In the final game to be played at Reed for the 2010 season Ed Blissett led a mix bag Reed side against the visitors Waresley.Batting first Reed were soon in trouble with the loss of opener Sean Tidey (1), but Mitchell Cooper and number 3 Blissett remedied the situation with a partnership of 72. Blissett (28) was then replaced by Marcus J.E. Baker who with Cooper increased the run rate with some fine hitting, Cooper reaching his half century before being bowled for an impressive 58. Reeds finished their 40 overs on 191 for 5, Baker (56) also reaching his half century. Waresley started well in the second innings as Gadsby made 67, supported by Donald (24) and Warman (35). A defeat looked inevitable for Reed but a fight back led by Julian Fynn (5-0-13-3) who took two wickets in the 38th over meant that dramatic finish was on the cards. The visitors needed two runs from the final over, which they managed winning by 5 wickets.

It was an exciting finish at Reed as the Sunday seconds faced up against Woodcutters. Reed batted first and for most of the innings it was the Garrott show as openers Paul and George Garrott put on 127 for the first wicket, both father and son scoring half centuries. Paul was the first wicket to fall for 59 eventually followed by George for a well made 80. The final 10 overs saw Tom Greaves knock the ball about to all parts of the ground to take Reed to 228 for 2, Greaves (56*) and Mathew Naeem (4*) came off undefeated. After yet another exceptional tea Reed went about defending their score, Christian Martin (6-0-30-1) took the first wicket thanks to a good catch at point by Lloyd Bowman. There was then a partnership of 102 between Burdness (64) and Isaacs (101*) before Greaves took a fantastic diving catch at mid off to break the pair up. Wickets then began to fall at regular intervals, falling to Matt Bowles (8-0-44-1), George Garrott (7-0-38-2) and Masseh Naeem (5.3-0-30-2). It came down to the final over as the opposition needed 6 to win which they did with just three balls remaining.

At long last Reed Sunday seconds were able to finish a game on one of the hottest days of the year whilst the first eleven played Botany Bay in the Village Cup. Due to the Village cup fixture the Sunday seconds benefited from having a strong side. Reed’s captain Ed Blisset won the toss and decided to bat first, opening with himself and Liam Mckechnie. Reed suffered an early set back when Blisset was caught short backing up from a hard hit from his partner via the boot of bowler Kennerly.Aiden Swain then went out to the middle and scored 17 but was bowled by Block. He was then followed by Richard Barlow (6) and Sean Tidey (21) who supported McKechnie before Mitchell Cooper made a partnership of 114 with the Australian. With great skill and his fair share of luck McKechnie played an impressive innings scoring his maiden century in Britain a feat which undoubtedly he will now be wanting to match in league cricket. After 40 overs Reed were 224 for 4, L. McKechnie 115* and M. Cooper 47*. In reply Walthamstow struggled against the Reed bowlers, M. Cooper (4-0-18-1) got the ball rolling having Block caught behind by S. Tidey before Tidey stumped both Elliot and Thompson Jnr from the bowling of Chris Peckett (7-1-14-3). The rest of the wickets were shared amongst Julian Fynn (8-2-33-2), Neil Haslam (6-3-31-1), Matt Giblin (7-0-28-1) and Richard Barlow (1.4-0-3-1). Walthamstow ended 130 all out.

Playing away to Thorley often seems to bring the best out of Reeds batsmen. Two seasons ago Tom Greaves registered a personal score of 179 and last year the Reed total was in excess of 340 including a century from Richard Barlow. Once again there was another impressive performance by Reed’s batsmen. With the Sunday firsts playing in the Village Cup their usual captain Ed Blissett was in the two’s and led the young side due to a serious injury to Peter Baker, out with a broken thumb. Blissett won the toss and elected to bat, opening were Aiden Swain and Fergus Martin who started at a gentle pace before Swain (11) was caught with the score on 40. Blissett then joined the younger Martin out in the middle and the two made a partnership of 87 together, Blissett making 52 before retiring. Richie Barlow chipped in with 14 before young Sean Tidey in at number 5 joined Martin who by this time had also passed 50. The score was 150 from 31 overs, by the time the innings was over 9 overs later the score had leaped to 254 thanks mainly to a hard hitting display from Tidey who made 62* (10x4 & 2x6). Meanwhile, Martin seeing the overs run out accelerated his run rate trying to make it to three figures. He had hit 7 off of Pack’s 5th over before putting one up in the air and being caught with the rest of the team stunned as at no other time did he look close to getting out. He was one run shy, out for a fantastic 99. In reply Thorley gave a good go at chasing the large total down, opener [...]

Aidan Swain made the most of the conditions on Sunday and compiled a useful 75 including 11 fours. The returning Paul Garrott had earlier made 15 before Sam Deville notched-up another half-century. Tom Trimble, Matt Naeem, Ben Walker and Peter Bradford added to the runs as Reed totalled 197 for 5 from their 40 overs when the innings closed. Matt Giblin struck with his first delivery of the visitors’ reply, but Creed and Frame then steadied things for a while. Giblin took a second wicket then Ben Walker snared 2 for 21 from 6 overs to leave Compton with some work to do and the game in the balance. Unfortunately, there were too many loose deliveries from Reed’s other bowlers that Frame, (88), and Dryfill, (63 not out), dispatched to the boundary. Giblin resumed with the wicket of Frame and finished with figures of 3 for 22 from 8 accurate overs, but Southgate Compton managed to overhaul the target with 5 wickets in-hand. Southgate Compton won by 5 wickets

For the final Sunday game to be played at Reed for the 2010 season the spectators were treated to a fine display of performances from both sides.Reed fielded first under the command of Paul Garrott who opened with Lewis Fitzgerald and Christian Martin. L. Fitzgerald returned fantastic figures of 4 overs 3 maidens 2 runs for 1 wicket, whilst Martin also started well bowling his full eight overs for 16. Tom Trimble and George Garrott both bowled seven overs but went unrewarded as they suffered at the hands of Newland (42) and Isaac (100*). Dominic McOrmish bowled a sensible spell of 2 for 37 from his 6 overs, whilst the young Reece Fitzgerald delivered yet another impressive performance of 1 for 22 from his 5. The Blues finished on 200 for 4.Opening the response for Reed were Paul Garrott and Kallum Ward, who started at a similar steady rate as the opposition had done in the first innings. Garrott (5) was bowled by Gibson (8-2-19-1) and was replaced by John Kershaw (15) who was himself given out from a run out. With Reed on 51 for 2 from 15 overs Marcus J.E. Baker joined Ward at the crease and the pair took on the bowling which was now a lot gentler after the openers had filled their quota. Baker beat Ward to his half century as they carefully combined boundaries with quick running between the wickets. A succession of boundaries from Baker brought up the winnings runs with 5 overs remaining. Ward had played a fantastic innings for his 71 whilst Baker made 91, the pair had made an undefeated partnership of 150 from only 19 overs.

It was a one sided affair when Reed played Guilden Morden, unfortunately not in Reeds favour. Guilden batted first and reached the dizzying 313, runs coming from P. Watson (79), M. Robinson (53) and B. Ingrey (90). Of the Reed bowlers only Christian Martin (8-1-26-1) and under 11 colt Connor Poulton (5-0-27-0) escaped with modest figures, however Josh Poulton, also a colt, showed great resilience in the face of the heavy hitting finishing his spell with 3 for 62. The second innings was not as explosive as the first and whilst Guilden prevented the batsmen from scoring, Reed did not give up their wickets as they finished on 137 for 5. Mathew Naeem (37) had led this defiance supported by Josh Poulton (29) and Nick Green (10*).

Having got word that their arranged fixture against neighbours Therfield would sadly not happen due to lack of availability on their part, Reeds Sunday seconds were forced to go to conference to find suitable opponents and so it was Datchworth that arrived at The Green for a 40/40 friendly. With Peter Baker out with a broken thumb captaincy passed down to his son Marcus who having won the toss decided to bat first and sent out Aiden Swain and Matt Bowles. Reed soon found themselves in trouble at 28 for 2 after the loss of two cheap wickets, but Matt Bowles held firm at the crease and continued to attack the Datchworth bowling. Kallum Ward in at number 4 supported Bowles before he was out caught for 28 with the score on 52 for 3 from 15 overs. Joining Ward was M.J.E. Baker and the two went about saving the innings and gradually began to build a crucial partnership. They had put on 90 together when Ward, who had been hitting the ball well went for one shot too many and was out caught for a fantastic 43. Meanwhile, Baker continued to punish the bad balls and eventually reached 50 before also being caught trying to up the run rate in the last ten overs for 54. The last six overs saw Dominic McComish and Matt Giblin add 32 with some impressive running between the wickets. Reed finished on 191 for 6, McComish 21* and Giblin 11*. In reply Christian Martin (6-1-32-1) struck first, followed soon after by first change bowlers Neil Haslam (6-1-22-3) and Matt Giblin (7-1-23-3). Mathew Naeem (4-0-21-1) also chipped in with a wicket but the win came in the single over [...]

Reed yet again did not get a full game of cricket on a Sunday when they travelled down to Cheshunt. Reed batted first, opening were Aiden Swain, playing his first game of the season and Fergus Martin playing in his first weekend back since returning from his expedition to east Africa. Swain made 5 but fell to the bowling of Moss (5-1-10-1). Reed then lost another cheap wicket but then Richie Barlow walked out to the crease and both he and Martin fell into synch as they made runs. They made a partnership of 101 before both fell, Barlow for 70 and Martin for 56. Paul Garrott (10*) and Marcus J.E. Baker (8*) were at the crease when heavy rain began to fall. With the rain still not going away after an early tea the game was abandoned and the players retired to the bar to watch England teach Australia a thing or two in the T20 world cup final.

Reed batted first when they hosted Codicote at The Green for a 40/40 friendly. Liam Mckechnie and Tom Greaves, both usually first teamers, were vacationing in the seconds and proved to be the difference between the teams as McKechnie (125) hit a class century and Greaves a hard hit 73 batting at number 8. Sam Deville also contributed a well formed 17 to the final total of 251. In the second innings Reed had the disadvantage of losing two men to injury and had to field with only nine for a good deal of the reply, hopefully both will be able to contribute in weeks to come. Sam Deville (7-2-27-0) opened coming down the hill and held a good line whilst Ben Walker (4-0-22-0) bowling left arm over came up. Neil Haslam (7-0-16-0) kept his end quiet when he replaced Walker but the first wicket fell to Matt Giblin (8-1-46-2) who took a second thanks to catch by McKechnie at mid-wicket. Kieren Willoughby (3-0-27-1) took the vital wicket of J. Day (28) before Greaves and McKechnie bowled for the last ten overs as Reed won by 27 runs. Greaves finished with 2 for 42 and McKechnie 3 for 22. Special Mention must go to Scott Caine who gave a master class display of athletic fielding in the covers.