The 1st XI lost out in a close game to Chorleywood on Saturday as they were unable to match the high standards they have set in the recent excellent run.
On a scorching day the visitors won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to bat. Although Toby Fynn (10-39-1) took an early wicket Chorleywood got off to a reasonable start on what looked a decent batting wicket as they reached 55-1 off 14 overs with the Reed fielding a little under par at times in the heat. However the reliable Jack Tidey (10-33-3) then struck three times in quick succession to reduce the visitors to 71-4. Phil Lill (10-24-4) then came on and continued his fine performances with the ball putting Reed well on top with Chorleywood reduced to 125-9 also helped by a good spell by Tom Greaves (10-40-1). Although the last wicket added 32, when Reece Fitzgerald (1-1-1) took the last wicket the final score of 157 all out on a decent track looked well within Reed’s reach.
However, the home side got off to an unusually rocky start as James Heslam went for just 5 and then William Heslam (14) and Chris Jackson (0) departed leaving Reed 39-3 off 15 overs. To be fair to Chorleywood their bowling has been performing pretty well all season and they bowled tightly and with a fair bit of seam movement potentially helped by a new ball which had to be swapped after just 14 overs. At this point Reed then began to dig in as required and turn the tide as the inform Greaves (40) and Smith (27) took the score along to 86-3 off 28 overs. Another flurry of wickets then brought Chorleywood back into the game but following this the free-scoring Sean Tidey (25) and Smith looked like they were going to guide Reed to victory as they got the home side to 122-5 off 34 overs. However the game then changed dramatically in the visitors favour as Tidey and then Smith went the latter unfortunately LBW and following this Reed collapsed to 138 all out despite having 11 overs to spare.
With two games to go Reed are out of the race for 2nd place but have their final league position to play for where it is tight in the top half, starting with a 4th vs 5th contest away to Langleybury this Saturday.
