In those first early months of the 2020 season when the weather was mostly hot and sunny, we were not allowed to play any form of cricket. Slowly, restrictions relaxed and net practices began for the Under 15s then extended to the younger age groups and included fielding drills. Co-ordinated by Richard Barlow, he and the Coaches supervised these sessions under strict guidelines and the youngsters were seen on The Green practising and developing skills.
Usually the Colts’ Fixtures would be completed by the end of the school term in late-July. This year, it was then that the Government gave the green light for matches to be played. With thanks to Reed’s Colts Liaison Officer, Hannah Heslam, she hastily arranged a small fixture list for each age-group with like-minded clubs who wished to provide some competitive games for the children who had been frustrated by not being permitted to play. It was also then that the weather decided to change and some of those games have fallen foul of the rain including both Under 9 matches. The Under 9 team managed by Simon Jackson is scheduled to play tonight (1st September) against Hitchin U9s at Reed whilst both the U10s (versus Bishop’s Stortford) and U15s (v. Bedford) are playing away this evening. The U12s have a match at home against St Margaretsbury on Friday the 4th and the U10s are away to Hemel Hempstead next Sunday morning.
Here are some match summaries of the games played so far contributed by the Team Managers, James Heslam (U10), Lee Vincent (U12) and Ian Osborne (U15).
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3rd August. Under 10.
Reed 243 (Net) Knebworth Park 225 (Net).
Reed CC U10s comprising of several of the Reed “Invincibles” U9s of last season plus a few players from last season’s U11s team travelled to Knebworth Park for what was many of their hardball cricketing debuts. Up against a side of more experience and age they put in an excellent performance to win by 18 runs. Reed Captain Josh Heslam set the tone clean bowling two of the Knebworth batsmen in the first over of the game and well supported by Jon Green the visitors were off to a flyer.
Although Knebworth hit a few nice boundaries, all of the young Reed bowling unit bowled well and this contained them to a score of 225, with the pick of the remainder of the attack Rory Longland and 7-year old off spinner Eddie Heslam who bowled 2 overs for 2 wickets and no runs! Reed fielded excellently with a fine catch by Josh Heslam and two run outs, the backing up probably needs some work at Sunday practices! In reply, Reed faced a strong Knebworth bowling attack but held their nerve well to secure a close fought victory. Joseph Rhodes (7) and Josh Heslam (6) were the two Reed batsman to find the boundary as by ticking the scoreboard over on a regular basis Reed amassed a match winning 243 despite losing 5 wickets to the good Knebworth bowling with limited hardball batting experience.—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
11th August. Under 10.
Reed 221 (Net) Thriplow Under 11 282 (Net).
Reed U10s gained further useful match experience in their second hardball match of the season against a strong Thriplow U11s outfit at Reed. In hindsight it was a lot to expect of the young Reed squad missing a few important players and despite the addition of two 11 year-old players from the U12s squad. The challenge of the encounter was clear from the first few overs where Josh Heslam* fresh from his 6 wicket haul and hat-trick for the district U10s side, was a little unlucky but kept largely quiet by the pick of the Thriplow batsman. Although the visitors middle order lacked firepower and Reed came back into the game with Aaron Nash, Harrison S, Jon Green and Eddie Heslam (2-1-3) particularly shining again with the ball, the stronger Thriplow batsman took the visitors to a decent score of 282 from their 20 overs. In reply Reed were immediately on the backfoot as Thriplow’s County Bowlers impressed with pace and accuracy. Despite a well-made 12 runs by Josh Heslam and 7 from Oliver Walters and some nice boundaries from Jon Green, Luke Wilson and Aaran Nash, most of the Reed batsman struggled to make a notable score against the strong and consistent Thriplow attack. Having said this they battled hard to 221 and hopefully returning to U10 opposition will make things easier next time!
* Josh’s splendid performance was in the Herts North Area Colts versus South Area Colts that Reed hosted.
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21st August. Under 10.
Reed 262 (Net) Broxbourne 243 (Net).
The U10s secured their second win of the season!
Reed U10s made it two wins out of two against sides of their own age. This was predominantly thanks to another fine display in the field as the young Reed side bowled extremely well against an older side with district players in their ranks. The whole team bowled very nicely and the pick of the Reed bowlers were Joseph Rhodes (3-6), Josh Heslam (2-4) and Eddie Heslam (2-4) as the hosts were contained to 243 in their 20 overs. In reply Reed made a slow start with runs hard to come by, however there was always the hope that a couple of good overs and the target would be insight and so it proved as Luke Wilson (13) broke the shackles capping the great strides he has been making as a batsman this season and Oscar Brickles (10) with some hard hit boundaries taking Reed level after 16 overs. It was then left to the Nash brothers, Aaron (5) and Liam (9) to see Reed home with a fine last pairing taking them safely to 262 and a convincing victory. With this a debut season for many of the U10s squad they can be very pleased with their progress.
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10th August. Under 12.
Reed 89 all out Broxbourne 141 for 4.
Reed’s Under 12s played their first game in a friendly against Broxbourne on Monday. With this being the first game of the season and the first ever game for many of the Reed players, the bowling and batting duties would be spread among the experienced and new players to keep everyone involved.
Broxbourne batted first and their opening pairing put on 44 for the first wicket. Despite some very tight bowling from Callum Ricketts, Broxbourne scored 85 runs for the second wicket before Tom Green removed 3 for just 5 runs in his second spell, ending with figures of 3 for 14 off 4 overs.
Broxbourne finished on 141 for 4 off their 20 overs.
Pick of the Batsmen:
M Hannington 26 (retired)
D Stark 25 (retired)
Pick of the Bowling:
Tom Green 3 for 14 off 4 overs,
Stanley Johnson 1 for 16 off 2,
Callum Ricketts 0 for 8 off 3.
Reed went into bat requiring 142. This was always going to be a tough target to chase with inexperienced and young (a number of the batsmen are U11 players) and the economical bowling meant that once the more experienced batsmen were out, runs were difficult to come by. Broxbourne were particularly efficient in the field, limiting the number of singles to be had.
Reed reached 89 all out in the 20th over.
Pick of the Batsmen
Callum Ricketts – 15,
Daniel Vincent – 14.
Some glimpses of talent from a number of newcomers…. Aaron Nash and Stanley Johnson following in their respective fathers’ footsteps with some big hitting…..—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
12th August. Under 12.
Reed travelled to St Margaretsbury and scored 94 for 5 off their 20 overs. St. Margaretsbury reached their target in the 15th over, recording 95 for 4 and thus winning by 6 wickets. However, the game continued to allow Reed to bowl their full 20 overs, with the hosts eventually finishing on 121 for 6.—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
18th August. Under 12.
Reed versus Broxbourne
Broxbourne brought a strong team to Reed (stronger than the team which recently beat us at Broxbourne), so we were always going to struggle.
Broxbourne won the toss and elected to bat first. Bringing a particularly strong batting line-up; Broxbourne’s tactic was one of making contact and running every ball – with only 25 dot balls recorded off the Reed bowling. Against the younger and less experienced Reed fielders, this became a winning strategy.
3 Broxbourne batsmen retired, with two dismissals with A Nash and M Barons (both U11 players) taking wickets from straight bowling.
Pick of the Batsmen:
N Fountain: 28 (Retired)
J Evans: 26 (Retired)
B Milne: 28 (Retired)
Pick of the bowlers:
M Barons: 2 Overs. 1 For 8
A Nash: 2 Overs. 1 for 16
D Vincent: 3 overs. 0 for 6
Against such a high target Reed were always going to struggle, especially after losing the normally free scoring T Green early on. Callum Ricketts made his usual steady start at the top of the table, eventually retiring (for the 2nd time in 3 matches) on 28. Unfortunately, the resolute batting from Reed was always going to struggle to achieve the run rate required to trouble Broxbourne, and Reed eventually reached 83 for 4 off their 20 overs.
Pick of the Batsmen
C Ricketts: 28 (Retired)
J Heslam: 12
Pick of the Bowlers:
J Preston: 2 overs. 2 for 1
J Wilson: 2 overs. 1 for 11
A Peires: 2 overs. 0 for 3
Special mention to young J Heslam (9), who was noted by the opposition to be particularly efficient in the field, and who scored a credible 12 off some strong bowling… Josh is slowly making a name for himself in this older age group.
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24th August. Under 12.
Reed versus Knebworth Park.
Reed fielded an extremely youthful side for this match with an average age of under 10.5 and debuts for Eddie Heslam (7), and Toby Cooke (9)
After a strong start, Knebworth lost two wickets to Callum Ricketts in consecutive balls before the middle order steadied the ship and accumulated significant runs.
With two retirements back in the pavilion, Oscar Brickles took his first wicket of the season, before Eddie Heslam unleashed the fireworks with a 3-wicket maiden over, followed by just a single run off his second over…. A perfect demonstration that bowling accuracy wins every time at this age.
Some tight bowling from Matthew Barons, Jon Green and Toby Cooke to finish the innings meant that Knebworth’s total was limited to 137.
Pick of the bowling:
E Heslam 3 for 1 off 2
C Ricketts 2 for 12 off 2
M Barons 0 for 7 off 2
Unfortunately, the accuracy of the Knebworth bowling (giving just 20 extras from wides and No Balls compared with 43 off the Reed bowling) meant that the target was a difficult run chase – with the young Reed team struggling to hit boundaries.
Reed finished on 83 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Callum Ricketts again showing some measured score building ending on 23. Knebworth Park won by 54 runs.
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31st August. Under 12.
Reed versus Letchworth Garden City.
Reed hosted Letchworth U11s on a sunny Bank Holiday Monday, won the toss and opted to bat.
Letchworth had already identified that they had a strong U11s side, with many of their players representing North Herts district. And it was evident early that strong, bowling was going to dictate the play.
Daniel Vincent was bowled on his 3rd ball, followed immediately by Aaron Nash – both to crisp, accurate balls.
Young opener Josh Heslam was steady at the crease (in imitation of a much older James Heslam), and a partnership was developing with Matthew Barons before another pair of wickets fell in quick succession. With wickets being lost at regular intervals, Tom Green and Callum Rickets built a late 28-run partnership, before Tom Green was bowled.
Reed eventually lost their 10th wicket for a total 91 runs after 20.1 overs.
It had been decided prior to the start of the match that all 25 overs would be bowled – and the returning Daniel Vincent batted far more freely and fluidly now that the pressure was off; scoring an additional 18 runs off 11 balls. After 25 overs, Reed accumulated 119 runs.
Letchworth’s batting line up was extremely strong at the top end, with their opening batsman retiring on 25 after facing just 15 balls.
However, bowling was once again going to play its part. Accurate bowling from Reed meant that wides and no balls were few and far between (only 13 runs from wides and 3 runs from No Balls being conceded). Although the run rate was minimised by the clinical bowling, Reed’s 91 was chased down in 18.4 with the loss of 3 Letchworth wickets.
With the top order batsmen out, Reed had opportunities to attack the tail. With the proper match over and the pressure released, Reed limited Letchworth to only 17 further runs for the last 6 overs.
Key contributors:
Bowling
Stanley Johnson 1 wicket for 4 runs off 2 overs
Dafydd Hill 1 wicket for 5 runs off 2 overs
Callum Ricketts 1 wicket for 5 runs off 3 overs
Jon Green 1 wicket for 8 runs off 2 overs
Aaron Nash 1 wicket for 12 runs of 2 overs
Batting
Tom Green 20
Letchworth won the actual match by 7 wickets, (although Reed scored 7 more runs than Letchworth off their full 25 overs).
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3rd August. Under 15.
Reed versus Little Shelford.
The players in Reed’s U15 Group actually range between U12 and U14 so are matched against players much older and more experienced.
Little Shelford 173 for 3. Reed 125 for 6.
Sam Osborne retired not out on 33 and similarly Max Sanderson also retired with 30 not out.
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7th August. Under 15.
Reed versus Saffron Walden.
Saffron Walden 176 for 4. Reed 116 for 4.
Sam Osborne and Max Sanderson each scored 30 then had to retire.
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20th August. Under 15.
Reed versus Waresley.
Reed 142 for 4. Waresley 113 all out.
Again batsmen Sam Osborne (33) and Max Sanderson (32) had to retire in Reed’s innings.
Olu Agboola took 3 Waresley wickets for 9, Oli Tapsall took 2 for 11 and Sam Osborne chipped-in with 2 for 18.
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