Reed Ist XI vs. Dunstable Town Ist XI Match played on Sunday 25th April 2010. Result: Dunstable Town defeated Reed by 94 runs. Reed Ist XI travelled to Dunstable on Sunday 25th April to play Dunstable Town in a 45 overs a-side friendly match. On arriving at the ground the Reed team were surprised to find that Dunstable had inexplicably not protected their pitch from that morning’s showers, with the excellent covers that they had available. Winning the toss, the Reed Captain, Ed Blissett, sought to exploit the conditions by sending Dunstable Town into bat. Graeme Wilson and Jack Tidy opened the bowling, and Wilson quickly had the Dunstable opener, Horton, caught at slip. Although both opening bowlers troubled the batsmen they made no further breakthroughs in their opening spells. It was not until the introduction of the left arm spinner, Bernie Morss that further wickets fell. Morss, displaying all the acumen of his fictional (though differently spelt) namesake, utilised the damp wicket fully, dismissing Custance, caught by Wilson, for 8. Unfortunately at the other end Reed’s bowlers were not as miserly as Morss, and a series of short balls were fastened onto gratefully by that Dunstable No’s 3 and 4, Nolan and Carr. Greaves, in particular, was expensive, conceding 33 runs of just four overs; although, thanks to a catch by Blissett at mid-wicket off a steepling miscued pull, he did take the wicket of Carr, for 21. Morss continued to bowl tightly and accounted for Nolan, palpably LBW, for 3. At the end of his spell Morss finished with 2 wickets for just 20 runs off his 9 overs. Dunstable’s middle and lower order batsman now all started to play their shots. Though [...]

Reed are in to the final of the Herts & Beds area final of the National Village Cup. After being asked to bat on a tricky track by strong Bedfordshire side Eaton Bray, Reed got off to a solid start with Captain James Heslam and Tom Greaves putting on 80 for the first wicket in 13 overs. Greaves was first to go for 26 before Heslam was out for 60. Chris Jackson started to continue where he left off on Saturday before getting out for 30. The returning Tom Fulk batted well in making his first, first team 50 off the season and was well partnered by young Marcus Martin and the big hitting Phil Frenay in setting Eaton Bray a challenging 221 in 40 overs at just over 5.5 per over. The visitors got off to a solid start, despite good bowling from Jack Tidey and his Uncle Pete. Pete Tidey got the first wicket for Reed with a direct hit run out before snaring a further wicket. Eaton were going at the required run rate, until the introduction of quickie Lee Johnson and wily spinner Tom Greaves. With thunder storms looming Reed knew they had to keep the run rate below 5.5 whilst Eaton seemed more concerned about preserving wickets for a late onslaught. As the heavens opened, Eaton were 108 for 2 off 23 and with no further play possible, Reed progressed to the final, due to the superior scoring rate where they will play old rivals Langleybury. Captain Heslam was "pleased to get through to the final. I'd rather have won it differently but after the rain on Saturday putting pay to a possible league victory, it was nice for a [...]

Reed Ist XI travelled to Codicote on Sunday June 20th to play a 40 overs a-side friendly match. Codicote won the toss and on a dry, straw coloured pitch, which looked flat and even, they put Reed into bat. Richard Barlow and Fergus Martin opened for Reed and punished some wayward bowling by the Codicote opening attack. Barlow was particularly strong on the pull shot, punishing a large number of short balls, whilst Martin drove and pulled judiciously. The pair added 94 before Barlow eschewed another pull at Lucy and was caught at mid-off for 37. Barlow’s dismissal brought the Reed skipper Ed Blissett to the crease. Blissett never settled on a pitch that was misbehaving increasingly, with the occasional ball stopping and popping. Having added 25 with Martin, Blissett was caught at mid-on, when a ball from Lucy (senior) stopped on him, drawing a thick leading edge. Swain now entered the fray and soon built a good partnership with the compact Martin. They added over a 100 runs, with Swain taking full toll of some short bowling by the Codicote attack, whilst Martin stylishly moved to his century. Despite a late flurry of Reed wickets, with Martin falling for 121 and Swain for 44, Reed totalled an impressive 248 for 6 of their 40 overs. Chris Peckett and Chris’ Martin opened the bowling for Reed after tea and both bowlers soon created chances which were spurned by the Reed fieldsmen. Peckett eventually dismissed Gillard, LBW for 12, which bought Lucy (senior) to the crease. A painful partnership then followed, for the neutral spectators and the Reed bowlers alike. Richards and Lucy (senior) were frequently beaten and bemused by the bowling of Martin, Peckett, Garrott, [...]

Reed cruised in to the semi finals of the Herts/Beds section of the National Village Cup after a convincing 94 run win over Botany Bay on Sunday. Having lost the toss and being asked to bat skipper James Heslam (14) and youngster Tom Greaves (23) got Reed off to a solid start putting on 29 for the 1st wicket. After losing both openers quickly it bought to the wicket Reed’s two inform batsman Stuart Smith and Richard Johnson. Despite starting slowly but solidly they soon found the momentum and started to strike the ball to all corners of the ground. Smith reached a chanceless 50 before holing out for 85 trying to accelerate the scoring whilst Johnson was unlucky to get out to the ball of the day for 43. The 2 put on 102 in 20 overs. Reeds middle order continued to score with a great mixture of quick singles and bludgeoning big hits. Karl Ward (42 not out), Phil Frenay (11), Ed Garrot and village cup debutant Jack Tidey (15 not out) all helped Reed to a mammoth 264-6 in 40 overs, scoring 170 in the last 20 overs. After a cool down and quick bite to eat, Reed went about the bowling and fielding superbly. Lee Johnson (2-32) got the 1st wicket with the openers stump cart wheeling out of the ground and not to be outdone Graham Wilson (2-45) got the number 3 out shortly after. Jack Tidey bowled well taking 3-26 trying to emulate his Village Cup legend Uncle Pete Tidey. Jordan for Botany Bay showed great resistance and shot selection on his way to 37 before being out thought by Greaves (2-29), with his wily spin bowling. Whilst Sutcliffe [...]

Reed travelled to Barley on Sunday for what turned out to be a remarkable game of cricket, and one that will live long in the memory of all involved, especially young Sean Tidey. Richard Barlow was Reed’s stand in skipper for the day, with regular Sunday skipper Ed Blissett missing with a badly bruised a fingernail suffered the week before in the defeat to Cheshunt. Barlow lost the toss and was asked to bat on a blissful summers afternoon in the picturesque setting of Barley. Barlow sent out youngster George Garrott to open the batting, alongside the out-of-form Tom Greaves. Greaves had been hoping for some time in the middle in order to re-ignite his flailing season, but his all to regular weakness to the short ball was apparent after just 3 deliveries as Greaves (3) could only glove a regulation pull shot to the grateful hands at 1st slip. Greaves has a lot to do to prove that he can rise to the challenge of Sunday 1st XI cricket. Garrott perished soon after for 5, and the in-form Matt Bowles was then caught in stunning fashion at extra cover, also for just 5, despite ‘middling the cover’ off of the ball. The only person who looked more shocked to see the ball stay in the fielders hands than Bowles, was the fielder himself, who will probably never take a catch like it again. Truly remarkable. Once Ed Garrott (7) had missed a straight delivery, and Joel Walshingham (24) went, Reed looked to be in terrible strife on 107-5. However, if Barley thought they would be tucking into an early tea, they had another thing coming. Sean Tidey, at only 16 years old, set about [...]