That first win of the season remained elusive for Reed’s Fourth XI when they once again had their opposition 9 wickets down at the conclusion. Batting first on an artificial wicket in Welwyn Garden City, Reed’s young opening pair of George Garrott and Will Heslam quickly posted a half-century stand in only 7 overs with some rasping shots to the boundary. Heslam was unfortunate to pick-out the backward square leg fielder with a cleanly hit pull that just carried enough and he departed for 21. Garrott continued to reach 46 which included nine boundaries.
Richard Robertson came and went thus leaving Josh Conley and John Kershaw together with the score on 90 for 3 after 17 overs. Conley played his usual role by hitting balls in his arc to the boundary and he too scored 21. John Heslam made 16 by the time he was caught at the wicket which brought in the captain, Peter Baker, at number 7 when the score was 174 for 5 with just 10 overs left. Kershaw had passed his second successive fifty and he and Baker then accelerated. They completed an unbroken alliance of 83 for the 6th wicket as the innings concluded at 257 for 5. Baker was 28 not out, but outstandingly John Kershaw notched-up an undefeated 101 in the last over.
With an array of bowlers packed in the Reed team, Christian Martin and Chris West opened the bowling. West picked-up 2 for 34 before he was replaced by young leg-spinner Rhoddri Hughes. Ian Roberts was brought on in place of Martin and in an economical spell of 8 overs took 1 for 16. Meanwhile Hughes, assisted by some excellent catching by the fielders and glove work by John Heslam behind the stumps, completed a 12-over spell and took 4 for 53.
Will Heslam (1 for 20) and George Garrott (1 for 17) injected some pace into the final overs of Welwyn’s innings and were at times too fast for their batsmen. Conley plucked-out a reflex catch at short cover but WGC’s final wicket remained intact. Reed are currently in 14th position in the Division but had they taken 1 more wicket in each of 2 matches, and scored 4 more runs last week, they could have been 5th with 36 more points than they have now.
Reed IV 19 points; Welwyn Garden City V 15 points.
