Cockfosters
Match Report To Follow
Match Report To Follow
Match Report To Follow
Match Report To Follow
Match Report To Follow
Match Report To Follow
Reed went into this match already assured of returning to Division 6 a year after being relegated. Hexton were also promoted, but the question of who would top the table was still up for grabs. Hexton won the toss and decided there best hope was to bowl Reed out and chase down the runs. Openers Baz Curtis and Phil Freney knew that it was vital Reed didn't lose early wickets and give the visitors an early lift. Reed and Buckas opened the attack for Hexton and both bowled a very good opening spell. The usually aggressive was restricted to just one boundary in his 10 over 7 while Frenay was equally circumspect. Curtis went in the 11 over when the score was on 23. This brought in Skipper Marcus Martin. Martin soon found the boundary the openers had trouble finding and the rate began to climb. The pair had just put on fifty when Andrews bowled Frenay for 22. Rob Lankaster in his first season with the club has had an excellent season at this level and looked in no trouble and had reach 19 in good time before being adjudged LBW. With just over 20 overs to go Reed were well placed at 105-3, but a few wickets now could have turned the match in Hexton's favour. Karl Ward had other ideas. He took a liking to Jetuwa hitting him for six. Martin and Ward added 73 in the next 15 overs to put the home side in touching distance of maximum batting points. Martin went for a fine 72 and Ward followed 5 runs later for 56, bowled by Ladla. Reed still have 7 overs left and it looked like they might post [...]
Due to some very poor availability Reed’s Third Eleven travelled down to top of the table Berkhamsted with only 8 players. For Reed it was a dead rubber but the hosts still needed points to ensure finishing champions. So upon winning the toss Berkhamsted’s captain decided to bat first. With so much space to score runs it was no surprise that the home side raced to 306-4 before declaring after 35 overs. This was despite the very hard work of Reed bowlers George Garrott, Ian Roberts (3) and Reece Fitzgerald (1). For Reed things went from bad to worse as the top 3 batsmen were lost with only 3 on the total. Ray Kingshott and Peter Baker batted well together and added 53 for the fourth wicket before Baker played on for 26. An aggressive knock from George Garrott followed but he was lost after being run out for 15. Reed were in dire straits at 97 for 6 but a sublime seventh (and in this case, final) wicket stand of 111 displayed the true abilities of Reeds third XI. Kingshott and Roberts played magnificently together and proved stubborn in the face of Berkhamsted’s, until then, impressive attack. Roberts then suffered a top edged blow to the face which cut his top lip. However, he refused to leave the field which was fortunate for Kingshott who at the time was on 98. Three figures for the veteran soon followed before being caught two balls later. Reed had given it a fair try and certainly did well to finish on 208 all out. It was a disappointing end for the 3’s who for most of the season had looked real competitors for promotion. But a poor [...]
Reed 4 finished the season with a fine victory over Shenley Village 4 at Freman. Skipper Rob Willoughby lost the toss and was asked to bowl. Reed opened with father son combination Owen Hughes and Steve Hughes. Both bowling tight lines and backed up by good fielding helped keep the run rate down. Owen picked up the wicket of Shenley captain bowled in the last ball of his first spell. Shenley started to build a good partnership until Rob W picked up his first wicket. Wickets then fell at regular intervals with Owen (2-40) and Steve (1-26) each picking up a wicket in their second spells. Graham Stuart bowled a good spell on his return from injury picking a wicket for 28 runs. Young bowler Jag Lalli then combined well with wicket keeper Ben Moody to firstly get a caught behind and then a stumping in his first over finishing on 2-17. Rob W then picked up the last wicket to finish on 2-28. Shenley posted 182 all out in 44 overs leaving Reed an additional 3 overs. Reed opened with Rob W and Lalli for second week running and both looked assured against the Shenley opening spin attack. Lalli was very unlucky to be out played on for the second week running for 4. This brought the classy Sam Deville to the crease. Rob W and Deville put on a partnership of 98, frequently hitting the boundary. When Deville was out for 44 Reed were on 120 and only needed 63 more to win. John Kershaw and Lloyd Bowman both supported Rob W well picking up 6 and 11 respectively. Rob W was then controversially run out by a direct hit for 94. However [...]
Due to some very poor availability Reed’s Third Eleven travelled down to top of the table Berkhamsted with only 8 players. For Reed it was a dead rubber but the hosts still needed points to ensure finishing champions. So upon winning the toss Berkhamsted’s captain decided to bat first.With so much space to score runs it was no surprise that the home side raced to 306-4 before declaring after 35 overs. This was despite the very hard work of Reed bowlers George Garrott, Ian Roberts (3) and Reece Fitzgerald (1). For Reed things went from bad to worse as the top 3 batsmen were lost with only 3 on the total. Ray Kingshott and Peter Baker batted well together and added 53 for the fourth wicket before Baker played on for 26. An aggressive knock from George Garrott followed but he was lost after being run out for 15. Reed were in dire straits at 97 for 6 but a sublime seventh (and in this case, final) wicket stand of 101 displayed the true abilities of Reeds third XI. Kingshott and Roberts played magnificently together and proved stubborn in the face of Berkhamsted’s, until then, impressive attack. Roberts then suffered a top edged blow to the face which cut his top lip. However, he refused to leave the field which was fortunate for Kingshott who at the time was on 98. Three figures for the veteran soon followed before being caught two balls later. Reed had given it a fair try and certainly did well to finish on 208 all out.It was a disappointing end for the 3’s who for most of the season had looked real competitors for promotion. But a poor final part [...]
Promoted to Herts League Division 1 this season our 1st Xl have performed marvellously well winning 7 of the 15 matches played to date. At times in recent weeks we have also put out winning Reed 1st Xl teams that have comprised 11 x Ex Reed Colts. A great achievement, and possibly unique, at SHCL Division 1 level!! As of this morning our 1st Xl sits in 2nd position in the Division 1 table, but some 41 points behind league leaders Hertford (relegated from HCPL East last season). In the last 2 weeks Hertford recorded wins off the last ball of the match against Flitwick, and then this week beat Old Finchleians when 9 wickets down. Those 2 hard fought and narrow wins put Hertford in a seemingly uncatchable position at the top of the Div 1 table with only 3 matches left to play. For some weeks now our Club Focus has been on achieving wins to get to 2nd spot in the league, and grab that perceived 2nd promotion spot! Having impressively won 4 matches in a row and put ourselves in that position where 2nd spot is now ours to lose – we then find that because of the historical “idiosyncrasies” of the HCPL/SHCL promotion/relegation relationship – there is seemingly likely to be only ONE promotion place from the SHCL Div 1 to HSPL (E) in 2013! Equally, there would then also be only ONE promotion spot from SHCL Division 2 into SHCL Division 1. As we know, to our cost, Division 2 is a very difficult division to get out of, but having only ONE promotion place available to 20 Clubs who have fought a 19-match season is surely not fair [...]