Reed 4s last League match of the season took them to the scenic ground of St Christopher’s School in Letchworth to face Stevenage 6s.
Skipper Lloyd Bowman’s run of winning the toss came to an end and the Stevenage skipper put the visitors into bat. Reed opened with Bill Mansfield and Martin Johnson and they immediately began to assert themselves against the young Stevenage bowling attack. Both batsman played a variety of shots around the ground as they raced to 63 off the first 12 overs. The introduction of off-spinner C.Downing provided Stevenage with their first wicket, forcing a false shot off of Mansfield on 41 and the ball was caught at mid-wicket (63-1). Neil Gardner returning after nearly four years now joined Johnson and despite that time gap didn’t look out-of-place. The pair had taken the score to 87 when Gardner tried to cut a ball that was too close to him and was bowled by A.Greenall for 7 (87-2).
Enter Zac Conley back after a four-week absence and immediately went on the offensive punishing balls of good length as well as any short or wide, Johnson was getting in on the act too, and the pair increased the run rate. Johnson was the first to reach his fifty and three overs later Conley brought up his. The Stevenage skipper had no option but to shuffle his bowlers against the onslaught. The 150, then the 100 partnership were brought up and at 30 overs Reed were 210 for 2 and a massive total was beckoning. By this time Conley had overtaken Johnson and on the pair went. They reached 250 in the 34th Over and in the 37th had established a record 3rd Wicket Partnership for the 4s.
Johnson played one shot too many on 88 and was caught, 278 for 3,(a 191 partnership) Conley continued on relentlessly and reached his century. Matt Yates went for just 1, (293-4) and Conley eventually retired out for a majestic 127 including 14 fours and 6 sixes, (315 for 5) with 5 overs remaining. The remainder of the Reed batting came and went but the damage had been done, when skipper Bowman was dismissed for 7, Reed had made 335 in 44.4 Overs.
How would Stevenage respond to this mammoth total ? It took only two balls for Matt Yates (6-1-17-1) to bowl the opener Slater.Both Yates and Neil Haslam turned the screw and Stevenage found runs had to come by. Haslam took his first wicket in the 8th over yorking Joshi (24 for 2), he then bowled a huge inswinger to rearrange the stumps of Zargar in his next over (26 for 3), and after initially appealing for an non-existence lbw the ball had hit the bat of Welch and Mansfield took a great catch (31-4). Haslam ended his spell with figures of 7-2-14-3. Two quick wickets followed as Zac Conley (2-2-0-1) and Freddie Ancliff (3-0-5-1) taking a wicket with his first ball in adult cricket and Stevenage were now 31 for 6. With the score on 42, Reed were gifted a run out due to a misunderstanding between the two Stevenage Batsmen. Johnnie Adam (3-0-18-2) took both his wickets in the 21st Over and Stevenage were now 53 for 9, the game looked over, but was it ?
The last pair for Stevenage, hadn’t read the script and as Lloyd Bowman decided to bring on other bowlers the two batsmen began to attack, they played some great shots. Skipper Bowman himself removed his wicket keeping gear to come on to bowl his leg-spin (5-0-32-0), however, the tenth wicket partnership went past fifty and brought up the 100 total for the team. Bowman used George Adam (2-0-17-0), Graham Stuart (4-0-14-0) and Bill Mansfield (2-0-8-0), without a breakthrough and despite a couple of hard catching chances being put down the Stevenage pair went on. In the 38th over Martin Johnson, bowled to L.Allen who by this time had passed his fifty, he lobbed a catch to Matt Yates who peddled back and took the catch high above his head, Stevenage were all out for 147, the last pair having put on 96 in 17 overs. Reed victorious by a massive 188 runs and even better they confirmed their promotion as Champions.
Skipper Lloyd Bowman said after the game ” I can’t fault any of the lads today, to come away from home and score over 300 runs is simply superb. Zac will deservedly take the plaudits for another great knock but the solid foundations that Martin & Bill laid down at the start really sent us on our way and then even the tail all chipped in.
The bowling was again superb, and backed up by some great fielding and we never looked like letting the batsman settle.
It’s been a great first year, as skipper & everybody involved with the 4s has played a part at some stage of the season & I’m now looking forward to 2016.”
Report submitted by Neil Haslam.
