Reed 3rd XI travelled to Great Gaddesden for the third league game of the season. Captain Robertson chose to bat after winning the toss. Bowles and Willoughby first took to the crease, playing themselves in and looking to find form. The tight bowling of Cheeseman Jr, and Hearn kept the run rate low. The miserly bowling continued with Mackay and Ambrose, with the frustration getting to Bowles (18) who was caught behind off the bowling of Mackay (10-4-16-2).
This brought the powerful George Greaves to the crease, who set to the bowling with purpose, however the bowling once again tightened up, slowing the run rate. Greaves (32) then fell to the bowling of Cheeseman Jr. (10-2-27-2) in the 41st over. Reed then struggled on for the last 10 overs with Naeem (2), Morss (2) and Graves (1) all falling victim to the bowling of Upton (10-1-30-3) while Moody (0) was caught off the bowling of Mackay and Robertson (12) was clean bowled by Cheeseman Jr. Roberts (9*) and O. Hughes (1*) were left at the crease when the last ball was bolwed leaving Reed 163 – 8 from their 50 overs.
It was the father/son combo of Cheeseman Sr. and Jr. that led the Great Gaddesden chase, with John Jr. (8) falling victim to the attacking bowling of Joe Graves. Hulin then continued the run chase while Cheeseman Sr. (20) was dismissed by a well taken catch (Bowles) from the bowling of Hughes (5-0-18-1). This brought Warren to the crease who changed the pace of the game with a series of fine strokes. Hulin (29) was finished by Rice (2-0-14-1) while Morss (10-3-11-2) tied up the batsmen. Frustration got the better of Hearn (1) and Crawley (14) who were trapped LBW by Morss. Bailey (3) fell victim to Graves and Mackay (1) to Robertson. Warren (65)was finally defeated by Graves (10-3-28-3). The scores tightened as Robertson bowled Graham (1), However Ambrose (11) continued to score and in the 43rd over Upton (4) hit the winning runs. Reed were defeated yet all had enjoyed a game that could have gone either way, right to the last minute.
