Whilst the hosts’ captain, Mark Parkinson, was at the crease, Met Police Bushey were on-course to overhaul Reed’s total of 167. When he departed, caught by Sam Rice off a skyer, for 39, the remaining wickets soon followed. It illustrated how vital Reed’s ninth wicket partnership had been. In their innings, Reed’s number 10, Matt Yates had contributed only 2 not out of a forty-run stand with skipper Maseeh Naeem, but in such a confident and competent way, that without his support, Reed would probably have been all-out for 130 and well within range of Met Police Bushey.
Earlier when Reed batted, the Willoughby brothers had set-off at good pace until Rob fell for 12. Fynn then scored 19 taking the total to 60, but 3 quick wickets left Reed reeling at 67 for 4, and then Kieran Willoughby was bowled for 28. Peter Baker and Maseeh Naeem quelled the route and added 40 before Baker lost his off stump. By this time, Naeem, the long-standing captain who has overseen successive promotions from Division 11, and has been an ever present Third XI player since its creation eight seasons ago, was in fine form, alternating between hard-hit boundaries and air-shots, but with the loss of two more wickets he had to re-think his strategy when batting with young Yates as he carefully picked-off boundaries each over and farmed the strike. Naeem finally fell for a well-crafted 63. And an all-out total of 167 was certainly defendable.
James Hooper was making a welcome return and opened the bowling with left-armer, Yates. A well-judged caught & bowled by Hooper accounted for MPB’s wicket-keeper / batsman, Stevenson, but the second wicket was a long time coming until an hilarious run-out, (aren’t they all?), saw-off the other opener. Yates, (0 for 17 from six respectable overs), was replaced by the spin of Sam Rice who has developed his two-way deliveries this season.
Baker took a sharp catch in the gulley to break the third wicket partnership. A catch off a No-Ball, then two drops in the long outfield, denied Rice better figures, but his 12-over spell had bamboozled the batsmen and pinned them down. Enter Parkinson, the MPB skipper, who like his counterpart, took charge of the innings. The introduction of the slow Rob Willoughby and the even slower, Maseeh Naeem, checked the runs and with a well-taken catch by Fynn in the slips off Naeem and after a return catch by Willoughby, MPB were on the downhill slide. Wi lloughby, eventually concluding with 4 for 35, added to his tally by hitting the stumps twice and having Parkinson caught by Rice at mid-wicket and Naeem rounded-off a good day by bowling accurately to take 3 for 16. Met Police Bushey had reached 143 which at one time could have been enough to win this match but in the end, was 24 runs too few.
