Reed 4s took a young and inexperienced side to Shenley Village 4s on Saturday. Losing the toss skipper Rob Willoughby was asked to field on an extremely hot afternoon that would be hard work for the youngsters more used to playing 20 over matches.
Joe Graves (6-0-28-1) and Josh Conley opened the bowling. Both bowled well using the variable bounce of the pitch to test the batsmen.
Each picked up a wicket thanks to catches from Willoughby in the slips and Chris Marshall at mid-on. Willoughby (11-2-42-1) then came into the attach taking a wicket bowled with his first ball. Sam Rice (3-0-28-0) got a lot of spin but could not quite get a wicket. Christian Martin (13-2-40-2), however did manage to get some luck and showed how much difference experience can make. Rhodri Hughes (2-0-18-1) bowled an important 2 overs taking the wicket of the opposition captain who had scored 50, before being replaced by Conley who took his second wicket ending with figures of 12-1-29-2.
The catching of the Reed fielders was good with Willoughby taking another, and Richard Robertson and Conley also taking one each. Chris West also kept wicket very well for his first time and is keen to continue in this role in the coming weeks.
With Shenley Village finishing on 199 for 7 off of their 47 overs, Reed knew they had to start well in reply.
Openers Robertson and Hughes looked solid before Robertson was bowled trying to work one off his legs for 15. Hughes continued to look very good, and has made huge improvements with his batting. He scored a very good 30 whilst wickets fell all around him. Fortunately the tail did wag, with West (18), Martin (16 n.o) and Graves (12) making valuable contributions to take Reed to 138 all out to pick up 4 important batting points.
Although Reed lost this match their youngsters continue to show improvement and are gaining valuable experience that will help both themselves and the club in the future.
