Reed 1st XI met their match at the home of last year’s Herts Premier League champions. Electing to bat first in a match reduced to 40 overs per side, Potters Bar steadily accumulated runs with careful batting. Gale (24) and Hussain (35) built the platform for their innings while Sri Lankan, Wijesuriya (50) and South African, Machado (31) accelerated the scoring rate with J. Scott , Bannister and Chapman finishing in a flurry of boundaries. 216-8 was a formidable total on a wind swept afternoon.
Reed’s bowlers toiled manfully with Toby Fynn in particular containing the openers to finish with figures of 8-2-27-1. Ed Wharton (2-45) and Kapil Dave (1-46) also deserve mention for bowling at the death and could have had further reward should sharp chances have been taken.
The batsmen, in contrast, struggled against their host’s accurate varied attack. Only Rob Lankester’s stylish 53 caught the eye as he struck 5 fours and 2 sixes with a range of aggressive strokeplay. However, the quest for the big shot down the ground accounted for three of Reed’s top four so when Lankester finally holed out the innings subsided losing 6 wickets for 26 runs in a total of 117 in 30 overs.
The team will have to fight hard for every point in the top division this season.
Match Report submitted by Peter Wholley.
Note: Reed 1st XI scored 5 points from playing in this match. Meanwhile, both Reed 2nd XI and Reed 3rd XI started their campaigns with 10 points each as both games were cancelled because of the widespread rain!
