Reed continued their unbeaten Division 2 League run under new skipper James Heslam on Saturday as they squeezed a 20 run victory out of a challenging Old Finchleians team that showed dogged resistance and an all round strong team skills. Reed were also missing talismanic Reed swing bowler Peter Tidey due to injury.Winning the toss, Old Finchleians elected to bowl, and their rounded attack soon paid dividends as the in-form Heslam (9) was bowled pulling with the score of 18 off D Depala (12-4-30-3). He quickly followed up having Tom Fulk (2) caught behind and bowling Curtis (31) to leave Reed floundering on 74-3 off 20 overs.Reed’s usually concrete top order had failed and it was left to some sterling work from Chris Jackson (67*) to hold the innings together, supported ably by Marcus Martin (20) and Ed Garrott (14). Reed struggled particularly with the turning leg spin deliveries of C Depala Jnr (19-2-48-2) and P Somani’s (14-0-39-4) flighted off spinners.Yet through the batting turmoil, where Reed lost the most amount of wickets in an innings this League season, Jackson held the fabric together to end the innings on 173-9 off 53 overs. Even Graham Wilson, in his first Reed innings of the year, grafter a sensible 7* at No 11.Despite the sweltering conditions, Old Finchleians reply began strongly, with D Depala taking a liking to Dale Shepher’d bowling (3-0-26-1), despite him bagging R Depala at gully thanks to a Tom Fulk catch. But D Depala (35) and R Depala (41) continued the onslaught on R Johnson (4-0-32-0), as Reed were looking down the barrel at a crushing loss. It took a sharp runout and kamikaze running for Marcus Martin and Simon Jackson to make [...]

Reed II’s travelled to Old Finchleians on Saturday looking to improve upon their recent form. Reed captain Jason Archer lost the toss, and his side were put into the field by Finchleians captain A. Savani in the baking North London sunshine.Reed’s opening bowlers Richard Robertson and Karl Ward got them off to a perfect start, taking a wicket apiece to leave Old Finchleians 14-2. However, a slow but steady 70 run partnership saw Finchleians move towards a decent total. In order to combat this, Reed captain Archer made an inspired bowling change by introducing himself, in conjunction with the returning Rupert Martin. Martin ripped into the Finchleians middle order, breaking the menacing partnership and taking the wicket of danger man Faisal for 46. Martin went on to take 3 wickets in his first spell, and was supported ably by captain Jason Archer, who returned to form with a superb and mammoth spell of bowling in which he was rewarded with 3 wickets for only 24 runs.Part time spinner Ben Bowles also excelled with the ball, bowling a highly economical 5 over spell in tandem with Archer, to heap the pressure on the Old Finchleians batsmen looking to set a challenging total. Bowles was highly unlucky not to take a wicket in his bowling stint, but with some decent lower order batting Finchleians were able to creep towards their first batting points target of 145. The reintroduction of Martin did get Reed another wicket, however the home side were able to survive and batted out their allotted 53 Overs for 152-9. Reed looked to have the edge in the game as their openers went out to chase the target, but as has happened on too many [...]

Reed II’s were unable to gain consecutive victories, but still came away with the lions share of the points after Old Cholmeleians blocked out for a draw at ‘The Green’ on Saturday.After winning the toss, captain Jason Archer elected to bat on what looked like a typically exemplary Reed track. Reed sent out Ben Bowles and Mark King open their innings, and King wasted no time in building the home sides total. King was timing the ball excellently, and his classy array of shots was giving the Old Cholmeleians bowling attack with a torrid time. Ben Bowles was also looking good, and provided an ideal partner for King as Reed’s total moved towards 80. However King then suffered the misfortune of a slight recurrence of the hamstring injury that had kept him out for a month, and was forced to retire hurt whilst unbeaten on 60. This brought young all-rounder Ed Garrott to the crease, who in conjunction with the resilient Ben Bowles, continued to push Reed’s score beyond the 100 mark. Bowles was looking good and set for a half century when was unfortunate to be stumped with the ball ricocheting off of the wicket keepers pads onto the wickets after a swinging delivery for 38. Ed Garrott also looked set for a high score after some good looking shots when he was bowled for 21. Then when Ian Fulk was also stumped for 2, Reed’s good start was in danger of being undone at 156-3 (plus the injured and retired Mark king) off of 34 of their allotted 53 Overs. Matt Bowles and Chris Shorrock then set about trying to increase the Reed total in the remaining 19 Overs, and did so with [...]

Reed started their season with a bang, as they cruised to a dominating 83 run victory over Old Albanian thanks to an all round display with bat, ball and in the field.Winning the toss and electing to bat on a pitch that appeared to offer more support to the batting side, it was quickly proven that there was some life for bowlers with the new ball, as Heslam (33) and Curtis (14) struggled initially to master the fast bowling of C. Hussey (16-2-65-0) and A Jones (9-0-51-0) as bounce varied considerably.However, when the new ball lost its hardness, Heslam and Curtis found batting a great deal easier and grafted a solid platform of 43 before Curtis cut to point. Once again, Heslam teamed up with Chris Jackson (91) to bring the score to 64 before a mix up between the batsmen cost Heslam his wicket. However, with Tom Fulk (31), Jackson took the reins and forged ahead with a responsible, and at times belligerent innings that took him closer to his first century of the season. Ably supported by Fulk, the pair tore into the left arm wrist spin of T Preest, until Fulk played a lazy shot to be caught at midwicket, and Chris Jackson was eventually run out 9 runs short of his century.William Clarke (0), on the back of a solid innings the weekend before, was dismissed with ease, and it was left to Simon Jackson (23*) and Marcus Martin (8*) to pinch cheeky singles and run hard between the wickets in the closing overs to bring the score to 216-5 off their allotted 53 overs.With the absence this season of Michael Berks and early season injury to Andy Young, Reed opened [...]

Reed II’s salvaged a draw away at Northwood Town II’s on Saturday, but their inept batting performance left captain Jason Archer fuming.Losing the toss on a scorching Summers afternoon, Reed were put into the field by the Northwood captain. Richard Johnson (0-40) and Graham Wilson (2-28) opened the bowling for the visitors and did so very well, causing the Northwood batsmen no end of problems. Indeed, Wilson’s canny and probing line snared an early wicket after gaining an edge through to keeper Matt Bowles. Reed continued to pile on pressure, and another Wilson wicket, combined with 3 from Skipper Archer (3-29) and 2 from Karl Ward (2-60) left the home side in big trouble on 110-7.However an effective lower order partnership got Northwood out of a hole, and took their score up towards 150. Rupert Martin snared a late wicket to help reduce the arrears, but it was spinner Ben Bowles’ introduction that finally did the trick for Reed. The veteran bowled just 4 balls, but took the last 2 wickets, one thanks to a sharp stumping from brother Matt Bowles to leave Northwood all out on 189.Reed’s reply got off well, with Ben Bowles (21) and Stuart Smith (26) both looking good and progressing the score to 42. However when Smith went, caught at mid off, the Reed batting collapse started. Michael Robertson went next, and when Ben Bowles edged behind Reed were faltering. Karl Ward, Richard Johnson and Matt Bowles all then played very poor shots to get themselves out in quick succession, meaning Reed had gone from 42-0, to 86-7. Luckily for Reed, Fergus and Rupert Martin kept their heads and batted very maturely to help see off the bulk of the [...]

Reed were away to Northwood Town on Saturday in their bid to pick up winning ways and surge towards top of the table by beating one of the Division’s weaker teams. However, it was not to be as both sides had to settle for 10 points as Northwood Town’s reply was stunted by heavy and persistent rain shortly after tea.Losing the toss, Reed were asked to bat on a green and traditionally lively wicket similar to that of Sabina Park, but without the West Indian weather and picture postcard surroundings.The wicket offered immediate and exaggerated assistance to the bowlers as D Bushnell (13-2-64-1) and Richard Doling (11-3-29-0) created some early difficulties for James Heslam (52) and Baz Curtis (25) with unpredictable bounce and sharp seam movement. However, the Reed pair weathered accurate spells to build a strong opening partnership of 44, thanks to a straight six from Curtis and a glorious hook for the maximum by Heslam off Bushnell. When Curtis finally fell trying to guide the ball to third man, but instead feeding second slip, Heslam assumed the reins of responsibility as he and Chris Jackson (31) structured a slow but consistent partnership to take the score to 98 highlighted by two or three crushing square cuts. Northwood Town’s second string bowlers also failed to glean any wickets, until part time bowler and skipper Raj Ahluwalia (13-4-46-7) put himself on to bowl his medium paced left arm swingers. He immediately had Heslam caught by the wicket keeper with a loose stroke and Chris Jackson soon followed with an ill considered drive that instead rearranged his off and middle stumps. With Karl Ward (5), promoted in the order, trying to force the pace as clouds [...]

After 3 weeks of rained off games, it was a relief all round for Reed to arrive at London Colney with the sun shining and the pitch dry. Captain Jason Archer lost the toss, and Reed were put into bat. The pitch proved to be very slow, and combined with the large boundaries, Reed’s openers Ben Bowles and Fergus Martin set the Reed innings off tentatively. Bowles and Martin saw off the opening Overs, and Bowles was beginning to find his feet, striking two aggressive boundaries, before he played down the wrong line and was bowled for 13. Martin remained resolute and continued his quest to see off the new bowlers. Mark king, returning after over a month out with a hamstring injury, was unable to resurrect the form that saw him make an unbeaten century in his previous game and miss timed a straight drive to mid off to leave Reed 20 for 2. This brought Ian Fulk to the crease, and along with Martin, Fulk dug in early on to ensure Reed didn’t collapse. Fulk began loosen his arms and strike the ball to the boundary, but Reed’s scoring rate was still very slow, and when Martin was trapped LBW for 7, Reed were looking down the barrel of another collapse, at 49-3 after 25 Overs. Matt Bowles then joined Fulk in the middle, and the pair set about salvaging the innings and upping the run rate. Bowles looked particularly strong off his legs, and Fulk was playing some masterful back foot strokes. Fulk soon reached his 50, as he and Bowles put on 87 for the next wicket, with Bowles falling for a well made and powerful 36. Big hitting Jim Allsopp [...]

It was a case of so near so far as Reed 3rds narrowly failed to get off the mark for the league season with a win. Put in to bat by their visitors on a dull, overcast and damp Royston Heath, Reed got off to a steady start but the match changed dramatically when at 42 - 2 John Heslam joined Masseh Naeem at the crease. The pair rapidly set about establishing a significant Reed total as they despatched any loose deliveries to all parts of the ground. Naeem 77 rattled up 10 x 4's and 2 x 6's as he strode to 77 and the pair put on a new Reed 3rd Xl record 3rd wicket partnership of 148. After Naeem fell stumped Heslam continued in dominant form and his innings of 94 including 15 x 4's and 3 x 6's only ended when he attempted reach the magic "100" in style and fell caught at long off attempting another maximum. John Kershaw added a solid 30 not out before Reed declared at 258 for 5 off 45 overs.After tea and a further heavy shower Reed took to the field and soon had Letchworth in trouble at 5 - 2 as Neil Haslam 2 -38 and Ian Roberts 1 -16 bowled economical opening spells. However Letchworth veteran Gilham 34 played a solid anchor role and though wickets fell fairly regularly at the other end the overs began to drip away. Kieran Ward 2 -31 and father Alan Ward 2 - 13 made inroads but Turner 27 not out and Swain 15 not out played out the draw to restrict Reed to 18 league points deny them the maximum 30 point win. Letchworths lack of [...]

Reed 3rd XI continued their good start to the season with a convincing win over Ware 2nd XI, at our new home ground in Sandon.Captain Peter Baker won the toss and elected to field. It looked like it might be a long afternoon in the field with both of the openers hitting fours over the top of the bowlers heads. However, the break through soon came with Haslam (2-21) clean bowling the opener. The next wicket soon fell with Willoughby taking a catch off Kieran Ward's (3-23) bowling. After the openers had been dismissed the remainder of the wickets were quick to follow with tight swing bowling from Haslam, Ward, and Roberts (5-3) who came on as the first change. Swain also contributed by taking a good catch at Mid- off. Ware were eventually all out for 52 runs.Reed came out to bat before tea had even been delivered to the pavillion. Swain opened and scored an unbeaten 24. Marcus Baker made a valuable contribution scoring a good 16. Heslam then came into help knock the remaining few runs off scoring 9 not out. The runs were knocked off for only 3 wickets. A good all round performance by the whole team especially in the field.