 no) to the crease. The duo batted superbly putting on 78 for the second wicket, before Martin skied one to extra cover.
This brought Joe Curk (32) to the crease and after adapting to the slow paced wicket, scored freely. Jackson completed an outstanding half century as the pair formed Reed’s second 50 partnership of the innings. When Curk was out caught behind down the leg side, they had put on 58 to take Reed to within touching distance of victory, with the score on 136 for 3. John Kershaw then came to the fray and with a couple of lusty blows closed down the run chase.
