After one 1st Round victory and two concessions, Reed found themselves matched against Preston in the Herts & Beds Regional Final of the National Village Cup on Sunday at Reed. Batting first, Preston didn’t cope with Jack Tidey’s aggressive spell of 8 overs in which he rocked the visitors by taking 3 for 16. Opener Morecroft survived to make 24 then later Hill (30), Kenna (24) and Murrell (26) tried to build a defendable total, but with further wickets falling regularly to Karl Ward (2) and Sean Tidey (2), Preston were able only to reach 149 for 8 in their 40 overs.
After the interval, William Heslam looked intent on attack and quickly out-scored partner, Richard Wharton, before losing his off stump to Murrell’s spinner. Heslam had made 28 of the 46 opening partnership but the second wicket then added 92 when Rob Lankester came in at number 3. He became one of Walker’s 2 wickets but not before hitting a scintillating 60, of which 44 were in boundaries. All the while, Wharton was compiling a solid half-century of his own and was out for 52 just when the scores were levelled. It required Chris Jackson to knock the winning single accompanied by Stuart Smith who did not need to face a delivery. Reed won comfortably in the 34th over by 7 wickets.
In the next round, Reed will represent Herts & Beds against Foxton who won the Cambs & Norfolk Group thanks to a concession by their opponents from Fordham. That match is scheduled for Sunday 25th June starting at 1pm at Foxton. This fixture promises to be a close encounter for local bragging rights in the Village Cup; after all Foxton were beaten finalists at Lord’s just a couple of years ago whilst Reed won the Cup in 2012.
Report submitted by PGB.
