Reed out played Northwood from start to finish at home on Saturday but could not manage to bowl them out or more importantly hold their catches to win the game. Skipper James Heslam and Tom Greaves (20) got Reed off to another good start putting on 52 for the 1st wicket in 10 overs before Greaves was 1st to go. The loss of wickets all through the Reed innings did not stop Heslam who led the team from the front. Heslam had good partnerships with Chris Jackson (17), Ed Garrott (23), Will Dobson (20) and Simon Jackson. Heslam scored 124 off 116 balls, including 20 4s helping Reed. An improvising 31 not out from Lee Johson saw Reed to declare on 255 in 51 overs. Reed bowled well throughout the Northwood innings and regularly took wickets.
Opening bowling Graham Wilson took 5-33 in 14 overs, before Reed turned to spin. Dobson (11 over 2 for 18) bowled superbly from one end and from the other end Heslam shuffled his other bowlers. Reed had Northwood 49-6 before the opposition scratched their way to 121-9 with 10 overs left. This bought in Dhanatunge to the wicket who without doubt was not a number 11 and he and his captain tried to bat out the rest of the game. In this 10 over period Reed dropped 4 hard catches but Northwood dug in well to draw. Only Lewis (53) showed any resistance for the visitors. Heslam said “I was disappointed not to win however the scorebook shows how much we outplayed them. We got 6 more points than them which is always a bonus and it was a shame that we just did not take the catches at the end. We are away to high flyers Flitwick next week, which should test us however I think we will be able to give them a very good game with the form we are currently in.”
