Following their promotion at the first attempt last season, Reed IIs began life back in Herts League Division 6 with a good win in what proved to be a very low scoring game.
Marcus Martin’s men travelled to Old Finchleians on Saturday missing 6 of the regular players who helped them gain promotion and the league title last season and upon losing the toss, Reed were asked to bat on what looked a difficult track. Things stated badly for Reed as they lost early wickets, including captain and talisman Marcus Martin cheaply, as variable bounce in the wicket caused a number of soft looking dismissals.
However Richard Johnson (27) Marcus Baker (21) and Karl Ward (43) steadied the ship and began to take Reed towards three figures. It was only when Johnson was pinned LBW to a ball that hardly got above ankle height and Baker also perished did things start to go wrong for Reed, as their departures led to a flurry of wickets. Ward continued to bat well however, and was ably supported by debutant Reece Fitzgerald. When Ward did eventually lose his wicket the end was nigh for Reed and although Fitzgerald (25 Not Out) continued unperturbed by the demons in the pitch, the Reed tail didn’t last long and they were all out for 133.
Although 133 looked a low score, Reed knew that they were in with a chance if they bowled and caught well, especially given that the pitch was still misbehaving. Karl Ward and Jack Caine shared the new ball, and proceeded to rip into the Finchleians top order. Caine (6-3-11-2) bowled with excellent control and deserved his two scalps, and Ward (20.1-6-20-5) took on the mantle of ‘Pete Tidey’ with an unbelievable spell. Reed had their opponents 15 for 5 and things didn’t improve for the hosts as Bernie Morss was introduced into the attack. Morss (14-3-36-2) was also miserly and although Finchleians stopped the rot in terms of wickets, their run rate barely made it above 2 an over all innings.
A brief middle order stand gave the hosts some hope, but a direct hit run out simply underlined the standard of Reed’s effort with the ball as Old Finchleians were all out for just 70 after 40.1 overs giving Reed the maximum 30 points.
