A good all round performance by Reed resulted in a much needed win at home to the Exiles. The Exiles Skipper won the toss and much too the home teams surprise chose to bat first. The Reed opening attack of Julian Fynn (8-3-0-16) and Karl Ward (13-3-2-37) bowled tightly keeping the run rate to just over 2 an over. Ward removed the Exiles skipper very early in the innings, having him caught behind for 6. The Exiles batsman struggled to score runs and after 16 overs had limped to 42 for 1.
A change of bowling saw wickets start to fall; Jason Archer bowled a spell of 12 overs taking 2 for 29, but it was Ian Roberts who cut through the Exiles middle order, taking 4 for 36 of his 11 overs. Richard Robertson (3-0-2-10) came on a cleared up the tail. Exiles finished on 144 all out after their 47 overs, helped by the umpires liberal interpretation of Cricketing Laws, especially the LBW rules.
144 runs was never going to be enough, with the two opening Reed batsman in good run scoring form. Matt Bowles and Fergus Martin set about the Exiles bowling, Martin (84n.o) batting with some confidence reached his 50 first hitting 13 boundaries. Bowles not at his fluent best was still too good for the bowlers, and finished on 55n.o. Reed reached their target of 145 runs in the 29th over, a comprehensive 10 wicket win and 30 points.
