Winning the toss and faced with the prospect of playing on a rain affected and intriguingly weed infested wicket, skipper Naeem asked the home side to bat. Despite a couple of early batsmen with 20’s Pirton struggled to make much impression on the Reed bowlers and after a very slow passage of play they were recording 90-6 off 41 0vers with Richard Robertson 12 overs 3-23 the most miserly performer. However a late move away from Reeds recognised bowling options backfired as Pirtons Gentle delivered an array of powerful and unique scoring shots to strike 37 in 6 overs and take Pirton to a once unlikely looking score of 144 for 8 from their 47 overs.
Reed lost Will Heslam and Paul Garrott early but John Heslam defied the vagaries of the wicket to take Reed to 63 before he fell caught for 39. John Kershaw 20 and Maseeh Naeem 21 saw Reed past the hundred mark without further loss before both perished in quick succession leaving Reed 106-5. Steve Lovegrove compiled 17 and a rapid 15 from Jim Allsopp saw Reed well placed at 131 for 5 needing 14 to win with 5 wickets in hand. However, an unbelievable collapse littered with irresponsible shots from several players who ought to have known better saw Reed collase to 137 for 9. A hard struck 4 from No11 Julian Fynn took the total to within a boundary of victory but it was not to be as Kallum Ward fell caught for 1 with Julian left stranded on 4 not out at the other end and 11 balls still to go in the match! A match that Reed ought to have won thrown away!
