Reed failed to maintain their good start to the season on Saturday with a 23 run defeat to Northchurch. Having won the toss, the visitors elected to bat and made good progress before an excellent piece of fielding from Karl Ward saw the end to Liveing, run out for 12 with the score on 33. Hobley and Boge were by far the pick of Northchurch’s batters and batted well together putting on 50 for the 2nd wicket before Hobley became the first of Tom Greaves’s 7 wickets. Boge continued to move the ball around the ground well and was the main lynchpin in Northchurch’s innings. Other batsmen came and went cheaply to rash shots or poor decision making and when Boge finally fell to Greaves with the score on 171-5 the visitors total was never far off. Greaves picked up the final wicket of Villa with the score on 188, leaving Reed wondering what they may have been chasing if the wicket of Boge had been picked up earlier. Greaves finished with excellent figures of 7-56In reply, faced with some consistent line and length bowling from the Northchurch openers James and Villa, Reed failed to get the start they wanted; losing brothers James and William Heslam with the score on 32. Chris Jackson and Tom Greaves moved the score onwards before Greaves and then Ward fell soon after, leaving Reed stuttering on 86-4. Will Dobson looked the partner to assist Jackson in Reed’s run chase however despite looking promising in a game of two innings, he fell to James for 18. Frenay departed unfortuitously soon after, leaving Reed 100-6 facing an uphill battle. Jackson continued to maintain a presence and was ably assisted by Sean [...]

Luton Town won the toss and invited Reed to bat but the pitch held few terrors for the batsman and at 28-0 in the 7th over Reed were going comfortably until Skipper James Heslam called a dangerous single and was run out for 27. Will Heslam and Chris Jackson took the total to 52 before Heslam Jr fell caught behind for 15 and Tom Greaves came to the crease. At 90 for 2 in the 23rd over Reed seemed destined for a large total but the Luton bowling tightened up with Mansoor and Parsooth proving difficult to get away and the Reed innings beginning to stagnate. Tom Greaves fell for 39 with the score at 128 in the 38th over and Chris Jackson followed soon after also for 39 with the score at 137 in the 42nd over. Then the rot really set in as Reed desperately sought to increase the tempo and wickets fell at regular intervals. Only Phil Frenay with 11 managed double figures as Reed lost their last 6 wickets for only 38 runs in 10 overs leaving them all out for only 175 in the 53rd over.A total of 175 is usually incredibly difficult to defend at Reed without bowling particularly well or benefitting from helpful bowling conditions and so it proved again. Jack Tidey dismissed opener page with the score at 32 and No 3 Haroon went for only 5 with the total on 51. Bashir and Ali took the score to 86 before opener Ali was caught behind by Sean Tidey off Tom Greaves for 54. However that was as good as it got for Reed as Bashir took over where Ali had left off and Luton cruised towards [...]

Reed played host to table toppers Leverstock Green on Saturday and convincingly came away with all 30 points. Having won the toss, James Heslam put the visitors into bat, and with Reed missing opening bowler Tom Walsingham through injury it was up to Lee Johnson and Jack Tidey to make the early breakthroughs. It was the latter who took the first of the Leverstock Green openers clinging on to a good caught and bowled with the score on just 4. The following over the ever reliable Lee Johnson picked up his first of six wickets in a fine spell of pace bowling. Johnson caused concerns all round for Leverstock's batsmen, in particular overseas kingpin Alex King, before forcing a shot which saw the Aussie play-onto his stumps. At 27-3 and with the big run scorer out, Leverstock looked somewhat depleted, and lacking ideas. Coupled with some fine bowling from Johnson (6-36), Tidey (2-26) and then latterly Mitchell Cooper(1-10), Reed wrapped up the innings to complete an all round excellent performance in the field which saw the visitors all out for 72.In reply the result was never in doubt and Reed's openers James and William Heslam got off to a good start before Heslam jnr (9) was the first of two Reed wickets to fall. Chris Jackson and James Heslam then edged towards victory before Heslam (38) was out to a fine caught and bowled by Luke Roberts. Jackson (18*) and Will Dobson (7*) then saw off the winning runs to see Reed take all 30 points and to move in 2nd position in the league.

On Saturday Reed entertained Letchworth ll at The Green. Reed bowled first on what looked to be a decent track. Letchworth got off to a steady start with openers Wight and Mullen batting sensibly but Reed's opening bowlers Lee Johnson (13-4-56-1) and Jack Tidey (9-3-19-1) remained patient and were rewarded when Tidey picked up the wicket of Wight (11) , bowled, going for one pull shot too many. Johnson then picked up the wicket of Mullen Caught Behind by Sean Tidey for a slow 26. At 48-2, Walsh and March came together and looked to make use of the platform the openers had made. They did just this, respecting the good ball and punishing the bad. The run rate increase and Letchworth looked in control until Walsh holed out in the deep on 27 off the bowling of Ed Garrott (11-0-55-1). Spinner Tom Greaves got in the act in the latter stages of the innings for Reed picking up the wickets of March (79), Maxford Pipe (57) and Gillham (1) to finish with figures of (17-1-53-3). This left Letchworth on 214-6 off their 53 overs.In reply, Reed's opening pair of James and William Heslam got off to a solid start and reached 39 before Will Heslam was caught for 12 (3x4s). Tom Greaves came to the crease looking to continue his recent good form with the bat and did just this. He and James Heslam found the boundary regularly. The pair added 81 for the second wicket before skipper Heslam was Bowled by Maxford Pipe for 66 (12x4s, 1x6s). At 120-2, Reed looked in command but still had work to do when the reliable Chris Jackson strode out to the wicket. Jackson and Greaves looked [...]

Reed continued their push for promotion with a convincing 160 Win over Knebworth Park II on Saturday, taking them top of the league with three games remaining.Missing several keys players due to other commitments, Reed demonstrated their strength in depth by utilising their young squad but also being able to call upon experienced wicket keeper Simon Jackson to replace young Sean Tidey, making his first appearance for 2 years.On a swealtry summer day, skipper James Heslam lost the toss and surprisingly was asked to have a bat. Reed lost the early wicket of Will Heslam, however this gave Tom Greaves (38) the opportunity to demonstrate his quality, punching the ball to all corners of the ground. At the other end, James Heslam was batting well and between the pair they put on 77 for 2nd wicket. When Greaves fell lbw to Patel, Reed were in a solid position to build on from, and this they did with the help of Heslam and Chris Jackson. Heslam however fell for a well worked 61 and it was up to Stuart Smith and Chris Jackson to build the next passage of play. Smith was particularly destructive of the bad ball and was soon racing away to a quick fire 50. With Reed looking for a declaration and Smith looking for his century he unfortunately drove one back at Patel who took a good catch leaving Smith on 82 for an excellent counter destructive innings. Reed lost one further wicket before an early declaration at 261, with Jackson on 32 and Mitchell Cooper on 11 In reply, Reed got off to an excellent start with paceman Lee Johnson picking up 3 early wickets in a fine spell of pace [...]