Reed 1XI won a crucial 2nd vs 3rd game in the Hertfordshire Championship on Saturday. Reed captain James Heslam won the toss and elected to field to try to secure the win or if not allow his side the ability to play out for a draw if needed with hosts West Herts 33 points behind Reed before the start of the game.
Reed opening bowlers Jack Tidey and Toby Fynn started off well restricting West Herts to 26-1 off 11 overs. However, the hosts recovered to 116-1 off 28 overs and looked well set for a decent score. This was despite the efforts of Hertfordshire Stags spinner Tom Greaves who bowled an excellent spell of 18-2-67 on a wicket offering very little once the new ball had gone. Although Reed now took wickets on occasions West Herts kept the board ticking over and gradually made their way to an imposing target of 275-8 off their 60 overs. Other wicket taking bowlers were Reed’s other Hertfordshire Stags bowler Jack Tidey who bowled very well again picking up figures of 13-3-45, Sam Fairbrother with 5-2-28 and Alex Mutucamarana 9-1-41. Tom Walsingham also bowled well in his return to the 1st team bowling attack.
Reed knew it was going to be difficult to chase the runs down against the renowned West Herts spin attack, particularly after a shower spiced the wicket up a little during the change between innings. However, they did get off to a solid start reaching 33-0 off 11 overs. At this point though both Heslams fell leaving Reed under pressure at 33-2. It was at this point that the game began to change as Alex Mutucamarana and Tom Greaves built a solid position for Reed before Tea taking the score to 79-2 off 21 overs.
After tea the pair upped the run rate so that when Greaves went for an excellent 41 the score was 120-3 after 28 overs. This breakthrough would have boosted West Herts but Chris Jackson came to the crease with intent and he and Mutucamarana put together a quick scoring fine partnership to take Reed to 220-3 off 46 overs. When Mutucamarana went for a superb 95 that deserved the three figures, Reed were suddenly in an excellent position to win the game. Mitchell Cooper (14) came in at number six and kept the momentum going before both he and the highly impressive Jackson (62) fell with the score on 246 in the 50th over. With 29 needed off 25 balls the game was getting tense but Sean Tidey entered the fray and settled all nerves scoring 29 in no time including 2 big sixes to get Reed over the line and to a win that puts them 56 points clear in 2nd place.
With 4 league games to go Reed require 2 more wins to secure 2nd position in the league which would mean a play off with 9th placed finish in the Premier League with the winners being in the Premier League for the 2015 season.
