A sublime innings by Sam Deville led the way for a fantastic win for Reed as they hosted Preston at Freman College. Whilst the Sunday first eleven successfully progressed through another round in the Village Cup at Reed, the second eleven made use of the clubs fast paced second pitch.
Reed lost the toss and was asked to bowl, a decision the opposition captain may have regretted as he watched his opening partner and number 3 fall for small totals to Jack Childs. Childs continued his good form and went for very few runs in his opening spell as did Joe Graves, however due to the heat an early bowling change at both ends seemed the smart thing to do. Owen Hughes was bought on to restrict the runs and bowled very well as did Graeme Stuart (7-0-28-0). Whilst runs were hard to come by wickets were equally hard to find. Toby Emes however, changed that by picking up the wicket of Maxwell (33) thanks to a fine catch behind by Lloyd Bowman who had also earlier taken a sharp catch off Childs. A run out by Emes accounted for the fourth and final wicket for Reed although by 30 overs the visitors had only managed 130.
Unfortunately for Reed a very poor final ten overs saw Murrell take advantage of some tired bowling from returning bowlers. The heat had taken its toll on the young Reed side as Preston finished on 244 for 4, with Murrell undefeated on 103.
The visitors seemed overjoyed with their total and looked to see out the forty overs or bundle out their young hosts for an easy win. However, Reed knew that on the Freman track their target of 244 was only par and quickly went about proving the point. The animated Preston side were soon dejected as openers Marcus J.E. Baker and Sam Deville hit multiple boundaries. Reeds opening gambit quickly hit a problem when Baker (17) fell but fortunately Freddy Stuart soon enough made up for the loss. Freddy (17) put some fantastic boundaries away as did his father Graeme (15) after him. But it was an extraordinary innings from Deville that changed the balance of power in the game. Playing with ease and grace Deville hit 22 fours and 4 sixes in making a near perfect 131. He had taken Reed to within 20 runs of their target, superbly supported by Owen Hughes who did not shrink away from the challenge and made some outstanding runs. The pair however, both loss their heads in the search for glory Deville bowled and Hughes caught for 24. So it was left to Joe Graves (11*) to smash the winning runs with Reed victors by 4 wickets.
It proved a terrific win considering the appearance of a large total but some great contributions with the bat proved the winning factor.
