Broxbourne won the toss and elected to bowl. Openers Jacob Vincent and Ollie Cambridge attacked the Broxbourne bowlers from the first ball, scoring a quick-fire 22 from the first 3 overs, with any loose balls heading to the boundary.
A wicked delivery in the 4th over saw Ollie Cambridge caught for 6 from 12. George Wood came to the crease. A change of bowlers slowed the run-rate, and the scoreboard pressure told, with Jacob being stumped after chasing the spinner, ending on 19 from 32.
Newly-invigorated Eddie Cook joined George and his attacking style started to bring Reed back into the game, scoring freely until missing one – bowled on 17 from 21 – An excellent contribution.
Oli Tapsell made a cameo appearance 1st ball 4, 2nd ball out.
Daniel Vincent played a similar cameo 1 from 2
Reed were back in trouble on 83 for 5 in the 15th over. The saving grace was that we had surpassed our previous total against Broxbourne! And with plenty of batters left in the hutch, George and Callum Ricketts were free to swing.
And they duly obliged ……. There were only 8 dot balls from the remaining 27 and Reed ended on a creditable 114 for 5. George Wood 22 from 26, and Callum Ricketts 13 from 14. With the openers doing their job of seeing off the opening bowling spell, the rest of the team are starting to open up and accelerate the run rate.
Whilst vastly improved from the 83 scored in the 1st match of the season, defending 114 was always going to be difficult, and Reed needed to take wickets.
George Wood and Ollie Cambridge formed the opening seam/spin pairing which has worked so effectively all season. However, the Broxbourne openers were steadfast and it wasn’t until the 4th over before George got an edge – Caught by W-K Aaron Nash.
It was the first and last wicket to be taken, and it was only a matter of time that the experienced Broxbourne batters ground out the win.
Pick of the bowlers (on an unforgiving day) was George Wood (3-0-1-20), Ollie Cambridge (3-0-0-15) and Callum Ricketts (3-0-0-20).
Broxbourne are always a stern test, but the matches are always played in the right spirit with lots of mutual respect between the team members (some of whom have played each other for years).
Next up is the daunting Bishops Stortford 1st team – unbeaten and unrivalled in this year’s competition.
Match Report submitted by Lee Vincent.
