With Reed on a winning streak, the visit of St. Margaretsbury was hotly anticipated – as these matches are often closely-fought. After a season of training, we were able to offer league debuts for both Effie Bone and Scarlett Blaney….. Forming a team comprised of a mix of experience and unfamiliarity.
St. Margaretsbury won the toss and elected to Bat first…. The opening Bowling of Callum Ricketts, Daniel Vincent and Tom Green looked strong, Daniel taking an early clean-bowled wicket and Tom Green collecting dots for fun. With one wayward ball speeding past the backstop for 4, Daniel finished his spell 3-0-1-11, and Tom Green ended on 3-0-0-14.
St. Margaretsbury were on 34 for 1 after 7 overs. A steady start…. Which changed rapidly when SM attacked the middle-order bowlers… putting on 44 runs in the next 4 overs. The SM opener retired on 35 in the 11th over having crashed a 6 over the boundary.
Charlie Cannon joined the bowling attack and immediately had an impact, taking a wicket with his 4th ball and giving away nothing…. ending his spectacular spell with 3-1-2-7…. And SM on 96-3 off 16. Reed were back in the match.
Debutants Scarlett (1-0-0-7) and Effie (1-0-0-5); along with William Longfield-King (1-0-0-4), Oliver Tallis (1-0-0-7) and Sam Dawson (1-0-0-9) ably supporting the main bowlers. Callum finished the innings with two tight overs and a wicket, finishing 3-0-1-13.
SM ended on 120-4…. A tough ask.
Reed started the batting with the unusual, but normally exciting, pair of Daniel Vincent and Charlie Cannon… And they got off to a flyer. Attacking one end on particular, they accumulated 26 runs in 21 balls before Charlie fell LBW (13), followed immediately by Oliver Tallis with the next ball. With Reed on 26 for 2 Callum joined Daniel at the crease and everything looked settled with steady runs and sensible batting, until Daniel was bowled for 17 by an absolute peach, swiftly followed by Sam Dawson (0).
Reed had spread its batting experience deep for this game, and Tom Green joined Callum with Reed on 41 for 4 in the 7th over, and SM well on top.
With two of the most experienced players in the middle, they kept an eye on the scoreboard and rotated the strike in a masterclass of hit-and-run batting. Knowing they needed a little over a run a ball, Tom and Callum just made sure they made contact and ran whenever possible. Nothing spectacular, and nothing foolish… With the occasional boundary keeping the required run-rate manageable.
With Reed entering the final over requiring a single run, and both Tom and Callum on 29 and in touching distance of forced retirement… It fell to Callum to land the final blow and win the match with a lovely boundary four to finish on 33 not out.
With two tough matches left in the season, Reed lie 3rd in the table. A probable “winner-takes-all” (OK-3rd) match-up against Bishop’s Stortford the last match, Reed hopes it will be third time lucky to finish on a high.
Match report submitted by Lee Vincent.
