Reed travelled to Barnet to play Old Finchleians on a
beautiful summers day. Old Finchleians won the toss and
asked the visitors to bat. Reed got off to the worst
possible start when in-form James Heslam was adjudged LBW
first ball of the game. Things did not get much better for
Reed when Fergus Martin was caught behind for a single.
Chris Jackson and Tom Fulk had the task of rebuilding the
innings and sensibly they took a very cautious approach
early on, with the opening bowlers hitting a consistent
line and length.

The pair gradually got to grips with the task in hand,
playing some classical cover drives. The opening bowlers
began to tire in the afternoon sunshine and were perhaps
kept on for a few too many overs as Jackson and Fulk looked
increasingly comfortable. The introduction of spin from
both ends slowed the run rate notably. The 2 spinners
complemented each other perfectly, with a wrist spinner
bowling with good pace and a “googly” in his armoury, and
an off spinner bowling very slowly and with lots of flight.
The lack of pace on the ball and some good field placings
made scoring runs difficult. Eventually with the score on
94, Fulk was caught behind for an excellent 47. This
brought Phil Frenay to the crease who, trying to push the
run rate along, miscued a drive to point and was caught for
1. Tom Greaves was next in, his first batting opportunity
for the I’s this season.

The pair worked the spinners well, with Jackson continuing
to caress some imperious drives through the covers and
Greaves playing some delicate touch shots through the leg
side. Greaves was eventually out in similar fashion to
Frenay, being caught at point for 21. Richard Johnson was
out LBW without troubling the scorers. With the score on
172 Jackson finally perished for a wonderful 91, having
rescued his team from a perilous position. It was left to
Simon Jackson (12*) and Lee Johnson (2*) to run hard and
squeeze any remaining runs out of the last couple of overs.
Reed finished on a respectable 181-7.

Reed had to strike quickly if they were going to defend
their total and unfortunately for the visitors luck was not
with them in the early overs. Lee Johnson (14-1-64-0)
bowled well but had a number of chances dropped off him,
and the fast bowling combined with the quick outfield meant
that Old Finchleians got off to a good start. It took a
stunning catch at slip from Tom Fulk off the bowling of
Graeme Wilson (5-2-14-1) to break the opening partnership.
Unfortunately for Reed they could not capitalise on this
breakthrough as a match winning partnership developed for
the 2nd wicket. Reed generally bowled well and consistently
applied periods of pressure, however Old Finchleians just
managed to keep the scoreboard ticking. Skipper Bernie
Morss (17-2-56-3) brought himself into the fray and managed
to successfully tie the opposition down he picked up 3 well
deserved wickets and for a period of 10 overs it looked as
though Old Finchleians had put themselves under too much
pressure by batting so slowly.

However the batsmen kept their cool, and despite some tight
bowling by Morss, R. Johnson (4-0-21-0), Martin (4-1-15-0),
Greaves (0.5-0-6-1) and L. Johnson Old Finchleians managed
to get home with 7 balls remaining and 5 wickets intact.
Reed will be very disappointed with this loss, however no
one can argue that the better team won on the day. The way
Reed’s batsman managed to post a respectable total from
such a difficult start and in the face of some quality
bowling is a big positive, as is the way the bowlers kept
Reed in the hunt of victory throughout the host’s innings.
Reed host Welwyn Garden City II’s at the Green on Saturday.