Reed opened their Sunday 20/20 double header against fellow Championship side Hoddesdon. Put in by their opponents on a warm sunny early afternoon, Reed took an early wicket when Byrne fell to Karl Ward for just 1. Hoddesdon progressed despite some tight Reed bowling particularly from Sam Fairbrother 4-0-13-1 who captured the other opener Byrne to leave Hoddesdon 42-2 after 8 overs.
The introduction of Toby Fynn from the Pavilion End proved to be the right decision from Skipper Jack Tidey, as he took three wickets in his spell (4-0-27-3) to leave Hoddesdon struggling at 68-5 in the thirteenth over. Needing quick runs the pair of Jones and Balkham steadied the ship but Reed never let them get away with some clever bowling, Tidey 4-0-26-0 and Tom Greaves 4-0-26-1 in particular, left Hoddesdon on 126 for 7 after their twenty over allocation.
In reply Reed lost James Heslam in the second over for 1, however, Sean Tidey and Kallum Ward combined well with some good ball placement and lofty hitting. The pair were dismissed within three balls of each other to leave Reed wobbling slightly at 39 for 3 after the 7thover. Mitchell Cooper with 22 and Tom Greaves with 24 set about putting Reed in a winning position despite the two going in the 16th over Reed were 95 for 5. Enter Jack Tidey and he together with Fairbrother took Reed to needing just 9 runs off the last two overs.
However there was a twist in the tale with the return of opening bowler Jones keeping Reed to just two runs in the penultimate over. The last had everybody on edge, three of the first three bowls before Tidey was bowled for 17 off the second last ball, 3 to win with a ball left, though two would have been enough on the amount of wickets lost, Hoddesdon held their nerve to bowl a Yorker and only a leg bye was scored leaving Reed one short, despite the narrow loss a highly entertaining start to the day’s proceedings.
