Reed II’s came away with a win from their long-haul away fixture with Rickmansworth II’s.
Having won the toss, skipper Marcus Martin elected to bat on a wicket that had been covered from the significant overnight rain and looked in reasonably good fettle. Phil Frenay and Srikanth Tummala opened up and made light work of the Rickmansworth opening bowling, as they combined to speed the score along to 38 before Frenay (18) ‘played-on’ to his off stump having looked well set. Captain Martin joined Tummala at the crease, but this partnership was also short lived as Tummala (25) gave extra cover a regulation catch whilst trying to go over the top of the in-field.
Fergus Martin, returning from University for his first game of the season, joined his elder, diminutive brother Marcus at the crease and the pair began to steady the ship. Ferg looked in good nick and worked the field expertly as the score ticked along nicely towards 3 figures. However, a mix-up proved costly as Ferg was run out for 20.
This proved a turning point in the innings as Reed went on to suffer a middle order collapse and looked in real trouble at 130-9. Marcus Martin then took the game by the scruff of the neck, and along with Tom Walsingham, got the visitors innings back on track. Martin soon passed 50 and was looking more and more fluent by the over. Walsingham proved an able assistant as he mixed solid defence with good running to give his more experienced partner the lion’s share of the strike. When Walsingham eventually perished, Martin was left stranded on 86 Not Out and Reed’s total looked a very competitive 181.
In response, Walsingham and Karl Ward took up the task of getting early wickets. Walsingham bowled with excellent pace whilst Ward’s testing line and excellent length soon had Rickmansworth in trouble. Ward picked up two early wickets; before Walsingham went on to take three wickets in six balls to leave the hosts reeling on 50-5. Jack Caine then replaced Walsinham and he too picked up a wicket, that of the hard hitting Cusack, all the time with Ward probing away from the other end, taking regular wickets. Some late resistance from the Rickmansworth skipper Curly prolonged the game, however Reed were not to be undone and Ward eventually rounded off the innings with his 3rd ‘five-fore’ of the season.
Rickmansworth all out for 107 giving Reed a 74 run victory margin and leaving Reed just 5 points off of top-spot with a third of the season gone.
