Reeds National Village Cup dreams were dampened late on Sunday afternoon when their National Quarter Final match with Buckinghamshire Champions Dinton CC was cruelly washed away by one of the fiercest downpours seen at Reed in many a long year. The match had reached the halfway point on a warm and mainly sunny afternoon but as the players enjoyed a sumptuous traditional Cricket Tea in the Reed Pavilion the sky darkened and menacing storm clouds gathered. Batting second Reeds reply did start but as Reed skipper James Heslam smoothly struck the first ball to the mid wicket boundary for 4 the rain started and the players and Umpires fled the field, unfortunately never to return to bowl another ball!
Earlier, with the magnificent Reed ground looking an absolute picture, a crowd of around 350 had witnessed a hard fought and high quality encounter. Dinton having won the toss chose to bat first and their openers exhibited a calm confidence and played some fluent strokes. The Reed opening attack of Jack Tidey and Toby Fynn however stuck to their task and supported by the usual incredibly efficient Reed ground fielding runs were hard to come by. In the 6th Over Toby Fynn induced an outside edge from opener Woodward and Sean Tidey snaffled the catch 11-1. In Fynns next over No 3 Gibbins was bowled for 4 and when his replacement Massey was also caught behind, by Tidey, Dinton were in trouble at 27-3 off 11.2 overs. Meanwhile opener Smith had looked solid and assured and joined by No 5 Burrows the pair started constructing a solid recovery. At the 20 over halfway mark in the visitors innings the score stood at 74–3, honours now fairly even.
Resuming after drinks Burrows struck two powerful boundaries taking him to 41 but then seeking to repeat the dose he blasted a ball fiercely back at bowler Kallum Ward who to the delight and astonishment of the large crowd held an unbelievable caught and bowled chance!
4 overs later No 6 Roberts skied a chance high into the deep offside field but Reeds Will Heslam sprinting round the boundary safely pouched a difficult chance and the visitors had slipped to 102-5. It got worse as next over off spinner Tom Greaves bowled Ludlow for 0 and Dinton had slumped to 104-6. However, opener Smith was still there batting patiently and joined by Ur-Rehman started a recovery operation. Their partnership of 36 ended when Mitchell Cooper took a smart catch off Greaves’s bowling and then in the very next over Smith was caught off Coopers bowling for a fine 55 with the score 146-8 and 5 overs of the innings to go. Amin with 15* did his best to push the Dinton total forward but the visitors were all out in after 39.4 overs for a respectable but not over-daunting 168.
For Reed all the bowlers had done well and the teams fielding had been extraordinary for recreational cricket players. Toby Fynn 9 Overs 3-40 had done the early damage, Jack Tidey 9 Overs 0-22 had been threatening and difficult to dominate, Tom Greaves 9 Overs 2-31 had bowled well in the middle overs, Kallum Ward 2-28 took the key wicket of Burrows, and Mitchell Cooper 9 Overs 3-43 took vital wickets at key times.
Needing 169 to progress to the National Semi Final Reed reduced those arrears to 164 after ball one – but as previously described – not another ball was bowled. The large crowd cowered under sunshades, umbrellas, gazebo’s, in cars, and in the Reed clubhouse, but 90 minutes later the rain was still pelting down, the match had been abandoned and the previously immaculately preened Reed ground resembled a lake!
The match will be replayed at Dinton Bucks next Sunday – 1pm start.
