As he continues to do, Captain Bowman won the toss and invited Letchworth to bat on a very dry pitch. The first 20 overs had an ominous feeling with Connor Pond, on a run fest against us for the second time this season. Then after the drinks break and a number of bowling changes, Steve Hughes bowled Pond (131) to a loud cry of rejoice from the bowler, this batman having collected 363 runs against Reed this season. The first wicket being a stand of 178. Meanwhile the other opener, Cruttenden (89), continued to collect runs before Bowman took an excellent catch off Matt Yates (8-1-49-1). Wickets continued to fall at the other end, with the bowlers sharing the spoils, with those having bowled to Pond not being as economical with the exception of Neil Haslam (7-0-41-0) who’s first ball had gone for 6. The other figures being Martin Johnson (8-2-53-2), Hughes (7-1-62-2), Matt Naeem (8-0-50-1) and Jonny Adam (2-0-9-0). Letchworth achieved 274 for 6 off their 40 overs.
After tea, and with Pond opening the bowling, Reed started well, treating the bowling of Pond with respect but collecting runs from the generally young bowling attack. Martin Johnson’s rich vein of form was to continue, as he made his way to his third consecutive hundred, an unbeaten 131, with 26 boundaries, two of which were 6’s. He was ably supported by Paul Garrott (37) and Peter Baker (32) with stands of 82 and 85 for the first and second wickets. Baker collecting most of his runs in boundaries. Reed achieved their winning total of 275 in the 30th over, with Bill Mansfield (10) and Bowman (13) supporting Johnson towards the end of the innings. Extras also contributed substantially to the total.
With both teams fielding less than 11 players, and with a fast outfield, the match yielded in excess of 550 runs for the fall of 10 wickets in 70 overs. Reed managing to reverse the loss against this opposition earlier in the season. With Letchworth playing this home game in Stanstead Abbotts at a ground some distance from Letchworth.
Report submitted by Steve Hughes.
