Reed II’s hosted Tewin on Saturday on a blazing hot day at ‘The Green’, still in search of their first win of the season.
Tewin won the toss, and opted to put Reed into bat, a decision that looked entirely justified when opener Matt Bowles edged to gully after only 3 balls, and number 3 batsman Stuart Smith (10) ran himself out in somewhat bizarre circumstances in the 9th Over with the score on 25. Ben Bowles was looking solid however, and along with Ian Fulk (4) began to steady the ship but when Fulk was trapped LBW with the on only 48, Reed began to fear the worst. Ben Bowles was playing magnificently however, and looked certain to make at least a half century, when he top edged spinner Smith to fine leg whilst on 42.
Chris Shorrock and Karl Ward were now in charge of rescuing the Reed innings, and Shorrock in particular relished the challenge ahead. Shorrock played some brilliant shots, taking the Tewin bowling apart at every opportunity. Ward added a valuable 15 runs before he was trapped plumb LBW by Aylieff, and further woe was to follow soon after for Reed when Richard Roberson was bowled for 8. Shorrock was then joined by Dale Shepherd at the crease, and continued to make run scoring look easy. He reached a sublime half century, and just as it looked he would push on towards a century, he fell victim to a highly contentious stumping decision for 53.
Reed were now at 171 for 7 with 44 of their allotted 53 Overs passed, and Tewin must have fancied their chances of removing the Reed tail cheaply. However, they had not reckoned on a brutal and superb 8th wicket partnership between Dale Shepherd (39) and Jim Allsopp (44). Shepherd and Allsopp produced some 6’s of Goliath proportions and combined this with number of well timed boundaries and some good running between the wicket. The pair put on 69 runs in 6 Overs to take Reed towards their final score of 241, before Allsopp went caught and bowled, and then Shepherd was run out. Captain Archer was the last man out, again run out as Reed closed their innings on 241 all out, after 52 Overs.
In reply, Reed’s pursuit of early wickets looked to have paid dividends when Shepherd trapped Taylor LBW for 3. However a lengthy stand of over 100 runs between Allen (86) and Holroyd (35) looked to have put Tewin into a winning position. The introduction of Jason Archer and Richard Robertson swung the game back Reed’s way however, with Archer bowling Holroyd, and Robertson removing Staverly-Smith soon after. When Robertson then removed Allen, Reed looked as though they had edged in front of Tewin in the race to the 30 points.
However, Aylieff had other ideas. Despite wickets continuing to fall fairly regularly at the other end, he was able to gain enough of the strike to find boundaries. Robertson took the wickets of Hiskens and Sage, and Archer trapped Broughton LBW, but Aylieff edged Tewin to within 10 runs of the Reed total with 3 Overs to go. A sharp run out by Ben Bowles offered Reed a glimmer of hope, but Aylieff saw Tewin home with an over to spare on 242 for 8, giving them the maximum 30 points.
Despite losing, Reed II’s did achieve 18 points, and will consider themselves desperately unlucky not to have come away with the win themselves.
