Reed travelled to Totteridge on Saturday for their third Saracens Hertfordshire League match, but were unlucky not to take away 30 points, as they narrowly lost by 8 runs in a nailbiting finish.
Despite losing the toss and being asked to field on a dry batting wicket, Reed openers Andrew Young (15-2-61-5) and Lee Johnson (7-0-28-0) bowled with discipline and conviction. Despite some early runs from A Hussain (17) and A Martins (23), Peter Tidey (15-4-40-2) drew first blood as he had Hussain sharply caught by Chris Jackson at short midwicket, which Jackson shortly followed up with another sharp chance in the same position.
Young then ran through the top order to reduce the hosts to 91-7 again thanks to another sharp catch from wicket keeper Marcus Martin and some astonishing control of his line and length. The momentum was truly with Reed as Young bowled with venom and accuracy in his finest spell of the season. Teaming up with Reed veteran Peter Tidey, the pair dried up runs immediately, and pressure mounted on the hosts. With the prospect of skittling Totteridge and Millhillians for a paltry score, Reed tried to apply pressure, but it wasn’t to be as S Bunyard (50) managed to bolster the score with a handful of lusty blows. With Young tiring and Tidey beginning to find himself unable to dismiss Bunyard, Johnson returned to the attack to no avail. It took a slowing of the pace of the ball as B Morss (6.2-0-22-2) came into the attack with his left arm spinners – despite suffering some punishing shots, he made a valuable breakthrough having Pyrke caught by Tidey at point. William Clarke (3-1-10-1) then had Saddiqui caught thanks to a steepling catch by James Heslam, and in the subsequent over, Morss struck again as Joe Curk caught Bunyard on the long off boundary dismissing Totteridge and Millhillians to 173 off 45.2 overs.
Reed had worked hard on a difficult pitch to dismiss the league leaders, and they set about their reply with vigour as Baz Curtis (42) and James Heslam (15) took the attack to T&M with some punishing strokes all around the wicket off left armed fast bowler Suttaria (12-3-48-4) and spinner W Summerville (18.5-5-55-3) to take the score to 46-0. It seemed that victory would be within easy reach, especially with the extra overs afforded to Reed. However, when Heslam, Curtis, C Jackson (6) and Joe Curk (56) were all dismissed in quick succession, notably off A Blinco (10-2-36-3), whose wide mixture of deliveries surprisingly yielded results. With the score on 86-2, this left the middle and lower order with the responsibility to maintain the momentum, which they were unable to do, as the hosts built pressure thanks to a sustained tight spell from Summerville and a return by Suttaria. Despite inching to 141-3, quick wickets reapplied pressure to Reed, which final pair Tom Fulk (22) and Peter Tidey (9*) were unable to dissipate as Reed were dismissed agonisingly 8 runs short of the total to award T&C 30 points. However, it was not a disaster for Reed as they walked away with 12 points.
James Heslam, 1XI skipper, commented: “It was disappointing for us, that despite our bowlers working hard on a decent wicket to dismiss Totteridge and Millhillians, our batsmen couldn’t sustain the momentum and press home our first win. But it was nevertheless and encouraging display and I was delighted by Andy Young’s disciplined spell and our great fielding performance to back up all the bowlers.”
