Reed 1XI lost their first League game of the season on Saturday as they lost to a spirited Watford Town by 3 wickets. However, despite their loss, Reed remain at the top of Division 2 with only a handful of games remaining.
The game began with Reed winning the toss and electing to bat on a warm day at The Green. With a flat wicket in prospect, Watford’s opening bowlers J van de Ee (7.3-1-34-4) toiled without initial success in partnership with K Afridi (5-0-15-1) as Baz Curtis (14) and James Heslam (24) plundered early runs to take the score to 38. It took a special catch for van de Ee at square leg to stop a full blooded pull stroke from Heslam and bring Watford their first wicket.
When spinner A Manzoor (22-5-77-5) was introduced to the attack, the situation changed immediately, as Curtis fell caught in the covers. With Chris Jackson (6) at the crease, Reed hoped to settle the situation, but he too fell to a soft caught and bowled dismissal. Phil Frenay (70) came to the crease seeking to settle the ship with Tom Fulk (10), but when Fulk became frustrated, tied by some tight bowling from Manzoor and S Prodger (8-0-26-0), Reed were reeling on 85 for 5. The situation deteriorated again for Reed when Marcus Martin fell to Manzoor for 1.
Meanwhile Phil Frenay continued to occupy crease time, and graft before he released some explosive shots that characterise his batting armoury. Assisted by Simon Jackson (44), and subsequently by William Clarke (30), Reed managed to accelerate their score significantly and deal a tough strike to Watford as they accelerated the score over 200 in a short space of time. The reintroduction of van de Ee saw him destroy the tail in 2 overs, including a hat trick to end Reed’s innings on 222 all out off 51.3 overs.
Reed’s bowling began well with opener William Clarke (6-1-16-1) taking a wicket with his second ball leaving the visitors on 1-1. Tidey (13-3-52-1), partnering Clarke, then made an early breakthrough from the other end removing S Knox (3) to reduce Watford to 7-2. But this brought Riaz (23) and Sen (90) together as they set about the Reed bowling in a measured fashion taking the score on to 98. When Emms came to the fore with his usual wicket taking reliability that has brought him continued success this season, Riaz soon departed back to the pavilion. But Sen continued with ominous form as he caressed sumptuous boundaries off all bowlers. It took a special delivery of Andrew Young (12.3-1-63-1) in his second spell to bowl him but J Sharp (48) and K Manzoor (19) continued to score runs and push confidently towards Reed’s total. Emms took 3 late wickets, but it was too late as Watford reached the total in 44.1 overs.
Skipper James Heslam commented: “We are of course disappointed to lose our first game of the season, but we remain on top, and we capitalised on our loss by registering good points. We have taken a lot from this victory, and it was a good chance for our lower order to get some good time at the crease under their belts”
