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.
