Richard Wharton clipped the winning runs down to fine leg to record his ton, but the touch was so fine that the umpire signalled 4 byes. This left Wharton agonisingly on 97 not out. Nevertheless, thanks to an excellent opening partnership of 132 with Will Heslam (45) Reed coasted to victory by 9 wickets in only 25 overs. As a measure of Wharton’s dominance, his innings contained 15 boundaries and 5 towering sixes with two lost balls.
The pressure had been taken off Reed’s reply when Sawbridgeworth decided to bat and subsided to 49-6 thanks to a disciplined opening spell of seam bowling from Jack Tidey (11-4-33-4) and Toby Fynn (13-4-39-2). Both repeatedly beat the outside edge and supported by superb catches from Stuart Smith and Sean Tidey they tore the heart out of the host’s batting. The latter recovered somewhat through captain, Charlie Mann (38) and a battling last wicket stand of 42. However, Reed’s spinners Tom Greaves and Sean Tidey both took two wickets apiece leaving Sawbridgeworth’s total of 150 well below par on what turned out to be a fine batting track.
Reed have now won 7 of this season’s 10 matches.
Report submitted by Peter Wholley.
