On this occasion, Rhodri Hughes lost the toss, which was not to prove critical with Reed 3rd XI put into bat on this hot bank holiday Saturday. The Hoddesdon opening bowlers of Savanhu and Osborne (4 maidens in a row) were either notably fast and/or accurate. There was the loss of Peter Baker (4) in the 6th over bowled by Osborne with the score on 10. Fortunately, Savanhu only bowled in 3 over spells as he tired, and his last 2 were bowled off a much shorter run. Paul Garrott (38) and Rob Willoughby (45) went steadily about the run collection so that Reed were 95 at the end of the 24th over having lost Paul in that over but not before we witnessed the rarity of Paul hitting a 6. There followed the loss of Scott Nash (9) to a good catch in the deep. Then Rhodri Hughes increased the scoring rate with a quick 33, which included 6 fours, before dancing down the wicket and being stumped. The total was pushed onto 229 with some fine hitting and running between the wickets by Julien Fynn (59 not out) and Maseeh Naeem (18 not out and breathing heavily at the end). We then had tea supplied by Lloyd Bowman, who didn’t play as he was at “Twickers” but had been ably replaced by Bill Mansfield.

Hoddesdon lost 2 early wickets, bowled by Fynn (2 for 18 in 7 overs) in a fine opening spell alongside Joe Graves (0 for 28 in 6 overs). Terry Savanhu then proved that he was not just an opening bowler with a robust 50 before an excellent catch by Baker off the bowling of Steve Hughes (2 for 46 in 9 overs), probably a key point in the Hoddesdon innings. Garrott had also already taken a good clean catch of a high ball at point. Neil Haslam (1 for 29 in 7 overs) had joined the wicket takers bowling Roberts, which maintained the pressure. There was good support from Oliver Hughes (37) before Baker took his second fine catch of the day off the bowling of Scott Nash. The scoring rate was now climbing due to some tight bowling and the continuing loss of wickets. Nash collected 2 more wickets in a fine spell (3 for 13 in 6 overs) of accurate bowling. The last Hoddesdon wicket fell in the 40th over to Rob Willoughby (2 for 15 in 4.2 overs) leaving Hoddesdon on 156 all out and Reed with a 73-run victory and keeping the hopes of promotion alive. This victory moving Reed into 3rd place in their league, leaping above Bushey over the weekend.

Match Report submitted by Steve Hughes.