Reed failed to maintain their good start to the season on Saturday with a 23 run defeat to Northchurch. Having won the toss, the visitors elected to bat and made good progress before an excellent piece of fielding from Karl Ward saw the end to Liveing, run out for 12 with the score on 33. Hobley and Boge were by far the pick of Northchurch’s batters and batted well together putting on 50 for the 2nd wicket before Hobley became the first of Tom Greaves’s 7 wickets. Boge continued to move the ball around the ground well and was the main lynchpin in Northchurch’s innings.
Other batsmen came and went cheaply to rash shots or poor decision making and when Boge finally fell to Greaves with the score on 171-5 the visitors total was never far off. Greaves picked up the final wicket of Villa with the score on 188, leaving Reed wondering what they may have been chasing if the wicket of Boge had been picked up earlier. Greaves finished with excellent figures of 7-56
In reply, faced with some consistent line and length bowling from the Northchurch openers James and Villa, Reed failed to get the start they wanted; losing brothers James and William Heslam with the score on 32. Chris Jackson and Tom Greaves moved the score onwards before Greaves and then Ward fell soon after, leaving Reed stuttering on 86-4. Will Dobson looked the partner to assist Jackson in Reed’s run chase however despite looking promising in a game of two innings, he fell to James for 18.
Frenay departed unfortuitously soon after, leaving Reed 100-6 facing an uphill battle. Jackson continued to maintain a presence and was ably assisted by Sean Tidey. When Jackson (44) and Jack Tidey both fell to James with the score on 124 the game looked firmly in the favour of Northchurch. However a late flurry of boundaries from Mitchell Cooper and Sean Tidey gave the home side a glimmer of hope, however when Cooper fell on 155 this effectively saw the end to Reed’s run ch ase. With 5 balls remaining Tidey (30) was the final wickets to fall leaving Reed 24 runs short of victory on 165.
