It was a tense finish to an exciting game as Reed and Gravely battled it out in the North Herts League. Marcus J.E. Baker had lost the toss and the hosting captain had no hesitation in inserting Reed at the sloped ground overlooking the village of Gravely.
Reed could boast to having a strong all round team and so batting first was certainly not an upset and Sean Tidey proved as much with an incredible first over.
The outfield looked fast and the boundaries short and S. Tidey went about exploiting both facts as he smashed the ball in an awesome salvo of big hitting. The first over went for 20 runs and 10 more coming from the second. He would continue in the same manner making 61 in 7 overs before falling with the score on 71 for 3. Earlier Rob Lankaster had also opened the Reed innings and had looked his usual composed self playing a lovely drive through the covers for four but was bowled by one coming back into him the very next ball. Mike Robertson had also been unfortunate when caught from one popping up off the shoulder of his bat.
Although Reed had an early high score the loss of wickets were becoming an issue. What was required was a partnership and Jack Caine and Lloyd Bowman duly supplied one. Playing a more reserved innings to their colleague both worked the ball around nicely finding the gaps. The pair had played together for 9 overs when Caine tried putting one over mid-off but ended caught for a mature 40. Bowman would soon follow given out caught behind for an essential 18 leaving Reed on 135 for 5 from only 21 overs.
As M.J.E. Baker strode out to join Jack Tidey he knew that it was critical for his team to use up as many overs as possible because any surplus overs would be given to the opposition in the second innings. J. Tidey and Baker both nudged the ball around and looked like forming another good partnership when Tidey was caught which was quickly followed by two more cheap wickets. Reed were in a dire situation with still 13 overs to see through with only 2 wickets left in hand and the un-defendable total of 162. What was needed was for someone to hang around with Baker and Jack Childs did just that. In an impressive innings the under 15 played correctly and sensibly in keeping the good balls out as well knocking the singles to give Baker the strike. The partnership proved a great success and was the best collaboration of the innings as Childs and Baker added 57 together.
Having seen his side past 200 with only four overs remaining Baker started to up the run rate but his captain’s innings came to an end, caught for 43. Childs would finish on 20 not out and the team total on 225 all out in 39 overs, giving Gravely one extra over.
The second innings proved to be an equal stalemate throughout. Tom Walsingham (7.4-1-39-1) and Joe Graves (4-0-20-1) started for Reed and each claimed an opener. Jack Tidey (2-43) was brought on to remove the dangerous looking number and went on to take a second thanks to a catch at point by Baker. Unfortunately this catch had come to Baker from the bat via the batsman head taking him to the ground, however luckily there seemed to be no serious injury. With 15 overs remaining the game was still equally poised when Josh Conley and Sean Tidey began to bowl in tandem, crucial wickets being taken by both bowlers. Conley (2-35) had Rob Lankaster with the gloves to thank for his two especially an incredible diving effort. S. Tidey (3-32) meanwhile bowled two in three balls and later took a third thanks to catch by Jack Childs. It came down to the final over, that essential extra over, Reed needed to defend 4 to win or take the tenth wicket for a win and bonus point. The first three balls were perfect but the fourth fell right into S. Brown’s ark who found the gap and took Gravely to victory.
