Reed II’s were unable to gain consecutive victories, but still came away with the lions share of the points after Old Cholmeleians blocked out for a draw at ‘The Green’ on Saturday.
After winning the toss, captain Jason Archer elected to bat on what looked like a typically exemplary Reed track. Reed sent out Ben Bowles and Mark King open their innings, and King wasted no time in building the home sides total. King was timing the ball excellently, and his classy array of shots was giving the Old Cholmeleians bowling attack with a torrid time. Ben Bowles was also looking good, and provided an ideal partner for King as Reed’s total moved towards 80. However King then suffered the misfortune of a slight recurrence of the hamstring injury that had kept him out for a month, and was forced to retire hurt whilst unbeaten on 60. This brought young all-rounder Ed Garrott to the crease, who in conjunction with the resilient Ben Bowles, continued to push Reed’s score beyond the 100 mark.
Bowles was looking good and set for a half century when was unfortunate to be stumped with the ball ricocheting off of the wicket keepers pads onto the wickets after a swinging delivery for 38. Ed Garrott also looked set for a high score after some good looking shots when he was bowled for 21. Then when Ian Fulk was also stumped for 2, Reed’s good start was in danger of being undone at 156-3 (plus the injured and retired Mark king) off of 34 of their allotted 53 Overs. Matt Bowles and Chris Shorrock then set about trying to increase the Reed total in the remaining 19 Overs, and did so with a mixture of good running and a number of boundary shots. Bowles was seeing the ball well, and plundered the Cholmeleians off spinner for a big straight six, whilst Shorrock picked up on any short balls before expertly dispatching them to the mid wicket boundary. The pair took the score over 200, with Bowles making 34 before he played down the wrong line and was bowled. Karl Ward then joined Shorrock in the middle, and supported him brilliantly, as the boundaries continued to flow. Shorrock made a classy 47 before he departed, whilst Ward remained unbeaten on 28 after some text book drive shots, with Reed using their 53 Overs, finishing on 249 for 6.
In reply Cholmeleians lost an early wicket to the bowling of Richard Robertson, whilst Andrew Emms kept the runs down from the other end. However a slow moving but decent partnership meant that Old Cholmeleians were able to take their score towards 100. However, the introduction of spin twins Ed Garrott and Ben Bowles soon swung the game back into Reed’s favour, Bowles taking 2 wickets with his well flighted off spin. Captain Jason Archer then joined in the wicket taking, using his wealth of experience to take 3 middle order wickets leaving Cholmeleians 145-6 with Overs running out.
It was then Cholmeleians elected to bat out for a draw, and despite the best efforts of the Reed bowlers, only one more wicket went down, with Archer providing a caught behind opportunity well taken by ‘keeper Steve Lovegrove, to give himself a 4 wicket haul.
Reed though were fairly pleased with their points haul of 17, with Old Cholmeleians only receiving 10. Captain Jason Archer commented “It was a good batting track, and our batsmen took advantage of this well by posting a big total. The bowlers gave their all too, and we were unlucky to come out without the win, but all in all i’m pleased as we are gaining some momentum which I think we can use to climb the table”.
