For once, Reed Firsts had a comfortable win against a Broxbourne side that had trounced them on The Green earlier this season.
Having won the toss, Skipper, Tom Greaves, made what in retrospect was a good decision to insert the opposition. His bowlers all came up to the mark by taking wickets at regular intervals. Toby Fynn and Zac McGuigan opened in their usual miserly fashion, both chipping in with a wicket caught behind by Sean Tidey. The real breakthrough, however, was made by Chris Chambers who clean bowled George Davies and captain, Chris Sargent, with consecutive balls. Davies was the chief architect of Reed’s downfall in that aforementioned match, scoring 143. This left Broxbourne on 76 for 5 at the halfway mark. Thereafter the spinners took over with Greaves taking 2-30 and Bertie Scott claiming 4-12 from just 6 overs, including the wicket of top scorer Connor Ridley, well caught on the fence by Will Heslam. Broxbourne 152 all out.
With such a strong batting line up, this looked like a walk in the park for Reed and so it proved despite losing two early wickets. Sam Osborne (43) and Rob Lankester then built a century partnership, playing carefully at first then accelerating against the four spinners. They hit 13 boundaries between them and Lankester added two maximums, one of them over the sight screen to end the match with just four wickets down. He was justifiably named man of the match for his 77 not out.
With that win, Reed have ensured they will play in the Championship again next year, but first they entertain Shenley Village on The Green next week with the visitors needing to win to secure a play off place.
Match Report submitted by Peter Wholley.
