Reed III’s maintained their good form with an impressive 7 wicket victory away at Waltham X Rosedale on Saturday.
Winning the toss, Reed captain Peter Baker made the decision to put the hosts into bat, and the decision looked a good one as Reed’s young pace attack ripped into the Waltham X top order. Rupert Martin (14-3-54-1), Mitchell Cooper (10-0-52-2) and Louis Gearing (9-2-24-1) combined to leave the home side reeling at 40-4. However good batting from the experienced J. Pearce (36) and a hard hitting knock from Waltham X captain Peak (68) averted the crisis and allowed the home side to steer themselves towards a competitive total. Ian Roberts (8-2-13-1) and Jack Tidey (6-1-19-1) also snared a deserved wicket each, but more patient batting from Phillips (27 Not Out) meant that the Waltham X innings ended up at 176-6 off of their 47 Overs.
In reply, Reed sent out Peter Baker and Aidan Swain to open their innings, and the pair got Reed off to a typically solid start, striking a number of early boundaries. 44 runs were on the board when Baker snicked a ball to the keeper and had to depart for 17. Swain (23) then fell soon after, caught at point, to leave Reed 53-2. These wickets brought brothers Ben and Matt Bowles to the crease, and both looked in good nick as they progressed the score towards three figures. Matt Bowles had just started to free his arms when he was caught sharply in the covers for 18. Undeterred, Ben Bowles (55 Not Out) continued to bat patiently, and plunder the bad balls to the boundary as he was joined by Ian Fulk. Fulk also found his feet at the crease, and stroked the ball gloriously through the off side. Ben Bowles was the first to reach his half century, bringing about the milestone with a thunderous straight drive, and was soon followed by Fulk (51 Not Out) as Reed eased home with 6 Overs to spare.
