Bank Holiday Monday saw Reed return to competitive action away against a very strong Harpenden side, boasting 5 Hertfordshire County players. Reed went into the Herts 20/20 cup clash as massive underdogs but won the toss and elected to bowl first. Skipper Tom Greaves opened the bowling with Jack Tidey. The spin and pace combination soon paid dividends as Greaves took the wicket of Will Jones, bowled with lovely flighted delivery. Tom Walsingham and Will Stock soon came into the Reed attack and both bowled a good, nagging length which made it tricky to score, forcing loose strokes from the Harpenden middle order. Stock (4-0-14-1) was particularly impressive on his competitive debut in a Reed shirt. He was rewarded with the wicket of Cooper who was bowled all ends up. Dan Blacktopp, fresh from his 40 not out for Hertfordshire against Cambridgeshire on Sunday was the only Harpenden batsmen to reach more than 10 with his agricultural style of play proving rather effective on a slow wicket. When he departed for 37, it was the beginning of the end for Harpenden. Walsingham (3-0-19-3), Mitchell Cooper (3-0-15-1) and Jack Tidey (3-0-17-2) ran through the middle and lower order, including an athletic caught behind by the evergreen 'keeper Tim Tidey; clinching the opportunity to show his credentials for the first eleven keeping spot for the season. Another debutant, Aiden Woodcock (0.5-0-3-1) took the final wicket as Reed bowled Harpenden all out inside 18 overs. The bowling and ground fielding was of the highest quality, emulating their performance at Goatacre in the National Village Cup Semi Final in 2012 - and we all know what happened after that. With a low score to chase, Reed knew that they had plenty of time to build their innings. Richard Wharton and Mitchell Cooper opened the innings and both looked in fine fettle, finding the boundary on 3 occasions [...]