Reed 4 travelled to Hertford 5 away but as luck would have it the fixture was at Hare Street, due to the nomadic arrangements Hertford have to make. Skipper Rob Willoughby lost the toss and was asked to field.
Reed opened with Matt Goblin and Joe Graves, who both bowled tight lines and did not go for many runs. Giblin picked up 2 wickets thanks to catches from himself and Dom Mcomish. Graves was unlucky not to pick up a wicket in his first spell.
Willoughby (10-1-41-1) then came on for Graves with Giblin continuing to bowl a spell of 12 overs. At first Willoughby and Giblin contrasted to keep the runs down, however, with the short boundaries runs did start to come off the bat and combined with 4 easy dropped catches and one difficult catch missed Hertford were picking up their batting points.
Willoughby then turned to his young bowlers Owen Hughes (5-0-21-0) and Sam Rice (4-0-29-1) to hold up one end. Both bowled well largely restricting the scoring shots but again suffering with the short boundaries and having their bad balls punished. Graves and Giblin returned to finish off the innings, with Graves (13-0-48-1) picking up a deserved wicket caught Willoughby and Giblin (15-3-45-3) his third bowled. Hertford finished with 194 for the loss of 6.
Reed knew the chase was possible due to the short boundaries. Unfortunately John Heslam, opening with Paul Garrott, fell for a duck, with Mcomish (10) and Steve Hughes (0) falling shortly after. Willoughby (28) then joined Garrott and immediately took the attack to Hertford, however lived and died by the sword getting out caught in the same over as hitting two sixes and a four.
Under 14 Ben Moody then joined Garrott at the crease. Garrott was building an assured innings punishing the bad balls, but making sure he did not give any chances. He along with Moody built a fantastic partnership. Moody had never hit a six, and decided today was the day to hit two out of the ground. Garrott continued to bat for a very good 50. Unfortunately, whilst trying to play an uncharacteristic shot Garrott was caught. Reed were now unsure whether to bat for the win or the draw. However Chris West played some big shots hitting three sixes, and the win looked on the cards.
But with the run chase looking like it was on, Moody was bowled for a fantastic 37 and West was caught going for another boundary for 26. The young tail of Hughes (7), Rice (5), Giblin (0), and Graves (4no) did their best but there was just a little too much to do. Rice was the last wicket to fall with Reed bowled out for 179.
Skipper Willoughby was proud of his team that picked up a very good 16 points, in a game they could have won. Considering the age of the team and the lack of availability through the club it was a very good performance.
