It's that time again. Paul and Marion are back behind the stove and whipping up their now legendary end of season curry. It is on Saturday 4th October 7:30pm for 8pm at the club. Cost £ 5:00. This has now become one of the highlights of the season. Come along and enjoy the tales of promotion and coming 2nd in the Championship.
The 2nd XI capped off a fine season by sweeping aside Kings Langley 2s on Saturday to wrap up their second consecutive league title. Having already gained promotion and needing only a high scoring draw to secure the league, skipper Marcus Martin lost the toss and visitors Kings Langley elected to bat on what looked a good surface. Star bowling duo Pete Tidey and Karl Ward got things going for Reed, and soon took a grip of the game as they have on so many occasions this year. Despite a batsman friendly track and quick outfield, Tidey was able to regularly pick up wickets throughout the innings, aided on one occasion by a spectacular slip catch by Marcus Martin. Tidey eventually took 6 wickets in the match, taking his season’s total to a remarkable 60 second team wickets. Ward also picked up his 40th wicket of the season as he too excelled. The balding pacemam Rupert Martin weighed in with 4 wickets too, as Kings Langley were bowled out for 197 in the 53rd over. Although Reed’s opening bowlers have been very impressive this year, so too have their opening batsman. Srikanth Tummala in his debut season for the club and vice-captain Phil Frenay have regularly put opposition bowlers to the sword, accruing a combined total of over 1,000 runs. Frenay, who was coming off back to back unbeaten centuries, started the Reed innings in imperious style, crunching boundaries to all parts. Frenay made his way into the 40’s, taking his season’s runs to in excess of 650, before he was stumped. Tummala continued in style however, and despite losing impressive youngster Rob Lankester and Matt Bowles cheaply, Tummala and the hard hitting Marcus J.E. Baker [...]
Reed 1st Xl narrowly failed to deliver the dream of Hertfordshire Premier League Cricket next season by losing their promotion Play-off against 9th placed Premier League side Potters Bar. Potter Bar won the toss and surprisingly decided to bat on a green wicket with cloud cover around. Reed couldn’t have started much better as the highly impressive 18-year-old Tom Walsingham (2-47) trapped Liam Gough (son of Darren) LBW for 0. He then picked up the wicket of 1st class cricketer overseas player Rahul Panta for 1 well caught behind by Sean Tidey. Reed were in dreamland as Jack Tidey (3-30) showed no rustiness from injury taking two early wickets clean bowling Palmer and Middlesex 2nd Xl player George Scott to reduce Potters Bar to 28-4. When Swailand then went for 4 to Tidey it was 40-5 and Reed were dominant in front of a good sized crowd. However, Mauwelge and Ben Taylor then forged a partnership that helped the score recover well before the impressive Tom Greaves (1-29) forced Mauwelge into a high risk shot to leave the score at 107-6. At this point Reed were still on top but unfortunately another partnership between Taylor and Scutt (35) slowly developed and not h elped by a couple of chances going to waste and not a lot of luck going their way Reed were unable to make any further breakthroughs. Potters Bar crept up above 200 and with a good finish eventually posted 217-6 in their 50 overs with Taylor making an absolutely crucial and well fought 97 not out for his side. There was no doubt Potters Bar had the momentum on a bowler friendly wicket and having recovered so well. However, if Reed could [...]
Reed 1xi narrowly failed to deliver the dream of Hertfordshire Premier League cricket at the Green next season by losing their promotion Play-off against 9th placed Premier League side Potters Bar. After losing the toss and surprisingly being put in the field on a green wicket with cloud cover around Reed couldn’t have started much better as the highly impressive 18 year old Tom Walsingham (2-47) trapped Liam Gough (son of Darren) LBW for 0. He then picked up the wicket of 1st class cricketer overseas player Rahul Panta for 1 well caught behind by Sean Tidey. Reed were in dreamland as Jack Tidey (3-30) showed no rustiness from injury taking two early wickets clean bowling Palmer and Middlesex 2s player George Scott to reduce Potters Bar to 28-4. When Swailand then went for 4 to Tidey it was 40-5 and Reed were dominant in front of a good sized crowd. However, Mauwelge and Ben Taylor then forged a partnership that helped the score recover well before the impressive Tom Greaves (1-29) forced Mauwelge into a high risk shot to leave the score at 107-6. At this point Reed were still on top but unfortunately another partnership between Taylor and Scutt (35) slowly developed and n ot helped by a couple of chances going to waste and not a lot of luck going their way Reed were unable to make any further breakthroughs. In which case inevitably Potters Bar crept up above 200 and with a good finish eventually posted 217-6 in their 50 overs with Taylor making an absolutely crucial and well fought 97 not out for his side. There was no doubt Potters Bar had the momentum on a bowler friendly wicket and [...]
Another additional fixture to the published list was played when Reed’s Fourth XI travelled to Barnet to play Old Elizabethan’s Third XI who usually play their League matches one division higher. Unfortunately for the Reed bowlers, every bad ball seemed to be hit to the long-ish boundary by the home side’s batsmen who were also assisted by some butter-fingers by the Reed fielders. However, Bill Mansfield claimed 3 wickets for 18 runs and Jack Childs took 2 wickets. Matt Yates, Will Kirby, Lloyd Bowman and Benji Mansfield took 1 apiece and the fielding became more reliable with Bill Mansfield’s 2 catches in the deep, Will Kirby’s 1 at cover and Benji Mansfield’s relative skyer at short fine leg. Wicket-keeper, Bobby White, made a fluid stumping off Childs too. Old Es ended their 40 overs at 207 for 9. There were some good individual efforts by Reed’s batsmen in reply, but the writing was on the wall once Old Es’ young colt, James Michelin, started flighting his leg-breaks. Playing his first-ever match in “Open Age” cricket, young Michelin recorded a memorable 6 for 31 with some real ripping spinners. Reed were all-out for 111 with the highest scores coming from Lloyd Bowman, 27, Jack Childs, 20, and Zac Conley, 19. Reed IV lost to Old Elizabethans III by 96 runs.
Annual opponents Little Hadham played host to Reed for the penultimate Sunday fixture of the 2014 season. The strength of his side left Reed captain Rhodri Hughes in no doubt that batting first was the right way to go. Unusually for the visitors the match was arranged as a timed game as Peter Baker and Rob Willoughby started proceedings. Despite the apparent strength of the batting order Reed soon found themselves in trouble with early wickets falling leaving them 37 for 3. Lloyd Bowman began to repair things with some good shots to the leg side. Marcus J.E. Baker now at the wicket soon enough started to play his shots in a care free fashion quickly racking up boundaries. Bowman eventually fell for 27 but Baker continued regardless. His use of the slog sweep and hitting down the wicket proving particularly destructive. Having raced past his 50 and quickly heading towards three figures Baker was then unexpectedly removed thanks to a fantastic diving catch at square leg. Jack Tidey joined Maseeh Naeem at the crease and the pair played without any pressure as Tidey also tallied up 4’s and 6’s. In no time he had also reached his half century before retiring. Hughes decided that Reed’s 233 for 5 was enough so declared. In the 3 overs before the tea break Little Hadham suffered a terrible start as Joe Graves struck twice. After tea Ollie Mansfield quickly claimed his own wicket with a fine line and length. Hughes began to rotate his bowlers with spinners Matt Naeem and Toby Emes taking wickets thanks to catches by M.J.E. Baker and Tidey. Reed soon had their hosts at 32 for 7 before a stubborn partnership between South [...]
Saracens Cricket Club are a wandering side and after missing a few seasons, wandered back to the village green at Reed for a friendly last Sunday. This long-established cricket club is not to be confused with the better known rugby club of the same name who sponsor the Hertfordshire Cricket League. “Friendly” it may have been, but competitive it was. Inserted by Reed captain, MJE Baker, Saracens got under way but lost three wickets quite soon to the pace bowling of Joe Graves, 3 for 23. Rhodri Hughes’s leg-breaks accounted for another batsman as the visitors built their innings steadily, thanks mostly to Matt Ayre with 27, then later, to Ben Wallis, 40, George, 30, and A Young, 24. But once the slow bowling pairing of Fergus Martin and Matthew Naeem was introduced, Saracens only just managed to reach 176 for 9 in their 40 overs. Martin took 2 for 2 and Naeem 3 for 21 as they restricted the lower-order batsmen from a late charge. The Reed reply was promising bigger things as Rhodri Hughes scored 15 in an opening partnership of 25 with Martin, but after he fell to a catch, two further wickets fell cheaply leaving Reed at 39 for 3 in the fifteenth over; well behind the required run rate. Briefly, Ben Moody accompanied Martin as they added 25 then the big-hitting Jack Tidey smacked three sixes in his cameo of 28. Now, still behind the rate, Saracens’ veteran bowlers tied-up Reed’s later batsmen. All this time, Fergus Martin continued in his unflappable approach and predictably passed the milestone of fifty. With just five overs remaining and 9 wickets down, Martin began to hit-out and 22 runs were scored in the [...]
This week there were sufficient players available for Reed’s Fourth XI to arrange a fixture through the Cricket Conference with the north London based club, Mayfield CC. Batting first on a green pitch, Mayfield’s opening batsmen put-on a sound partnership before a little cluster of wickets fell together. Much to his amazement, part-time bowler Steve Hughes had grabbed 3 wickets to well-judged outfield catches by John Kershaw, Bill Mansfield and Zac Conley. A fourth wicket came his way with the aid of a stumping by the “war-wounded”, Lloyd Bowman, who had earlier copped a high-riser on the eyebrow. He bravely resumed after treatment now wisely donning a helmet. Steve Hughes finished with career best figures of 4 for 44. Son, Rhodri, also took a wicket with another catch by Bill Mansfield on the boundary, whilst Mansfield himself, induced a well-deserved wicket when Peter Baker pouched a regulation two-hander in the slips. Matt Yates and the Conley brothers, Zac and Josh, h ad bowled their overs economically and were unlucky not to take wickets. Being a “timed game”, Mayfield declared after 44 overs with the total of 189 for 6. After tea, Peter Baker, (19), and Rhodri Hughes, (18), comfortably put-on 38 for Reed’s first wicket but a change to the slows of Cullen, (4 for 48), impacted on the reply. Number 4, Steve Hoye, scored 16, Bowman, down the order, 11, but the highest score was Bill Mansfield’s 23. Now unable to get anywhere near the required target, it remained for Mayfield to winkle-out the Reed batsmen whose other alternative was to bat-out for a draw. However, the innings closed on 130 all-out leaving the hosts victorious by 59 runs with change-bowler, Ravi Sondh, claiming [...]
