It was a disappointing encounter with Saracens that took place at Freman College. Reed’s second ground was being used unusually on a Sunday as the first eleven played host in the Village Cup.
Despite being the obviously younger and weaker side, the opposition captain inserted Reed having won the toss. Marcus J.E. Baker and Cemal Ramadam opened the innings, the intention being to start aggressively however that plan back fired as Baker was caught swinging after a wide ball. Reed then utterly collapsed as R. Goth (4 for 21) and M. Ayre (2 for 23) filled their boots and despite the one sided score line bowled their full 8 over spells. Resistance came from Freddy Stuart (10) and Rob Willoughby (14). Stuart played with patience and picked up singles finding the gaps in the field, whilst Willoughby tried his hardest to get Reed to a defendable score. None the less the end came all too soon for Reed with only 56 on the board.
L. Mongston hit some boundaries for Saracens in the opening few overs of the second innings. Joe Graves held his nerve against these shots and was rewarded by bowling Mongston. Graves was backed up in the field by his team mates who all stuck to their guns and showed real resilience, making what should have been a simple target a hard one to get. Bowling from the other end was Jack Childs who also bowled well and took a wicket thanks to a fantastic catch in the deep by Freddy Stuart. Scott Caine also took a good catch in the covers and throughout the innings showed us all why he is one of the best fielders in the club. Despite a very impressive fight from Reed, Saracens won the match. Graves (4 for 30) and Childs (1 for 18) had done really well to take 5 wickets and had the first innings total been higher, Reed could have come away with a victory but it was not to be.
