In a tight match at the top of the table, Hoddesdon won by 4 wickets with just 4 overs left. On a slow wicket, affected by the previous week’s deluge, only seven batsmen reached double figures. Therefore Ed Wharton’s quickfire 35 was remarkable. However Reed collapsed to 64-5 and went 26 overs without a boundary. Richard Wharton’s dogged 19 from 81 balls kept them in the match and Sean Tidey hit 33 to help the home side to 143 against some fine bowling, two of them conceding only 11 runs from their ten overs. In truth, Hoddesdon found the going just as tough. Ed Wharton (2-31) took two quick wickets, but a gritty stand of 62 between South African Jadyn Broodryk (29) and Sam Davis seemed to have won the game. Skipper, Tom Greaves (2-31), Sean Tidey (2-30) had other ideas and reduced Hoddesdon to 100-6. Nevertheless, Todd Sturdy (24 not out) and Davis ( 56 not out) ground out a partnership of 47 to secure the victory, although the latter survived a chance on the boundary to deny Reed their top position in the league. Report submitted by Peter Wholley.

Tom Greaves played a captain’s innings of 90 to overhaul Hoddesdon’s daunting total of 245 all out. Coming in at 76-4, he set about the recovery in a partnership of 87 with Stuart Smith (48). When Smith was narrowly run out trying to up the scoring rate, Marcus Martin (26 not out) joined Greaves in another big stand of 79. The latter smashed 6 maximums out of the ground and was caught one-handed on the boundary going for the winning runs. Instead Michael Robertson toe-ended a straight drive over the ropes first ball to give Reed an unexpected victory with four overs to spare. At first, Ed Wharton (24) and Rob Lankester (32) had looked well set, but Jamie Curtis (16-2-56-3) gave Hoddesdon the early momentum. In Hoddesdon’s innings, knocks of 48 by captain Rob Walters and 62 by South African Jayden Broodryk seemed to have given them the impetus, but astute spin bowling brought Greaves and Marcus Martin 2 wickets apiece and Sean Tidey, the pick of the attack, with figures of 14-1-54-4. Toby Fynn cleaned up 2 more, including the dangerous Brooderyk. With 249-6, Reed won by 4 wickets.