Reed II’s bounced back from last weekend’s disappointing defeat to Ickleford by thumping Welwyn garden City III’s in what Captain Marcus Martin has called “a good a team performance as I’ve seen from us”.
On what proved to be a very tricky wicket, Martin won the toss and perhaps mistakenly, opted to bat first on the drying surface. Richard Johnson and Phil Frenay opened up for the visitors and negotiated what proved to be an extremely difficult new ball period very well. With the ball leaping off of a length, it wasn’t long before Frenay was calling for his helmet. Johnson (22) was the first to depart as the pair put on 43 for the loss of the first wicket. When Frenay followed the next ball for 20, owing to a stunning catch at midwicket, Reed were in a spot of bother all of a sudden. Matt Bowles and skipper Martin then calmed things down as they looked to build upon the solid start afforded them by the openers. With the ball still misbehaving, Martin and Bowles had to weather some hostile bowling early doors. They moved the score on to 79 when Bowles was harshly adjudged LBW for 9. Marcus J.E. Baker (1) soon followed Bowles back to the butch as he was caught and Reed were again in trouble on 85-4.
However Martin and incoming batsman Jack Caine then took over. The pair mixed solid defence with good, strong attacking shots as they began to take advantage of a flattening pitch and an older ball. Caine was striking the ball in magnificent fashion whilst Martin became more fluent with every over. They batted brilliantly and soon had Reed motoring as the total passed first the 150 and then 200 mark. The score was on 210 when Martin finally fell for a true ‘captains knock’ of 81. Reece Fitzgerald (10 Not Out) then played a mature innings at the end with Caine (61 Not Out) as Reed amassed what looked a well above par 232-5 in their allotted 50 Overs.
The home sides reply got off to a solid enough start, although the hard new ball was still misbehaving enough to provide the bowling side with enough hope that wickets would soon follow. With the Welwyn openers chancing their arm, Reed soon struck. Aidan Woodcock (6-0-25-1) nipping the ball back to remove Meyers leg stump with the score on 24. Willis and Russell steadied things again for the home side, but when caught and bowled by Pete Tidey (10-0-37-1) Reed began to get a stranglehold on the game.
The introduction of Karl Ward and Reece Fitzgerald soon had Reed well on top. Ward bowled with superb control as he ‘let the pitch do the work’ for him. He removed the gobby Fitzgerald for an entertaining duck before also taking the wickets of Little and Hayward to finish with the excellent figures of 10-2-3-26. Reece Fitzgerald, who thankfully let his cricket do the talking unlike his opposition name sake, also bowled superbly. The highlight of his spell was a stunning caught and bowled to remove the hard hitting Mercer on his way to figures of 10-1-3-21. With Welwyn waving the white flag, it was left to Caine to mop up the tail and round of his best performance for the team to date as he removed both Dolan and Maqsood, leaving the classy Willis 60 Not Out but the homeside all out for 136 in little over 40 Overs.
Reed winning by 96 runs to claim their full 30 points for the 3rd time in 4 games this season.
