This year we have had successes both on and off the field, with the second XI winning division seven and achieving promotion for Marcus Martin in his first season as captain. An excellent team spirit soon replaced the despair of last years relegation. The First XI played exceptionally well to finish third in a very competitive Division One, and we won the Isobel Hospice Cup for the first time. We were unable to repeat our 2012 heroics in the National Village Cup, with the opposition fired up to beat the defending champions. Our status as the best village side in the country also proved to be highly motivating to the opposition in the Keatley Cup, and the desire to take the scalp of Reed CC limited our progress. We have dominated this competition for many years, but our early demise cannot be a bad thing as it might encourage greater participation from local clubs. Looking at the financial position of the club, we are now in a very healthy position, with income in 2013 exceeding expenditure by almost £10,000. By coincidence, this is the same figure as the record amount of profit generated by the bar, which benefited from the excellent weather and the extra social events taking place at the club. We cannot ask Robbo to repeat his retirement party again next year, or Ruth Dunn her 30th birthday party, but the pavilion on a balmy summer’s evening is an attractive venue, so all club members please note, we are open for business. Matt Bowles also ran a very successful Quiz Night, and villagers supported the Bank Holiday BBQ, a collaborative effort with the Village Hall Committee which saw many families enjoying games supplied [...]

The 2013 season presented a new challenge to the young Reed 1XI after the highly successful 2012 campaign. This was a return to life in Herts Division One for the club after four seasons of consolidation and gradual progression in Division Two to make the necessary steps to make the top two in that league (never an easy task). For one reason or another, the pre-season preparations were not as strong as they had been in previous years, but despite this things got off to a positive start. One player who certainly hit the ground running was key all rounder Tom Greaves who scored two important fifties in the first two games, that saw us unlucky to be rained off when in control of the game against Luton Town and complete an excellent run chase against Flitwick (with five sixes in a row!) to put us top of the league two games in. A disappointing defeat at Old Finchleians followed with poor preparation not helping our chances, but the right response came in bowling out Hitchin for 98 at Reed and then comfortably beating St Albans to sit nicely in the top three after five games. In amongst the opening games, despite comfortably seeing off Eaton Bray, the National Village Cup defence didn’t last long due to the only really poor all round display I can remember from the 1XI in the last 2 seasons away at Wheathampstead. Returning to the Division One campaign, we were unfortunate to be rained off at Ampthill when we had them 28-2 and then to lose the toss to Totteridge Milhillians on a wet day which made it hard for our bowlers against a good batting side. Although we [...]

The 2013 season was a challenging one for the 4s with difficult availability further up the club having a knock on effect. However, this did allow captain Rob Willoughby to utilise the club’s colt section. Several of the club’s youth players came into the team and really impressed without being intimidated with the step up. There were also new faces in the form of more fathers returning to playing as well as the return of couple of former players. There were very few wins throughout the season, but there were some very strong team performances when good bonus points gained against some strong sides.  Unfortunately the inexperience in the bowling and some lax catching throughout much of the season meant that the 4s were unlikely to do much in the league. The general trend to the season shows that it was a tough start to the season without a win and also having to concede a game due to lack of numbers. However, Reed themselves were helped with two matches conceded against them sandwiching one of the two wins of the season. This allowed the team to move up the league after being around the bottom. However, there then followed a period of difficult results where Reed struggled against strong sides, and against the “weaker” teams could not quite find the necessary ingredients for the win. Fortunately the season finished on a high, as despite having to concede their penultimate game, Reed had a convincing 4 wicket win. Conceded games were a theme of division 13 with what seemed to be an extraordinary amount of games being forfeited by a team. This would appear to show difficulties with numbers throughout the league and shows that [...]