In the first round of the Keatley Cup Reed faced Therfield at home. Therfield elected to bat first on a damp wicket and got off to a reasonable start despite a tight opening spell by Graham Wilson conceding just 8 runs in his 3 8-ball overs. However, as the visitors looked to accelerate further they lost wickets at regular intervals and were kept to under a hundred with Emms and Heslam taking 3 wickets a piece. In reply Reed didn’t start well with Heslam and Chris Jackson going cheaply but Simon Jackson played a fluent knock scoring 29 in no time including a straight six to add momentum to the home sides innings. The departure of S Jackson run out from the boundary brought Gary Bridge to the crease who hit two big sixes in his hard hitting 43 not out to see Reed home with the aid of a solid looking Tom Fulk (12 not out) with 3 overs to spare.

Reed swept to a convincing 7 wicket victory against Preston in the John Barker Cup on Wednesday. Preston, 2 divisions above Reed, fell victim to some accurate and tight opening bowling by Wilson (2-24), and raw pace delivered by Richard Johnson, saw him bag 4 wickets, helping to reduce Preston to a total of 128 off their allotted 20 overs. With a steep target before them, combined with statistically superior bowling, Reed proved the critics wrong by scoring heavily early on. James Heslam (34), was well supported by Simon Jackson (26) before Chris Jackson assumed the mantle of run scoring responsibility by hammering a quickfire 32. After he fell to some fast bowling by Gatehouse, Ray Kingshott saw saw the local lads home with a patient 18. A dejected Preston, saw Reed cruise to victory with more than 4 overs to spare, allowing them to advance confidently into the next round.

Reeds brave midweek side had to settle for Runners up spot in the John Barker Cup. After making up for Keatley Cup disappointments with an exciting campaign in the Herts midweek competition which included victories over Herts Division 1 and 2 opposition, Reed lost out to Division 1 Letchworth in Fridays final. Reed got off to a good start reducing their opponents to 11-2 after 2 overs thanks to good opening overs from William Clarke and Michael Berks, the latter dismissing the dangerous Bowyer first ball of the game. However Letchworth responded in excellent fashion scoring 41 runs off the next 4 overs. With the batsmen using the pace of Reeds openers Reed midweek captain James Heslam turned to the swing of Peter Tidey who soon pegged Letchworth back taking a wicket in his first over. From then on Reed tightened things up and Johnson and the returning Berks supported Tidey well leaving Reed a gettable target of 113 to win the cup for the first in the clubs history. Reed got off to a reasonable start. Although always slightly behind the run rate they were in with a shout at 22-0 after 5 overs. However, Heslam went in the next over and some excellent bowling and one extremely debatable umpiring decision to get rid of Simon Jackson left Reed in deep trouble at 37-3 at the halfway stage. Despite the best efforts of Peter Tidey promoted up the order to hit out and Ray Kingshott who struck a big six in his 22 Reed remained out of touch and fell 30 runs short bowled out in the last over of the game.

Reed travelled to Hitchin for the semi final of the John Barker cup on Tuesday night hoping to reach the final of the competition for the first time in the clubs history. Despite heavy rain falling the morning of the game it went ahead and the visitors surprised their hosts taking two early wickets through the bowling of Michael Berks leaving the Herts division one side 2-2 after the first over. However, Hitchin did consolidate and looked like making a good score at 35-2 after only 6 overs. Despite this mini-recovery, Reed continued to battle with a superb all-round bowling and fielding display bowling the home side out for 95 in the 19th over. The wickets were shared around but Clarke (3-26 off 5 overs) and Johnson 4.5 overs 13-2) were the pick of the Reed bowling attack. Reed went out to bat requiring just under 5 an over to win. They reached 16 without loss placed just below the run-rate before S Jackson fell to the first of 2 tight lbw shouts given out by the home umpire. However this only brought Chris Jackson to the crease whom along with James Heslam playing a controlled captains innings guided Reed to 65-1 with plenty of overs remaining. Geoff Wornham then supported Heslam to all but see Reed to victory leaving Ray Kingshott to hit the winning runs with 3 overs to spare. Reed celebrated their memorable midweek win preparing to face more division one opposition in Letchworth in the final on Friday night. Reed Midweek captain James Heslam commented ‘In my first year of competitive Mens team captaincy its been a great achievement for our young side to get past not only division 2 but [...]