Reed 2nd XI hosted Ampthill Town 2nd XI up at The Green last weekend. On a beautiful May afternoon Ampthill won the toss and chose to bowl, in an attempt to benefit from the morning’s showers.
Reed’s openers got off to a good start, putting on 52 for the first wicket before Matt Bowles was bowled for 13. George Garrott fell shortly after for 5 bringing Matt Sampson to the crease. Both he and Phil Frenay accumulated runs at a steady rate, in an attempt to lay the foundations for a sizeable total on a placid pitch. Frenay finally fell for 89, 2 runs short of the hundred partnership. Reed were 160-3 with 10 overs remaining. Reed debutant George Teeboon (23) and Sampson upped the run rate before the latter was caught for 56. Both Teeboon and Karl Ward (18) swung from the hip for the final few overs and Reed ended on a slightly below par 218-6.
Reed knew that they had their work cut out to restrict Ampthill on a good batting wicket. Peter Tidey (2-27) and Karl Ward (1-11) opened up proceedings in typically frugal fashion removing Ampthill’s top 3 between them. After the introduction of Owen Hughes (0-25) and Jean-Marc Maujean (0-13) drew a blank and Ampthill’s batsmen started to make inroads in to Reed’s total, Frenay turned to Sampson (3-20) and Garrott (2-35) who bowled beautifully and ended Ampthill’s hopes of getting a positive outcome for the game. All that was left was for Bowles (1-0) to collect the last wicket which resulted in a Reed victory by 84 runs.
Report submitted by Phil Frenay.
