Reed 4s were on the road again looking for another win, this time against the team at the bottom of the league. Skipper Rob Willoughby lost the toss and was surprisingly asked to bat first, even though the home team were still awaiting the arrival of players. Willoughby (19) and Pete Baker (7) opened the batting against initial wild bowling containing many extras.
They put on 37 runs before losing Willoughby to a catch. Cemal Ramadan (5) soon followed. Wickets continued to fall but the returning Jason Pallett (13) steadied the ship batting very well. Other good contributions came from Rhodri Hughes (12) and Sam Rice (10) batting at 9 and 10 respectively. Reed finished 116 all out, which considering the variable bounce of the wicket and the slow outfield looked to be a competitive total.
After tea the home team came out to bat with what was now 9 players. Joe Graves (6-0-8-2) and Pallett (7-5-6-2) opened the bowling keeping very tight lines. Pallett took the first wicket with a catch to Willoughby in the covers. Wickets then continued to fall with two superb run outs from Mehmet Ramadan, including one direct hit, showing the younger Ramadan how to do it, and a good catch in the covers from Hughes. Good bowling contributions continued from Josh Conley (7-3-13-1) and Sam Rice (6-2-7-0). The innings was finished off by a fine high catch from Steve Hughes, again showing his son how to do it, off the bowling of Willoughby (1-1-0-1).
Reed won following a fine display from both the young cricketers in the club as well as their Dad’s, and can now look to push on in the coming weeks.
