Guilden Morden Away

Rhodri Hughes acted as captain for Reed and was not overly disappointed when having lost the toss was asked bowl first, therefore allowing the older and more experienced hosts to set the target. An early onslaught from M.Robinson (47) was quelled when Freddy Stuart (1-31) caught him off his own bowling. First change bowlers Richard Barlow (8-3-23-1) and Marcus J.E. Baker (1-25) sent down some troubling deliveries to hold up the Guilden batsmen. However, Bates and Williams hung in there and started to put a few boundaries away. A change of bowling again proved fruitful when R. Hughes brought himself on and removed Bates (30). Hughes would go on to take a superb catch at long on to remove the potentially dangerous Sam Ingrey (15). There was also good catches from Freddy Stuart at deep midwicket and Lloyd Bowman at mid-off as Reed’s high fielding standards were kept to. Dom McOmish proved the most lethal bowler as he accounted for three wickets for only twenty six. Owen Hughes who had earlier opened the bowling came back and removed two good wickets. Reed could not quite remove the final wicket as the hosts finished on 178 for 9.

Rhodri Hughes led from the front with the experienced Peter Baker as they put on 40 for the first wicket. However a sudden collapse saw Reed reduced to 63 for 4 including the loss of the two openers. Graham Stuart, who had come in at number 3, decided that despite the loss of wickets now was not the time to be overly defensive. Stuart began to free his arms as he struck some big hits, racking up the boundaries. He, however, was finally removed for 27, which again led to a second collapse of wickets. Richard Barlow meanwhile had been at the other end watching the drama, but now with Reed still needing 90 to win in 14 overs he took command of the situation with an impressive innings. Supported by Chris West (10), who hit a huge six over midwicket, Barlow began to reduce Reeds required runs. Unfortunately both West and then Barlow (41) were lost leaving number 10 M.J.E. Baker and number 11 Owen Hughes to find 44 more runs in three overs. Gulden thought they had the win in the bag but Baker did not agree with that assessment of the situation. 20 runs came from the 37th over and crucially Baker on strike ready for the 38th. Another boundary came from the first ball, but that was to be Reeds limit. A catch on the boundaries ended Baker’s 33 run counter attack. It was a game that despite losing by 18 runs every member of the team had at least played a part in and contributed.