Reed still required one more win in their final game of the season to have any chance at gaining promotion, but facing fellow promotion chasers Potters Bar it would not be any easy task.
Potters Bar won the toss and chose once again to bat first. Opener Breeze (4) obviously had his mind on something else as he chopped one from Lewis Fitzgerald onto his stumps giving Reed the early advantage. Fitzgerald doubled the dose as he bowled number 3 Tipmuss for only 2 putting Reed on top. James Hooper (6-0-11-1) replaced Fitzgerald, who had finished his 7 overs with 2 for 18, put added pressure on Potters Bar by taking a third wicket. George Garrott then came on and bowled a fantastic spell which took care of the middle order finishing with 4 for 7 from his seven overs. Christian Martin (12-2-30-1) had held down the other end before being replaced by Ian Roberts (7.3-0-20-2) who bowled his first victim and took the final wicket thanks to keeper Marcus J.E. Baker who took the only catch of the innings. Potters Bar were left in tatters bowled all out for only 97.
Reeds response had started off sensibly until a suicidal call for a single caught Reeds prolific runs scorer Paul Garrott short of the crease, which started a collapse as the pressure of the occasion got to Reed. Finding his side at 26 for 4 and momentum with the opposition, M.J.E. Baker went out to join George Garrott at the crease. The pair started the innings again and took their time to get used to both the bowling and the bounce of the track which was keeping a lot lower than usual. Baker started to strike some nice drives back past the bowlers as the score board slowly started to tick over closer and closer towards victory until a sweep from Baker took Reed over the line winning by 6 wickets. Baker (48*) and Garrott (13*) both played crucial innings in their undefeated stand of 72.
However, despite this fantastic victory, Reed were still banking on the results of other games which in the end did not finish in Reeds favour and the fours missed out on promotion by 9 points. The fourth eleven have had another fantastic year with some exceptional personal and team performances and certainly should not see missing out on promotion as a failure.
