Reed retained their top of the table spot in the Herts League 2 with a convincing win over Watford Town on Saturday. Skipper James Heslam won the toss and elected to bowl, and this decision looked the right one within minutes of the start. Reed’s openers Lee Johnson and Jack Tidey had Watford 5-3 within the third over, leaving Watford in a very precarious position. Watford failed to rebuild in light of some excellent pace bowling by Johnson (4-39) and Tidey (5-42), which saw wickets continuously fall at regular intervals. At 87-8, Watford were in desperate need for some rearguard action and this came through Felton and Latif who looked to bat time whilst picking up much needed runs. The pair put on 52 for the 8th wicket, before Reed picked up the last two wickets with Watford setting Reed a respectable target of 151 to win the game.In reply Reed didn’t start well losing the inform Will Heslam in the third over. This brought Chris Jackson to the crease, who along with James Heslam weathered the early storm before the pair put the game beyond Watford by putting on 104 for the 2nd wicket. James was out for a very impressive 78, holing out to long on. This brought in the versatile Jack Tidey, who on instruction from the skipper to finish the game quickly in light of the oncoming rain put the game beyond Watford with some lusty blows. The pick of which being a huge six to win the game finishing with a quick fire 30. Jackson at the other end batted through to finish with a comfortable 40 not out and Reed took all 30 points in the process.

Blitzkreig Reed Run Rampage all in Vain!Having driven through heavy rain on their way to their away fixture at Welwyn Garden City, and with the prospect of further widespread heavy downpours forecast for the rest of the afternoon, top of the table Reed 1st Xl lost the toss and were put in to bat by opponents Welwyn Garden City. Determined to try and salvage a rapid result, and hopefully a win, from the match Reed set about seeking a high score and maximum batting points in helter-skelter style.Skipper James Heslam led a vicious onslaught against the Welwyn opening attack blasting the ball to all parts of the ground. Bowler Hayward went for 56 in only 5 overs as the Heslam brothers put on 98 in only 10.5 overs for the first wicket before James went for 64, his 50 having come up in only 35 balls and with 10 x 4’s. Will Heslam was now joined by Tom Greaves and matters went from bad to worse for the hapless Welwyn change bowlers. Sumpters 3.5 overs cost him 49 runs as Tom Greaves gave him the charge and blasted 2 x 4’s and 5 x 6’s in an aggressive 58* scored in only 27 balls. Meanwhile the equally effective but more conservative Will Heslam was on 44* with the innings only 17.5 overs old. The Reed Plan was to blast a quick 200, gain maximum batting points and then seek to bowl out the opposition to force the win. However a total cloudburst obliterated the ground and washed out the match much to the relief of the Welwyn bowlers but to the frustration of Reed.When the days final results came in it transpired that despite most [...]

Reed slumped to their first defeat of the season against St Margaretsbury on Saturday, failing to capitalise on their excellent start to the season. After a typically wet Friday evening, the toss was to be crucial and having chosen correctly the visitors made no hesitation in putting Reed into bat. The home side failed to get to grips with the conditions from the outset, and combined with some poor shot selection and good bowling Reed capitulated to just 75 all out. Will Dobson was the only Reed batsman to come away with any respectability but ran out of partners in a fine knock of 30.In response, the total was insufficient for Reed's bowlers to get into any sort of rhythm, and despite picking up three wickets the visitors eased to victory in the 20th over to take all 30 points.

Reed continued their promotion push on Saturday with a 4 wicket win over Shenley Village. Rain meant a delayed start but Reed came out of the blocks quickly. Opening bowlers Lee Johnson and Jack Tidey (10-4-24-2) yet again took early wickets leaving Shenley struggling at 15-3. A partnership started to build before Tom Greaves (14-2-45-1) had Stanley caught for 16. After good spells from Tom Walsingham and Mitchell Cooper, Lee Johnson returned from the other end to rip through the middle and lower order of Shenley Village. He accounted for dangermen R.Hammill (56) and M.Evans (31). Johnson then took 4 more wickets in a fine display of patient bowling. The impressive Johnson ended with figures of (16-2-44-7). This left Reed needing 154 to win in 44 overs.With the weather still looming Reed openers James and Will Heslam knew that they had to build a solid platform. They did just this and took advantage of some very average bowlers who were being hit for 5 and 7 an over respectively. Hammill, who starred with the bat for Shenley broke the partnership with the score on 63 when he had Will Heslam caught for 28. Skipper James Heslam kicked on but lost Greaves (7) leaving Reed 89-2. Heslam passed 50 and was finding the boundary regularly before being bowled by the impressive Nikhil Borkatria who took 4- 43. Heslam made 63 including 13 fours. Sean Tidey (20) and Marcus Martin (16) both contributed to the Reed reply and guided Reed to within 12 of victory. Mitchell Cooper (12 not out) and Phil Frenay (3 not out) saw Reed home in 38.5 overs . Reed now lay 2nd in the table and are travelling to Abbotts Langley next [...]

Reed got back to winning ways with a convincing 6 win over Preston on Saturday. Having won the toss Reed skipper James Heslam made no hesitation in having a bowl, on a wicket that looked like it would offer some assistance to the bowlers. This proved to be right, when in the 4th over Reed had Preston on the rocks, 3 wickets down for just 6 runs. Lee Johnson (3-37) again proving his worth at the head of the Reed attack picking up all three wickets. A change in the bowling at the other end introduced young Mitchell Cooper to the attack. The eighteen year old all rounder bowled with good pace but it was his consistent length which saw him continuously trouble the Preston batsman. Cooper picked up wickets throughout and saw him achieve his best league figures, finishing with 6-22 off 11 overs to record an fine spell of bowling. Preston, despite a late rearguard presence were bowled out for 93.After a typically fine Preston tea, Reed’s response didn’t quite go to plan, losing Will Heslam and Tom Greaves early on. James Heslam and Chris Jackson then put the game beyond Preston, seeing Reed into a safe position with a valuable third wicket partnership when the home side were starting to exert the pressure. When Heslam went for 36 with the score on 63, Jackson continued the previous good work, and along with Stuart Smith the pair comfortably put the game beyond the home side. With Smith falling late on, it was up to Jackson (26*) to score the winning runs to take all 30 points.

Given the poor weather Reed travelled in hope rather than expectation to far flung Northwood on Saturday. After the rain ceased the pitch was deemed fit for play and a reduced overs match 44 v 38 Overs was decided. Skipper James Heslam won the toss and given the weather forecast, and the possibility of stealing a march on some other promotion contenders who had already seen their matches rained off, he decided to field first. Reed got off to a good start with Northwood slipping to 20-2 after 7 overs, and then 41-3, but opener Rodgers proved difficult to dislodge and the home team scoring rate averaged almost 4 runs an over and reached 95-4 after 25 overs with Porharkar dismissed at that stage for 23. All the Reed bowlers bowled reasonably tidily without dominating at any stage and Rodgers passed his 50 and pressed on with building a sizeable personal total. Tom Greaves 12 Overs 3 - 48 was Reeds most successful bowler but Rodgers scored 92 before being run out late in the innings. A late flurry saw Northwood total 183-8 a disappointingly high score to concede in the conditions and in only 44 Overs, with a bonus of 7 extra balls conceded to the opposition in Reed wides and no balls.With only 3 bowling points and only single batting points on the table Reed knew that to secure any meaningful points total from the match they had to record a win. A good start saw the Heslam brothers put on 27 in 4 overs but then Will fell caught for 6 and Tom Greaves followed shortly after for a duck. At 36 for 2 after 8 overs a big partnership was needed [...]