Reed entertained Offley and Stopsley on Sunday, looking to end a run of two consecutive defeats in North Herts division 1. Captain Marcus Martin won the toss, and elected to put the visitors into bat.
Reed’s opening attack of Richard Johnson and Rupert Martin soon had Offley and Stopsley in trouble, with Johnson removing Brody’s middle stump with the score on just 10. However, Barker and Bridgland began to build some momentum for the batting side, and progressed the score towards 50. Barker was looking solid, until a fiery bouncer from Richard Johnson stuck him in the face and a lengthy pause ensued as the injured batsmen was assessed by qualified first aider Ed Blissett. Barker was unable to continue, and needed stitches in a face wound. This brought Bexfield to the crease to partner Bridgland. The introduction of Andrew Wholley into the bowling attack soon paid off as Bridgland was expertly caught at gully by the agile Phil Frenay, with the score now on 59-2, plus the injured Barker. Bexfield remained however, and was looking good as he struck boundaries at regular intervals. Skipper Marcus Martin then brought himself on, and in tandem with Wholley, he slowed the visitors scoring rate. Martin also snared the wicket of Tattersall for just 2, whilst Wholley had Choudary caught behind brilliantly by wicket keeper Graham Hazard.
Bexfield was still unbeaten, and had progressed his own score onto 44 before Karl Ward breached his defences and bowled him leaving Offley and Stopsley on 140-5. It took a useful and powerful knock from Lunney down the order to bump the batting score up to a defendable total. Lunney struck the ball well as he made a quick fire and unbeaten 40 and was ably assisted by Chris (10) before Marcus Martin ran him out with a sharp direct hit. Offley and Stopsley finished on 195-6 off of their allotted 40 Overs.
In reply, Reed sent out Stuart Smith and Tom Fulk to open their innings. Both batsmen got off to good starts, with boundaries being struck on all sides of the wicket as they looked to punish the Offley and Stopsley bowling. Smith looked in particularly punishing mood, as he raced towards a good score. However, he feel victim to Tattersall’s slow bowling, and was caught trying to go over the top, this left Reed on 93-1 after 19 Overs. Phil Frenay then joined Fulk, and he too got out of the traps quickly. Frenay plundered the hapless visiting bowling attack to the boundary 5 times on his way to a speedy 29, before he too went, bowled by Tattersall. Fulk by this time had then tried to up the tempo, and reached a good 50, with some excellent shots combined with some big 6’s. However, Fulk too went before he could reach his century, caught by the sub fielder off of Bridgland for 86. This left Ed Blissett (7 not out) and Marcus Martin (21 not out) to see Reed home in style, winning comfortably by 7 wickets, and with balls to spare.
After the game, a clearly relieved Marcus Martin commented: “Its nice to get back to winning ways after two disappointing displays last time out. I thought we fielded well this week, and the batting was good too. I just hope a few of the fans that were calling for my head will now give me a bit more time. Captains have so much to sort out, there is teas, match fees, putting the flags and rope out, ringing around and much more. Its not easy”.
Martin had also come under heavy criticism for leaving out a certain high profile player, because they only got back from Holiday on the day of the game. When asked if he regretted this he looked sheepish: “Maybe I was wrong, we could have done with another strike bowler, and the player in question would have provided that. Never-the-less, we won and I’m sure we can still be friends”
