Ed Wharton destroyed Flitwick’s batting order taking 6-41 from his 20 overs, including a devastating spell of 6-4 either side of tea. This included the host’s big gun, George Thurstance, but he could not account for his brother, Harry, who held the tail together with a defiant 89 not out. He frustrated Reed’s bowlers, putting on over 100 runs for the eighth and ninth wickets, even surviving the 24 overs delivered in the final hour.
Earlier, Reed had stuttered to 85-4 at lunch, having used up over half of their overs, only Rob Lankester looking comfortable against Flitwick’s new ball attack on an unusually green wicket. He and Stuart Smith (44) then put together a half century partnership which swung the momentum Reed’s way until he was stumped one short of a deserved 50. Just like last week, Smith provided the support for Tom Greaves (31) and Sean Tidey (23 not out) to accelerate the scoring just achieving 3 batting bonus points with a final total of 225-8.
This looked more than enough for a victory until Thurstance steered Flitwick to 162-8 and left Reed frustrated with a winning draw and 16 points.
Match report submitted by Peter Wholley.
