Match report to follow

The 2nd XI travelled to Flitwick looking to continue their good end of season form. The visitors lost the toss and were asked to field. Mitchell Cooper struck early removing Timms for 2. Nicklin was in positive mood and looked well set. Rupert Martin missed a caught and bowled chance when a return catch came back at him a lot slower than he thought. Nicklin had raced to 33 and it looked like the missed chance might mean a long afternoon in the field for Reed. Peter Tidey had other ideas and a well judged half tracker was misjudged by the Flitwick opener and he was bowled. Thurstance and Alder batted well for Flitwick, but when Roddi Liebenberg caught Thurstance for 27 Reed started to stem the run rate. Rupert Martin completed a fine spell of bowling have Valentine caught for 3 and finishing with figures of 2-51 from 15 overs.Will Dobson replaced him and the home side struggled again some good spin bowling. Tidey struck twice more and at 132-7 Reed looked well on top. Dobson removed Alder for 34 thanks to a good catch by Fergus Martin at mid wicket. It looked like Reed might be chasing less than 150, but Peters took a liking to the attack and smashed 38. Cooper returned to bowl the all rounder, but not before Peters smashed him for a 6. Flitwick were all out for 178 and more importantly Reed had gained 2 extra overs for their run chase. Tidey ended with 3-52 and Dobson 3-31.In reply Reed started at a snails pace. William Heslam was dismissed for a duck, but Baz Curtis and Fergus Martin saw off the challenge of Peters and Moxon-Booth with a [...]

The 2nd XI travelled to Flitwick looking to continue their good end of season form. The visitors lost the toss and were asked to field. Mitchell Cooper struck early removing Timms for 2. Nicklin was in positive mood and looked well set. Rupert Martin missed a caught and bowled chance when a return catch came back at him a lot slower than he thought. Nicklin had raced to 33 and it looked like the missed chance might mean a long afternoon in the field for Reed. Peter Tidey had other ideas and a well judged half tracker was misjudged by the Flitwick opener and he was bowled. Thurstance and Alder batted well for Flitwick, but when Roddi Liebenberg caught Thurstance for 27 Reed started to stem the run rate. Rupert Martin completed a fine spell of bowling have Valentine caught for 3 and finishing with figures of 2-51 from 15 overs.Will Dobson replaced him and the home side struggled again some good spin bowling. Tidey struck twice more and at 132-7 Reed looked well on top. Dobson removed Alder for 34 thanks to a good catch by Fergus Martin at mid wicket. It looked like Reed might be chasing less than 150, but Peters took a liking to the attack and smashed 38. Cooper returned to bowl the all rounder, but not before Peters smashed him for a 6. Flitwick were all out for 178 and more importantly Reed had gained 2 extra overs for their run chase. Tidey ended with 3-52 and Dobson 3-31.In reply Reed started at a snails pace. William Heslam was dismissed for a duck, but Baz Curtis and Fergus Martin saw off the challenge of Peters and Moxon-Booth with a [...]

The seconds had to endure a rather one sided affair in their opening game of the 2011 season. Peter Baker led a weakened, ten man side down to Enfield for the friendly fixture.The hosts batted first and took full advantage of the gap in the field as they took Reed for 10 an over in the first fifteen. The break through finally came as Julian Fynn had Naughton (30) playing on. Jason Pallett was then introduced and soon had the wickets of opening bat and top scorer Barrell (84) and hard hitting number three Raffa (43). During the middle overs of the innings Reed slowed Enfield down as under 15 Joe Graves and Fergus Martin bowled well to the middle order. Returning spells produced wickets for Mitchell Cooper, thanks to a good catch at deep extra cover from F. Martin, and Jason Pallett who had Fereday (35) stumped by Marcus J.E. Baker. Enfield’s final total of 334 for 5 after their forty overs was greatly assisted by the number of wides which were adjudged by the Minor Counties umpire as anything that went down the leg side. In reply Reed never looked anywhere near as comfortable as the hosts at the crease. At 39 for 5 M. Cooper was joined by Josh Conley who swung hard and made contact sending several well bowled deliveries to the boundary including a huge six, but his cameo came to an end the next ball caught for 24. Meanwhile, Cooper had played a mature innings until he was also out caught for 27. Julian Fynn added 24 and Jason Pallett 14, before Reed were all out for 146. Reed had displayed some dogged resistance in places and there was [...]

For the second year running, Reed were frustrated by the weather at Flamstead. Reed lost a vital toss and were inserted on what looked like a bowler friendly track. Baz Curtis and Fergus Martin again opened the batting, but both fell having scored 2. Matt Bowles and Richard Johnson showed more aggression and looked to have repaired the early damage before Bowles drove at a wide one and was well caught behind for a fine 36. At 65-3 it looked like Reed would be able to set a challenging total and may even get some batting points, but Rose had other ideas. He had Johnson caught at mid off for 31 and then ripped through the middle order reducing the visitors to 96-8. That was soon 104 all out. Rose finishing with 7-37 from 21.2 overs.A shower before the home side could start their innings delayed their reply, and they had to face a tricky 20 minutes before tea. Reed knew their was enough in the wicket to still make batting hard and some good bowling could still steal a victory. Mitchell Cooper had Oswin well caught at gully by Wheeler and then Rupert Martin picked up two wickets before the tea break. Blunt being removed as the players ran off for tea and another shower. The covers did a good job, but the surrounding area around the wicket was very wet. Flamstead did a good job to get play back on again. Skipper Taylor came out with some intent hitting two boundaries before he was caught a short midwicket by Cooper with a great diving catch.Both Cooper and Martin picked up more wickets and the home side were in sorts of trouble at 57-7 [...]

The seconds had to endure a rather one sided affair in their opening game of the 2011 season. Peter Baker led a weakened, ten man side down to Enfield for the friendly fixture.The hosts batted first and took full advantage of the gap in the field as they took Reed for 10 an over in the first fifteen. The break through finally came as Julian Fynn had Naughton (30) playing on. Jason Pallett was then introduced and soon had the wickets of opening bat and top scorer Barrell (84) and hard hitting number three Raffa (43). During the middle overs of the innings Reed slowed Enfield down as under 15 Joe Graves and Fergus Martin bowled well to the middle order. Returning spells produced wickets for Mitchell Cooper, thanks to a good catch at deep extra cover from F. Martin, and Jason Pallett who had Fereday (35) stumped by Marcus J.E. Baker. Enfield’s final total of 334 for 5 after their forty overs was greatly assisted by the number of wides which were adjudged by the Minor Counties umpire as anything that went down the leg side. In reply Reed never looked anywhere near as comfortable as the hosts at the crease. At 39 for 5 M. Cooper was joined by Josh Conley who swung hard and made contact sending several well bowled deliveries to the boundary including a huge six, but his cameo came to an end the next ball caught for 24. Meanwhile, Cooper had played a mature innings until he was also out caught for 27. Julian Fynn added 24 and Jason Pallett 14, before Reed were all out for 146. Reed had displayed some dogged resistance in places and there was [...]

For the second year running, Reed were frustrated by the weather at Flamstead. Reed lost a vital toss and were inserted on what looked like a bowler friendly track. Baz Curtis and Fergus Martin again opened the batting, but both fell having scored 2. Matt Bowles and Richard Johnson showed more aggression and looked to have repaired the early damage before Bowles drove at a wide one and was well caught behind for a fine 36. At 65-3 it looked like Reed would be able to set a challenging total and may even get some batting points, but Rose had other ideas. He had Johnson caught at mid off for 31 and then ripped through the middle order reducing the visitors to 96-8. That was soon 104 all out. Rose finishing with 7-37 from 21.2 overs.A shower before the home side could start their innings delayed their reply, and they had to face a tricky 20 minutes before tea. Reed knew their was enough in the wicket to still make batting hard and some good bowling could still steal a victory. Mitchell Cooper had Oswin well caught at gully by Wheeler and then Rupert Martin picked up two wickets before the tea break. Blunt being removed as the players ran off for tea and another shower. The covers did a good job, but the surrounding area around the wicket was very wet. Flamstead did a good job to get play back on again. Skipper Taylor came out with some intent hitting two boundaries before he was caught a short midwicket by Cooper with a great diving catch.Both Cooper and Martin picked up more wickets and the home side were in sorts of trouble at 57-7 [...]

Match report to follow

Another disappointing weekend for the Reed 2nd XI. Baz Curtis lost a toss that both skippers were desperate to win. The heavy over night rain made the track look like a bowl first wicket.Visiting skipper Sam Stephenson had no hesitation in putting the home side into bat. Curtis and Fergus Martin opened and survived an excellent spell of seam bowling from P. England who exploited the conditions and on another day could have had a hat full of wickets. Curtis was putting the bad ball away from the other end and had raced to 26 before a leading edge was skied to mid wicket where he was well held.The run rate was slow, but steady as Martin and Phil Freney tried to see off the new ball. The pair had put on 42 before Martin was caught behind for a patient 19. Richard Johnson came to the crease and looked to be aggressive. Both plays took time to adjust to the spin of Stephenson, but boundaries came a regular intervals. Both looked well set and Reed had got 100 without too many scares.Stephenson struck again to remove Freney for 37 and at 115-3 with 17 overs to go and challenging total looked possible. S. England had other ideas. He ripped throughout the rest of the Reed batting taking 5-41 in 14 overs. Reed were shout out for 142. Johnson top scoring with 39. None of the last 7 Reed batsman made double figures.Reed needed quick wickets to put the league leaders under pressure, but despite the run rate being slow wickets didn't come. Rupert Martin was the first to strike when he had Warboys caught at mid wicket. Cheshunt decided that taking no chances was [...]