Reed slipped to third in the Saracens Herts League Division 2, a small handful of points behind both Flitwick and Berkhamsted as they were unlucky to close in on victory against Radlett IIs on Saturday.Winning the toss, and electing to bat, Reed amassed 235 for 6 off 52 overs, but could not take Radlett’s final wicket as they battled for a draw, their score on 199 for 9 off their 48 over reply.Reed’s innings got off to a strong start as James Heslam (41) found his feet with a superb measured innings in partnership with Baz Curtis (53). Curtis made his mark early as he despatched opening bowler R Watson (3-0-29-0) for 14 in the first over of the day, including a six off the second ball of the game over extra cover. The momentum did not stop as fellow opener G Dill (5-0-31-0) also suffered. It allowed Reed to race to 93 for 0 off just 18 overs. However, despite Curtis’ trademark drives, and Heslam’s battlingly classical shot selection, H Paynter (18-3-59-3), with his nagging medium pace, built some pressurising momentum in conjunction with J Chaudry’s off spin (19-4-58-1). It was the ultimate demise for the pair as they miscued a pull stroke from a poor short delivery off Paynter to be caught at mid wicket. Curtis shortly followed up as he was trapped LBW with the score on 98.However, Chris Jackson (38) and Phil Frenay (10) continued in strong form, picking the bad deliveries and blocking the better ones. When Frenay was also trapped LBW by Paynter, Reed looked to be losing wickets at key moments when batsmen should have been advancing their innings. Tom Fulk (58*) continued in Frenay’s shoes, as he [...]

Reed 2’s went agonisingly close to snatching an unlikely draw against St Albans 3’s on Saturday, after a poor batting display had let them down.St Albans won the toss and put Reed into bat at ‘The Green’. Ben Bowles and Simon Jackson opened the Reed innings, but the hosts were dealt an early blow when Ben Bowles edged behind in the 3rd Over for his first duck of the season. This brought Mark King to the middle, and along with Jackson he began to build the Reed total. King looked good as he dispatched 3 balls to the boundary, however he too fell after attempting a pull shot whilst on 13 leaving Reed 38-2 off of 8 Overs. Jackson was joined by Ian Fulk, but Fulk also went early when he was bowled by Smith for just 6 .Reed were in trouble on 55-3, despite Jackson looking good and remaining unbeaten. Matt Bowles was next to try and partner Jackson and he looked to be in good touch as he got to double figures before he succumbed to a good low catch at point for 11. Chris Shorrock (5) also came and went after a bizarre run out, leaving Reed staring down the barrel of a massively sub standard score, at 80-5.Richard Robertson then came to the crease and provided Jackson with the partnership Reed had been looking for in order to build a defendable total. Robertson was punishing any balls of full length with punch drives, and Jackson was slowly but surely building his own total. The pair took Reed over the 100 mark, and continued to add to the score after the drinks break. Robertson was looking set for a big score when [...]

Reed sailed high again on Saturday by completing another thumping victory over mid-placed Preston, registering the maximum points for a fifth consecutive time in as many games. Placed 1st in the League, James Heslam, 1XI captain, is vying hard to maintain the momentum instilled in the team to secure promotion to Division 1.Winning the toss, Reed bowled first on a pitch that offered some early seam movement. Graham Wilson toiled for no reward with 12-3-29-0, as he pegged down one end and the talismanic Peter Tidey (17.3-4-40-4) fulfilled the usual function the other end. He removed W Hearne (10) early, thanks to a simple catch from Baz Curtis at first slip. A Catlin (41) held the other end up slowly accumulating runs, but wickets fell regularly throughout the innings thanks to Tidey early on, as Preston were reduced to 62-3 off 23 overs. The immediate introduction of William Clarke (9-3-37-2) brought rewards as he bowled dangerman R Gatehouse (13), and soon followed up with a probing over that laid the foundation for B Turner (16) to offer a catch to Heslam at short extra cover. Partnering Clarke, Andrew Emms (5-2-13-2) snared Samaweera (4) thanks to a sharp catch by wicket keeper Simon Jackson and opener Catlin at extra cover with a confident catch by Marcus Martin. Richard Johnson (2-1-4-2) then came on to mop up the tail with 2 perfect yorkers to dismiss Preston for 130 in 45.3 overs.Reed’s spirited reply began with Baz Curtis (13) and James Heslam accelerating the score to 27 off 5 overs, until Curtis was harshly adjudged LBW to a rising delivery, but his replacement Chris Jackson (35*) filled his boots well, as he carried the score to 69 with [...]

Reed look to have sealed their promotion bid to Division 1 in the Saracens Herts League, after securing an 18 point draw on Saturday at Potters Bar in a dour match on a flat batting wicket. This was aided as Flitwick were beaten by Old Finchleians whilst gaining 14 points.Winning the toss, Reed elected to bat, and James Heslam (64) and Baz Curtis (14) immediately put the hosts to the sword as they ensured Reed got a solid start reaching 36 before Curtis was caught at first slip off young spinner Luke Owers (22-3-70-2). With the in-form Chris Jackson (6) joining skipper Heslam, Reed aimed to progress the scoring towards 200 and a guaranteed 10 points, but Owers had his way as Jackson uncharacteristically miscued a shot through midwicket straight to the fielder. With Reed on 52 for 2, one batsmen needed to take responsibility. This responsibility fell upon the shoulders of Heslam and Phil Frenay (57) who both completed half centuries with a range of well placed drives, cuts and pull strokes, punishing some wayward bowling from D Brown (6-0-31-1), and the openers G Hodge (9-0-44-0) and C Hodge (10-0-37-0). It was only when Heslam miscued a pull stroke off Brown to be caught on the boundary that Potters Bar made a breakthrough.Tom Fulk (43*), who returned early that morning from a break in Sheffield, then joined Frenay, who was now opening his shoulders and punishing some loose deliveries from Owers. Fulk ran off the cobwebs induced through excessive consumption of alcohol the previous evening, and he and Frenay dragged the score to 177. When Frenay went to one drive too many off part time spinner D Pett (6-0-24-1) to be caught at mid [...]

Reed continued their unbeaten Division 2 League run under new skipper James Heslam on Saturday as they squeezed a 20 run victory out of a challenging Old Finchleians team that showed dogged resistance and an all round strong team skills. Reed were also missing talismanic Reed swing bowler Peter Tidey due to injury.Winning the toss, Old Finchleians elected to bowl, and their rounded attack soon paid dividends as the in-form Heslam (9) was bowled pulling with the score of 18 off D Depala (12-4-30-3). He quickly followed up having Tom Fulk (2) caught behind and bowling Curtis (31) to leave Reed floundering on 74-3 off 20 overs.Reed’s usually concrete top order had failed and it was left to some sterling work from Chris Jackson (67*) to hold the innings together, supported ably by Marcus Martin (20) and Ed Garrott (14). Reed struggled particularly with the turning leg spin deliveries of C Depala Jnr (19-2-48-2) and P Somani’s (14-0-39-4) flighted off spinners.Yet through the batting turmoil, where Reed lost the most amount of wickets in an innings this League season, Jackson held the fabric together to end the innings on 173-9 off 53 overs. Even Graham Wilson, in his first Reed innings of the year, grafter a sensible 7* at No 11.Despite the sweltering conditions, Old Finchleians reply began strongly, with D Depala taking a liking to Dale Shepher’d bowling (3-0-26-1), despite him bagging R Depala at gully thanks to a Tom Fulk catch. But D Depala (35) and R Depala (41) continued the onslaught on R Johnson (4-0-32-0), as Reed were looking down the barrel at a crushing loss. It took a sharp runout and kamikaze running for Marcus Martin and Simon Jackson to make [...]