An excellent 97 from skipper James Heslam was not quite enough to see Reed home in an exciting run chase against Shenley Village on Saturday. Winning the toss, Shenley opened up and found the pace and bounce of Jack Tidey difficult to play, and it was Tidey who got the early breakthrough. Next at the crease was Shenley’s international import Dion Ebrahim. With 82 one day internationals and 29 Test matches to his his name, he failed on his debut at Reed with Graham Wilson picking up his key wicket with the score on 33.
As the game moved on, wickets fell at regular intervals and Shenley moved gradually onto 200 before Hameed hit a few lusty blows to move the visitors onto 218-9 off their 53 overs. Tom Greaves was the pick of the Reed bowlers, picking up 4 wickets in a lengthy 20 over spell.
In reply, Reed got off to a solid start with Heslam manoeuvring the ball all round the park with relative ease. Throughout the run chase Reed appeared to be in total control, however an uncharacteristic flurry of middle order wickets set the wheels in motion for the Shenley boys to gather momentum. From a position of control, Reed somehow appeared to lose sight of the simple target ahead, putting pressure on the tail to win the game. Requiring 17 to win with two wickets remaining, Shenley picked up the final wickets leaving Reed 11 runs short, rueing a victory that should have been.
Shenley Village Scorecard
