In the second meeting of the season, (the first being in the Cup competition), the Reed Under 13 Team again travelled to Bishop’s Stortford to face a strong, well-drilled side. Winning the toss, captain Callum Ricketts opted to bat.
Reed struggled to put runs on the board when facing some very tight, fast, accurate, bowling. Progress was slow, with wickets falling cheaply in the 2nd (Eddie Cooke – 0) and 5th overs (Charlie Hawker – 0).
Tom Green and Callum Rickets formed a steady partnership for 10 overs before Callum fell in the 15th over, having scored 17.
With Reed on 40 runs, things were looking ominous.
Daniel Vincent joined Tom in the middle and they attempted to accelerate the run rate through strike rotation and the occasional boundary.
38 runs were added in 28 balls before Tom (caught for 17) and Daniel (bowled for 18) both fell in the last over in successive balls attempting to clear the boundary. The hat-trick was completed with the wicket of Gethin Hill (bowled – 0) before Natasha McNamara (0) and Stanley Johnson (0) saw out the final balls of the innings.
Reed posted 81 runs and went into the field under no illusions of the enormity of the task ahead of them. The only path to victory was to load the opening bowlers in the hope of quick wickets.
It was to no avail and when Callum Rickets (1 over, 0 maidens, 0 wickets for 2 runs), Daniel Vincent (3-0-0-12) and Eddie Cooke (3-0-0-27) ended their spell, Bishop’s Stortford were on 44 for no loss. Lewis Abdul Karim (2-0-0-15), Tash McNamara (1-0-0-7) and Stanley Johnson (1-0-0-6) were unable to make inroads, but Gethin Hill (2-0-2-9) made an impact on the match, taking two wickets with his first two balls – one of which his father actually saw!
Bishop’s Stortford cruised to victory in the 13th over, finishing on 82 for 2.
Whilst the margin of victory wasn’t small – it was a significant improvement over the previous meeting earlier in the season. Reed scored more runs (58 v 81), lost less wickets (10 v 6) and made Bishop’s Stortford work harder for their runs… Which shows that this team is progressively improving as the season develops and there is much to look forward to in the second half of the season.
Match report submitted by Lee Vincent.
