Reed slumped to another heavy defeat that all but put paid to their promotion chances. On a good looking pitch the all conquering Ware decided to invite the home side to bat. Ware are well clear at the top of Division 6 and looked like they fancied another quick finish. When Reed were 19-4 after just 10 overs this looked on the cards. Richard Johnson and Matt Bowles had other ideas. After seeing off the the opening pair of Burrell and Salter the two batsman started to build a solid partnership.
Johnson started slowly picking up the odd single with Bowles being the more aggressive. Both started to put the bad ball away and it looked like Reed might be able to pick up some valuable batting points. They had put on 58 when Johnson managed to chip one to mid off and was caught for 20. Nine runs later Bowles followed trying to hit one over the top and was again caught for 34. Just like the first 4 wickets, the last 4 didn’t add much to the total and Reed were all out for 97. Salter being the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 59.
Reed were still pointless as they came out to field. Karl Ward opened the attack with Peter Tidey. Magafas left no doubt about his intentions hitting 16 off the first over. A point looked a long way off, but Ed Garrott managed a direct hit from the boundary and ran out Patel for 2, Reed were on the board. Burrell joined Magafas and he didn’t hang around either. Chris Peckett replaced Ward and managed to find the outside edge of Magafas’s bat, but by now the slip had long gone. It was all over in 16.1 overs. Tidey bowled well, conceding just 25 from his 8 overs including 2 maidens which in terms of the run rate was an achievement in its self.
