Reed made light work of Watford Town on a rain soaked day at the Green, taking them to 3rd place in Herts Division 2. Watford won the toss and and made the bold decision to bat, on a wicket that had been covered from the overnight and morning rain but had a hint of green to it. Lee Johnson and Jack Tidey opened up and made great use of the new ball and the moisture in the wicket. Jack in particular bowled an excellent spell of bowling, creating plenty of movement, bounce and pace.
It was Tidey who looked the most dangerous and claimed the first scalp, having Konx neatly caught at slip. At the other end, Sen was punishing another full and took Watford to 63-1. Skipper Heslam made the quick decision to introduce Tom Greaves to the attack and Reed were soon rewarded. Tom bowled with good flight and guile throughout his marathon spell, finishing with fine figures of 4-47. After a long rain break and an early tea, Jack Tidey returned to finish off the Watford tail, finishing with figures of 3-43 with Watford ending on 163.
With the dark clouds looming all around, Reed altered their batting order and the name of the game was to knock off the runs before the rain put halt to the game. Heslam and Greaves opened up for Reed and quickly made their intentions clear. Reed reached 100 in just 11 overs before the rain came down and covers went on. Anticipating more rain, when Heslam and Greaves returned back to the crease they continued where they left off. Greaves was however first to go, caught in the deep for a majestic innings of classy strokeplay and big hitting for 52.
The versatile Jack Tidey moved up the order then accompanied Heslam to the crease with the remit of continuing the hard push. After some lusty blows, Jack was somewhat unfortunate to pick the man out in the deep. However it was Heslam who continued the onslaught, mixing big clean hitting with field-splitting strokeplay in a fine inning of 84, before also being caught in the deep. Needing 15 to win Reed lost Liebenberg, before Jackson hit the winning runs with a boundary, taking Reed to full maximum points in just 22 overs for the loss of 4 wickets.
Another excellent all round performance from the ever improving young Reed side. Reed batted with clear intent and got their just rewards for doing so.
