East Haddon
Match Report To Follow
Enfield
Match Report To Follow
From relegation to champions
Reed went into this match already assured of returning to Division 6 a year after being relegated. Hexton were also promoted, but the question of who would top the table was still up for grabs. Hexton won the toss and decided there best hope was to bowl Reed out and chase down the runs. Openers Baz Curtis and Phil Freney knew that it was vital Reed didn't lose early wickets and give the visitors an early lift. Reed and Buckas opened the attack for Hexton and both bowled a very good opening spell. The usually aggressive was restricted to just one boundary in his 10 over 7 while Frenay was equally circumspect. Curtis went in the 11 over when the score was on 23. This brought in Skipper Marcus Martin. Martin soon found the boundary the openers had trouble finding and the rate began to climb. The pair had just put on fifty when Andrews bowled Frenay for 22. Rob Lankaster in his first season with the club has had an excellent season at this level and looked in no trouble and had reach 19 in good time before being adjudged LBW. With just over 20 overs to go Reed were well placed at 105-3, but a few wickets now could have turned the match in Hexton's favour. Karl Ward had other ideas. He took a liking to Jetuwa hitting him for six. Martin and Ward added 73 in the next 15 overs to put the home side in touching distance of maximum batting points. Martin went for a fine 72 and Ward followed 5 runs later for 56, bowled by Ladla. Reed still have 7 overs left and it looked like they might post [...]
7th wicket record for Kingshott and Roberts
Due to some very poor availability Reed’s Third Eleven travelled down to top of the table Berkhamsted with only 8 players. For Reed it was a dead rubber but the hosts still needed points to ensure finishing champions. So upon winning the toss Berkhamsted’s captain decided to bat first. With so much space to score runs it was no surprise that the home side raced to 306-4 before declaring after 35 overs. This was despite the very hard work of Reed bowlers George Garrott, Ian Roberts (3) and Reece Fitzgerald (1). For Reed things went from bad to worse as the top 3 batsmen were lost with only 3 on the total. Ray Kingshott and Peter Baker batted well together and added 53 for the fourth wicket before Baker played on for 26. An aggressive knock from George Garrott followed but he was lost after being run out for 15. Reed were in dire straits at 97 for 6 but a sublime seventh (and in this case, final) wicket stand of 111 displayed the true abilities of Reeds third XI. Kingshott and Roberts played magnificently together and proved stubborn in the face of Berkhamsted’s, until then, impressive attack. Roberts then suffered a top edged blow to the face which cut his top lip. However, he refused to leave the field which was fortunate for Kingshott who at the time was on 98. Three figures for the veteran soon followed before being caught two balls later. Reed had given it a fair try and certainly did well to finish on 208 all out. It was a disappointing end for the 3’s who for most of the season had looked real competitors for promotion. But a poor [...]
Willoughby sees 4th XI to victory
Reed 4 finished the season with a fine victory over Shenley Village 4 at Freman. Skipper Rob Willoughby lost the toss and was asked to bowl. Reed opened with father son combination Owen Hughes and Steve Hughes. Both bowling tight lines and backed up by good fielding helped keep the run rate down. Owen picked up the wicket of Shenley captain bowled in the last ball of his first spell. Shenley started to build a good partnership until Rob W picked up his first wicket. Wickets then fell at regular intervals with Owen (2-40) and Steve (1-26) each picking up a wicket in their second spells. Graham Stuart bowled a good spell on his return from injury picking a wicket for 28 runs. Young bowler Jag Lalli then combined well with wicket keeper Ben Moody to firstly get a caught behind and then a stumping in his first over finishing on 2-17. Rob W then picked up the last wicket to finish on 2-28. Shenley posted 182 all out in 44 overs leaving Reed an additional 3 overs. Reed opened with Rob W and Lalli for second week running and both looked assured against the Shenley opening spin attack. Lalli was very unlucky to be out played on for the second week running for 4. This brought the classy Sam Deville to the crease. Rob W and Deville put on a partnership of 98, frequently hitting the boundary. When Deville was out for 44 Reed were on 120 and only needed 63 more to win. John Kershaw and Lloyd Bowman both supported Rob W well picking up 6 and 11 respectively. Rob W was then controversially run out by a direct hit for 94. However [...]
Berkhamsted II
Due to some very poor availability Reed’s Third Eleven travelled down to top of the table Berkhamsted with only 8 players. For Reed it was a dead rubber but the hosts still needed points to ensure finishing champions. So upon winning the toss Berkhamsted’s captain decided to bat first.With so much space to score runs it was no surprise that the home side raced to 306-4 before declaring after 35 overs. This was despite the very hard work of Reed bowlers George Garrott, Ian Roberts (3) and Reece Fitzgerald (1). For Reed things went from bad to worse as the top 3 batsmen were lost with only 3 on the total. Ray Kingshott and Peter Baker batted well together and added 53 for the fourth wicket before Baker played on for 26. An aggressive knock from George Garrott followed but he was lost after being run out for 15. Reed were in dire straits at 97 for 6 but a sublime seventh (and in this case, final) wicket stand of 101 displayed the true abilities of Reeds third XI. Kingshott and Roberts played magnificently together and proved stubborn in the face of Berkhamsted’s, until then, impressive attack. Roberts then suffered a top edged blow to the face which cut his top lip. However, he refused to leave the field which was fortunate for Kingshott who at the time was on 98. Three figures for the veteran soon followed before being caught two balls later. Reed had given it a fair try and certainly did well to finish on 208 all out.It was a disappointing end for the 3’s who for most of the season had looked real competitors for promotion. But a poor final part [...]
1st XI Promotions Looms
Despite losing the top of the table clash with Hertford, Reed maintained their position 2nd in Herts League Division One heading into the final round of matches this Saturday. Hertford skipper Gale won the toss and elected to bat for the first time this season knowing 5 bonus points were all they would need to confirm their promotion. He then proceeded to impressively hit the first 4 balls of the match to the boundary to set the tone for the Hertford innings. Despite this Reed fought back hard and picked up their 1st wicket at 34-1 in the 5th over with Jack Tidey (1-42) rushing McGregor into a mistimed pull shot. Despite this breakthrough, Hertford continued to make good progress led by Gale who played a captains innings of 77 in quick time. He was supported by solid middle order contributions from the Ray brothers and Joyce. At 178-3 in the 40th over Hertford looked on course but when Gale became one of the impressive Tom Greaves (5-78) five wickets the innings faltered. With Curk (3-35) bowling well in partnership with Greaves, Reed were able to avoid Hertford racking up a very big total restricting them to 232-9 in 53 overs. So there was hope for Reed in the chase on what was a good batting wicket and short boundary one side. Reed got off to a decent start with the Heslam brothers taking the score onto 67-0 in 15 overs with Will Heslam (41) playing very impressively scoring at an excellent rate. However James Heslam (27) was then controversially dismissed caught behind and Greaves fell immediately after turning the game in the space of four balls. Will Heslam then fell leaving Reed at 75-3 [...]
Flitwick Home
Reed picked up their first win of the season with a fine all round performance against Flitwick. Skipper James Heslam won the toss and put the visitors into bat, and both Lee Johnson and Jack Tidey extracted some early movement out of the pitch but to no avail. Flitwick’s openers both looked comfortably set without punishing the Reed bowlers to any great degree, but were still going at a healthy 4 an over. Russell (48) was first to go, picking out the fielder on the boundary and Curk duly took the catch. Both Russell and partner Umlauf had played patiently in a decent 78 run opening stand, which should have set Flitwick up for a big total. But Morse and Greaves had other ideas, and were plugging away with the ball in tandem, making scoring difficult for the incoming Flitwick batsman. Joseph came and went, and with the run rate slowing up, wickets fell with Flitwick trying to exert the pace of the game. Read (64*) was the pick of the Flitwick batsmen and batted solidly before taking an aggressive liking to Greaves’ latter overs , taking Flitwick to a respectable 208-7 in their 53 over. Greaves (5-90) picked up his 5th wicket in the final over, to finish off a marathon spell of spin bowling in tandem with Morse (2-62), who equally performed well without the wickets to show for it. In reply Reed started strongly before losing Will Heslam to Joseph for 9. This brought Joe Curk to the crease who batted with class, caressing the ball around the ground. When he was adjusted LBW to Joseph for 20 the game was poised, ready for either side to take the initiative. Chris Jackson [...]
Tidey smashes Reed to cup win
On Wednesday evening the final of the charity focussed Hertfordshire Isabel Hospice Cup took place at St Margaretsbury Cricket Club. The Reed team had made it to the final after recording victories over Broxbourne and Hertford Cricket Clubs in the earlier rounds, and duly faced Cheshunt Cricket Club in the 15 over final. Cheshunt won the toss and elected to bat first in the prevailing gloom with light rain threatening. Reeds Karl Ward took a wicket with the first ball of the match, and Cheshunt struggled to 22 – 4 in the 7th over before Grant (25) led something of a recovery with some forceful strokeplay. However Reeds steady bowling and incisive and athletic fielding kept the opposition under the cosh and restricted them to a total of only 90-8 in their full 15 overs. Sean Tidey with 2-10 in 2 overs took most wickets for Reed. With the light drizzle now falling, and the light already failing, Reeds opening batsmen took to the field determined to effect a rapid win before the light deteriorated completely. Sean Tidey led the charge with a 6 off the first ball of the innings and with 17 off the first over. At the other end James Heslam was equally aggressive and the Reed reply motored on at an average rate of 12 runs an over. The Cheshunt bowlers didn’t know what had hit them as Tidey reached 39 before departing well caught in the deep after only 6 overs with the score 67 for 1. Will Heslam now joined brother James and the pair saw Reed to a comfortable and emphatic victory without further loss with a total of 91-1 off 7.3 overs, James Heslam ending on 36 [...]