Reed IV XI narrowly lost the home game hosted at Therfield to Bamville Cricket Club, in a mid season friendly. The young Reed side lost the toss, with Bamville choosing to bat on the damp pitch. Reed had a good start restricting Bamville with fine bowling spells from J. Hooper and A. West. A change of bowling form Reed then brought two wickets from M. Robertson, with sturdy support from O. Benham. Further wickets fell from the bowling of J. Bloor, with M. Giblin’s wicket to wicket bowling containing Bamville. Finishing spells from Hooper, West, Robertson and Benham saw Reed bowling Bamville out in the final over of the innings for 125.Reed then went out to bat in gradually worsening conditions. Opening with G. Garrott and C. Kitscha, Reed got off to a shaky start with Garrott being dismissed for 2. Kitscha continued with R Barlow, until he was removed for 12 and Barlow for 15. The innings continued as such with D. Radford top scoring with 30, while supported by innings’ from G.Greaves (19) and O. Benham (17). However this was not enough, with Reed being bowled out for 115 in the 38th over, with Bamville youngster Arnerich taking 3 wickets

Reed’s newly established fourth eleven got their league campaign off to a good start with a hard fought victory over Knebworth Park VI. Reed won the toss and captain Peter Baker elected to bat first on the Freman College pitch. Baker batted well for his 45 runs, protecting his wicket whilst others fell for little runs. Left hander Alan Ward then took over scoring a blistering 75 runs, finding the boundary with ease and notching up quick singles supported by Scott Caine (9) and Luke Cox (10). Reed’s total was greatly assisted by Knebworth themselves who gave away 53 runs in extras. Reed declared on 238 for 7 from 45 overs, with Ward and Will Kirby (31) the men not out having added an impressive undefeated 86 run partnership for the eighth wicket. Wickets fell to the bowling of E. Large (5-1-70-4), B. Murphy (5-0-28-2) and M. Darlow (11-1-39-1). In reply Knebworth did look like competing for the win early on in their innings, partnerships by S. Jenkins (59) with L. Hutchinson (34) and I. Nurril (31) frustrated the bowling of Cox (3-0-22-0), Baker (5-0-22-0) and Christian Martin (5-0-25-0). Kirby (5-0-13-1) picked up a wicket after some impressive pace bowling. Ian Roberts also got in on the act showing his skill finishing with figures of 9.4-1-28-3. But it was Alex West who troubled the opposition the most picking up a much deserved 5 for 48 from 12 overs catching D. Hennessy (29) off his own bowling to pick up his fifth. Reed’s ability in the field was very much in contrast to that of Knebworth who lost by 75 runs. The fourth’s season has started well and will require much of the same to get [...]

The fourths got their second win of their debut season in style as they defeated Kings Langley IV’s by a massive 189 runs. Father and son duo Peter and Marcus J.E. Baker opened for Reed having won the toss, the first over was left for a maiden but it would be the only one of the innings. The pair made runs easily combining quick singles with boundaries to rack up a fourth eleven record opening partnership of 82 in 16 overs which ended when P. Baker (25) put one up in the air from the bowling of Hunt (7-0-46-1). Despite the loss Reed did not suffer as eighteen came off the next over bringing up the 100 in only 17, which M.J.E. Baker and number 3 John Kershaw bested 10 overs later bring up the 200 in the 27th. The pair set yet another fourth eleven record for the 2nd wicket scoring 188 in 17 overs. M.J.E. Baker was then adjudged out LBW for a blistering 175 in the 34th over recording not only a personal best score but a divisional high score, hitting 8 sixes and 21 fours. John Kershaw followed not long after caught behind from the bowling of Walker (7-0-32-2) with yet another fantastic half century scoring 62. Darren Radford (2*) and Graham Hazard (10*) were the men not out as Reed declared 10 over’s early with a dominating 290 for 3 from 37 overs on the scoreboard. Kings Langley never looked like competing for the win but they certainly held out for a long time. Despite stubborn batting Reed eventually got their wickets as they were shared amongst Alex West (11-3-18-1), Matt Giblin (6-1-14-1), Jason Pallett (16-4-34-4), Alan Ward (7-4-10-3) and [...]

Reed’s fourth eleven were forced to leave their away match against Chipperfield Clarendon IV with a draw much to the frustration of the Reed players. However, it was a game that the visitors had dominated all through the match and came away with 17 of a possible 19 points from a draw. Reed won the toss and batted first, George Garrott (20) and Peter Baker (8) got things going and had made a partnership of 35 before Garrott fell foul off the under-used Franklin (10-1-36-1). Baker soon followed but an impressive and IV XI record partnership of 121 between John Kershaw (83) and Paul Garrott (69) for the third wicket steadied the ship taking Reed to 153 for 3 from 35. Kershaw then set another record partnership with Darren Radford (23*) of 57 but ended an impressive innings being caught from the bowling of Oliver (12-2-57-2). Reed declared an over early after 46 with the total on 231 for 4, Radford and Marcus J.E. Baker (8*) the men not out. Reed’s bowlers did just as well in the second innings, Alex West (11-2-14-1) took the first wicket thanks to a fine catch from Alan Ward. P. Baker (3-0-30-1) soon took the second wicket with the some perfect off spin bowling, hitting the top of off stump. But it was the dominating bowling partnership of Jason Pallett (12-3-27-2) and Ian Roberts (9-4-22-1) that ended the host’s aspirations for the win. Fine catches from P. Baker, Kirby, Ward and keeper M.J.E. Baker once again showed Reed’s class in the field. However, Reed were unable to dislodge some of the tail quick enough and the home side finished their 44 over innings on 128 for 7 ending the [...]

The four’s suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday when they went up against Hertford V. Batting first, at the charming ground in Thunderidge, Reed were soon put on the back foot with two wickets lost for only nine runs. Opener Peter Baker persisted none the less and led the way as Reed started to make runs. Sam Deville (20) gave another useful innings supporting Baker before knicking one to first slip. Baker was also eventually out caught but not before making a hard fought 60. Once again Reeds total benefited from runs down the order from James Bloor (23), Luke Cox (17), Will Kirby (13*) and Ian Roberts (13*). Reed finished on the reasonable score of 162 for 8 from 47 overs. Reed were well aware that Hertford were blessed with some class batsmen, but the bowlers still went out with determination to defend the total. Will Kirby (8-2-35-2) led the Reed attack as both James Bloor (9-0-42-2) and Sam Deville (5-0-18-1) picked up wickets. However, no one seemed able to remove opener R. Carter (96), who played a sensible innings, until Luke Cox (1.5-0-7-1) was awarded his wicket LBW with his first ball. Unfortunately despite their best efforts Reed watched as the winnings runs were hit and Hertford left the field on 163 for 6. Reed may certainly think that had they made a more competitive score then they may well have won but in reality Hertford included some class experienced players and were stronger on the day. Despite losing Reed came away with fourteen points and remain in the top four.

The fours suffered another defeat when the young side met the more experienced Chiltern 06. Reed batted first and were at no point allowed to be comfortable by the Chiltern bowlers and the rather unpredictable pitch. George Garrott made a hard fought 39 and Darren Radford hung around for a while to make 27. Other than Paul Garrott (17) no one else got into double figures, were as in previous weeks Reeds totals had been bolstered by runs down the order, however, on this occasion this was not the case as Reed were bowled out in the 46th over for only 124. In reply the hard hitting Chiltern batsmen reached their target in only the 18th over for the loss of one wicket, a run out by P. Garrott. M. Horwood made 53 and S. Fasal 67. Had Reed been more positive then there could have been the possibility of an upset but unfortunately there were far too many drop catches to be able to defend such a low total. This second loss clearly marks a lull in concentration, the fours must come back next week in their match against Baldock (who are only three points behind us in the division) more focused.