With no league fixture this week, Reed 4th XI were keen to carry on their momentum from victory on the opening weekend and organised a challenging 40/40 away friendly against Essex County Division 2 side ‘Aztecs of Ilford CC’.
A much changed side to the previous week saw opportunity given to several of the upcoming promising young colts in the club. Skipper Lloyd Bowman won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Jack Childs (8-1-38-2) was first to strike early on, trapping the opener Mubgeen for just 6. Fellow opener, Zac Conley (8-0-35-1) also quickly trapped the new batsman and Aztecs appeared in a spot of bother at 34-2.
Despite this, opener Ramjith and Nakhuda frustrated the Reed attack for a long period and went about rebuilding the innings well before young spinner Toby Emes (8-0-33-1) finally deservedly got the breakthrough bowling Nakhuda for 63. Bill Mansfield attacked the Aztecs line up with his medium-pace and was unlucky on several occasions before finally removing opener Ramjith for 41. Whilst at the other end, on his debut 13 year old Jonathan Adam bowled very well, keeping a tight line throughout and was unfortunate to not get a reward for his spell. As the overs ticked on Ali Naqi (34*) and Lon (55) added quick runs before the returning Jack Childs trapped the latter, as Aztecs finished on a very good 251-5.
In reply, Reed’s batsmen were simply blown away by Ali S (8-1-27-7) whose swing bowling tore apart the upper order early on. Only Bill Mansfield (11), Graham Stuart (11) and Conley (10) offered some damage limitation in the middle order. On a brighter note, tail-ender Jack Childs looked comfortable in the middle, and played several great shots to stake his claim for a move up the order. Childs was left stranded on 21* when he ran out of partners and Reed were finally put out of their misery for just 75.
This friendly was always going to be challenging for Reed’s fourth eleven against an experienced Aztecs side. However, the young colts involved certainly were certainly enthusiastic throughout and despite the score line there are several positives for them to take away from this experience.
