Reed 1XI made up for the disappointment of Saturdays defeat by comfortably booking their place in the final of the Hertfordshire section of the National Village Cup on Sunday. Skipper Heslam won the toss and chose to put visitors Long Marston into bat on a good wicket, but one which aided by overnight rain and overcast conditions was bound to offer something for the bowlers to take advantage of. So it proved as helped by some excellent catching notably from 15 year old Mitchell Cooper making his full 1st team debut the visitors were in trouble at 38-3 after 16 overs. Tidey(9-20-2) and Ward(9-16-2) who took a stunning caught and bowled put the pressure right on with very accurate and testing spells against what looked a useful Long Marston top order. Richard Johnson (9-35-3) and Chris Jackson (5-20-1) then carried on the good work as the visitors were stifled and wickets fell regularly so that eventually they were all out for 95. Jason Archer(0.3-0-1) picking up the final wicket in the 33rd over.
In reply Reed got off to a shaky start losing Curtis for just 4 in the first over to one that held up a little in the pitch. Frenay (14) and Heslam (48*) went about steadying things until the former was out stumped during a decent spell of slow bowling by Beesley(9-13-1). However, there was no panic and Heslam and Chris Jackson consolidated and saw Reed home comfortably with the winning runs being hit in the 26th over of the allotted 40.
Reed will face the winners of Langleybury and Eversholt in the Final and hope to progress to the national knockout stages.
