Reed slipped to second in Hertfordshire League Division 2 on Saturday but remain unbeaten this year after drawing with Knebworth Park IIs at Reed. Unfortunately for Reed, their second placed rivals, Berkhamsted, whom they will meet away next week, were victorious leaving the first place open for a hard fought fixture on 14th July.Despite winning the toss, Reed struggled to break into Knebworth’s line-up as the prolific captain and overseas star, Jaret Turner (21) build a solid 42 run opening partnership with S Gregory (61). It took a special delivery by opening bowler, and stand in skipper Andrew Young (9.1-1-36-1) to remove Turner’s middle stump providing Reed with an opening, and also Knebworth’s batting order, who were clearly keen to knock their bats in this season for the first time.The entrance of P Simpson (72) complemented Gregory well, as the pair took the score to 133, plundering some loose deliveries from Reed’s bowlers, despite some excellent commitment from Graham Wilson in his first spell (18.5-3-74-1). The pair worked the ball responsibly around the wicket despatching loose deliveries from Reed’s bowlers who lacked their talismanic Peter Tidey, drafted to Trent Bridge for drinks duties for the international ODI.Garrott (7-0-37-1) and C Jackson (5-0-29-0) tried to make inroads with their twirling spinners, but the batsmen’s eyes lit up, plundering more runs at an alarming rate as Reed were staring down the barrel at a possible chase of 290.It took the introduction on William Clarke (13-1-60-2) and Graham Wilson in his second spell to peg back the score, bowl a consistent line and take some wickets. Clarke removed Simpson with a ball that trapped the 16 year old prodigy in front of the wickets. Garrott had previously removed [...]

Captain Jason Archer’s Reed team were again left ruing the summer weather on Saturday, after another victory was snatched from their grasp by one torrential downpour. After losing the toss and being asked to field Reed’s consistent bowling attack nagged away the the Trinibis batsmen. Karl Ward struck early to send opener Brown back to the hutch, with the score on 15 off 16 overs. A break for 30 minutes ensued, and after the resumption Trinibis edged on to 48 with half of their allotted 49 overs expired. Archer (12-5-321) introduced into the attack, supported ably by Richard Robertson (15-4-1-27), started to take wickets. From 48-1 Holtwhites slumped to 57-6. Rupert Martin (2-26) picking up a couple of wickets along the way. The batting side had a couple of mini recoveries before wickets fell again at 71 and 117. After 49 overs of excellent control the innings closed on 133, with Reed firmly ensconced in the driving seat. However during the tea interval, what can only be described as a monsoon hit the North London ground. With the wicket covered play would have been possible if the large lake like puddles had not formed on the square and outfield. After little chance of a break in the weather and further heavy showers the game was finally abandoned at 5.30, leaving Reeds batsmen frustrated. Skipper Archer was philosophical “ We’ve had so much bad luck with the weather, the way the fixtures have worked out, 4 games against sides in the lower half of the table have been cancelled or abandoned. Considering we have taken 100 points off 4 of the top 5 teams, the extra 80 points we have missed out on would see us challenging [...]

Reed retained their leading position in Herts League Division 2, despite chasers, Berkhamstead, managing to close the gap, after Reed drew their first game of the season at home against Flitwick. Reed now lead Division 2 by 11 points.Having won the toss, and electing to bowl of a damp, green wicket, Reed set about their task in earnest as Andrew Young (9-1-50-1) had P Gurney caught at third slip for a duck by skipper James Heslam with a classic fast bowler’s delivery cutting away off the seam.This brought Flitwick’s prolific South African overseas player, B Moses (115*) to the crease. Teaming up with fellow opener C Ferguson (40), the pair began to get to work as they dragged the score to 94-1, with some good running between the wickets, although they could have considered themselves fortunate with some close chances off Tidey (18-3-51-3) and some probing deliveries from Andy Young.However, soon after the drinks break, Ferguson’s charging of Tidey came to an end as he rode his luck too far, Simon Jackson dislodging the bails with a perfect stumping leaving the visitors 94-2. New bowler William Clarke (10-1-47-1) then despatched newcomer J Heart (0) without much fuss swinging the game back into Reed’s favour. Tidey continued to work hard with Clarke to reduce the run rate and force two further wickets through his trademark accuracy and pressure-building bowling.However, Moses remained at the crease dominating the strike, and the majority of the innings, with Reed desperately needing his wicket to get amongst the opposition. Reed continued to chip away from the bottom up, as Andrew Young completed a sharp run out opportunity to dislodge M Harvey from his perch for 12, and James Heslam then performed [...]

Reed II’s put in a solid batting and bowling display away at Flitwick II’s on Saturday, but couldn’t quite come away with maximum points, with the home side blocking out for a draw in the hot sun.Winning the toss, captain Jason Archer made the easy decision to bat first and sent in openers James Bell and Matt Bowles. The pair got Reed off to a fairly rapid start, with Bell looking strong on the offside. However bell was to fall victim of a ball that kept low, and was bowled for 14. This brought Mark King to the middle, and he too found early boundaries as Reed looked to set a big total. Bowles plundered an almighty pull shot to the mid wicket boundary as Reed reached 38-1 in just 7 Overs. However, Bowles was soon to follow Bell back to the pavilion as he was trapped LBW by Nicklin for 13 (5-1-12-2). In recent years, Reed II’s have regularly been able to call upon Ian Fulk in times of trouble, and yet again the number 4 batsman didn’t let his side down. Together with King, Fulk took the Reed score towards three figures. King then fell for 24 whilst trying a pull shot, bringing Richard Johnson to the crease. Johnson and Fulk took the game to the Flitwick attack, and both looked in fine form as they mixed good running with some well timed boundary shots. Johnson was timing the ball immaculately, and looked set for a big score as Reed reached 106-3. The introduction of leg spinner Thurstance (15-3-78-3) proved to be a turning point for Flitwick though, as first he held on to a sharp caught and bowled chance to remove Johnson [...]

Michael Robertson recorded his maiden century for Reed as his tremendous innings of 111 formed the backbone of Reed III's 249 - 6 declared against Flamstead II.Coming to the crease at 51-3 after useful early contributions from Heslam 15 and Swain 21 Robertson put the visitors attack to the sword and made them rue their decision to put Reed into bat. In a fine innings of a quality rarely seen at 3rd Xl level Robertson struck a series of powerful yet classic cricketing shots to all parts of the Sandon ground, recording 9x6's and 9x4's, a total of 90 in boundaries in his score of 111. Much to the relief of the visitors bowlers, Robertson eventually fell bowled with the score at 214 - 4 after a Reed 3rd Xl record partnership of 163 with Masseeh Naeem (35). Skipper Heslam Snr eventually declared the Reed innings closed at 249 - 6 off only 41 overs leaving the home team 49 overs to bowl out the shell shocked opposition.Reed's bowlers were equally merciless as openers Rupert Martin 2-5 and Bobby Costen 4-23 reduced Flamstead to a dismal 10 - 5 at one stage. After something of a recovery to 55-5 the introduction of Ward into the attack saw the visitors resistance completely subside and they collapsed to 86 all out with Ward registering 4.2 overs 3 maidens 3-5. Reed registered a mammouth 163 run victory against rivals only two places behind them in the league prior to the days play commencing.

Reed 2’s hosted Eversholt 2’s on Saturday, looking to kick start their league season with a 1st win of the campaign.After winning the toss, Captain Jason Archer decided to bat in the overcast conditions. Brothers Ben and Matt Bowles opened the innings for Reed and went about the task of building a total in a typically cautious manner. Despite a few scares, particularly for Matt Bowles, the pair successfully negotiated the tricky conditions, and saw off the opening bowlers. The opening stance yielded 64 runs, before Matt Bowles was finally out, caught behind for a gritty 38. Reed then suffered a batting collapse, going from 64-1 to 78-6, with John Heslam and Chris Shorrock both failing to work the scorers, and Ed Garrott (5) and Karl Ward (9) also succumbing to good bowling, To add to the woes, Ben Bowles soon followed for 18.With a measly total on the cards, the job of salvaging the innings fell on the shoulders of Richard Robertson and Steve Lovegrove. The pair batted magnificently in first steadying the ship, and secondly building not only a respectable, but challenging total. Robertson was timing the ball perfectly, and made his way to a score of 43, and Lovegrove ‘nudged’ and ‘nurdled’ the ball around to great effect on his way to a score of 40. When the pair finally departed, Reed were in a far healthier position. Big hitters Andy Young and Jim Allsopp then added a few more valuable runs to the Reed total with some hefty blows to leave Reed on 183-9 off of their allotted 53 overs.Eversholt struggled early on in their innings whilst trying to reach Reed’s total. The pace of Andy Young was clearly unsettling the [...]

Reed extended their unbeaten league run again on Saturday by registering a third consecutive victory over Eversholt by 9 wickets. Reed lie top of League Division 2, 20 points clear, and showed clear signs of even more improved consistency, particularly in the bowling department, as they dismissed Eversholt of a mere 73 runs. It was marked notably thanks to 5 wickets from Andrew Emms in the space of 10 balls which included a hat-trick.Even though Reed lost the toss, and were asked to field, Eversholt could not have got off to a worse start, as Peter Tidey’s (13-6-22-1) probing and accurate spell of swing bowling pinned down the openers. In conjunction with an increasingly belligerent and accurate display by Graham Wilson (13-7-23-3) sharing the new ball, the pair dismissed the top four batsmen for 19 runs with Wilson making key breakthroughs at key points. With Eversholt struggling on 19-4 after 16 overs, T Wisson (28) and L Presswell (15) were patient and grafted hard against accurate bowling to drag the score to 56. However, when Wilson and Tidey both took a rest, William Clarke (5-0-12-1) took the key wicket of Presswell LBW to create an opening into the lower order.Andrew Emms (5-0-12-5) took full advantage of this as he continued to remove Wisson, Nicholes (0), Litchfield (9) and Macmillan (0) within the space of three balls, also thanks to a sharp stumping from Simon Jackson down the leg side. Morgan and Avis at number 10 and 11 failed to make any further runs as Emms in the following over removed Avis, again thanks to a sharp catch by Simon Jackson.Eversholt had crumpled to 73 all out after 35.5 overs, and it took Reed only 17.5 [...]

Reed surged to top of the table after their first two League games on Saturday as they chased down a strong total posted by newly promoted Cockfosters. Lucky to avoid the rain, which affected the majority of the county, Reed are now 22 points clear of 2nd place.Despite a weakened team, with Andy Young making good progress with his knee following surgery, and Tom Fulk unavailable due to European commitments, Reed mustered a respectable performance to snatch a full 30 point.Winning the toss, Reed elected to field on a very damp wicket that changed very little during the afternoon. However, despite an early breakthrough with the score on 3 by Graham Wilson (13-1-46-2), who managed to get good swing throughout, Cockfosters could have been struggling. But some solid and responsible batting from C Stead (46), S Penny (25) and M Fisher (66) recovered Cockfosters effort. The trio pushed the score along at a steady pace, until Chris Jackson (5-1-14-1) was introduced to the attack and bowled Stead, Graham Wilson bowled Penny with a classic outswinger and Peter Tidey’s (17-3-73-2) reintroduction down the hill also brought hope as he picked up two key wickets. However, B Wood (49) dug in to steady the Cockfosters boat. With Karl Ward (6-2-37-1) also picking up his first 1XI League wicket, Cockfosters declared after 50 overs with their total on 227 for 6.Despite some steady rain as the teams convened for tea, Reed came out batting responsibly to chase the total down. Baz Curtis (57) scored his maiden league fifty of the season. His measured and responsible innings marked a fine beginning to his season. Together with James Heslam (93*), who again is experiencing a solid beginning to the season, [...]

Reed 1st XI hosted a pre-season local derby on Saturday against Buntingford, and began their preparations for the National Village Cup match the following day, and the imminent beginning to the League season well as they strangled Buntingford to an 87 run victory in a 45 over aside match.On a glorious spring day, Reed elected to bat on an unusually dry wicket after winning the toss. Baz Curtis (47) and James Heslam (84) got Reed off to a scintillating start with a 151 run partnership with Buntingford desperate for a wicket from somewhere. When the pair were finally dismissed by Pearce (9-0-36-2) in quick succession, Chris Jackson (18) and Tom Fulk (23) took over the reins, but Chris Chambers (8-1-35-4) stopped them in their tracks by making a double strike, followed swiftly by bowling Marcus Martin for a duck. It was left to Simon Jackson, Reed’s ex-1XI skipper, to lead a measured, mature and energetic innings of 21, with late support from William Clarke (10) and Dale Shepherd (2*) to haul the score to 246 for 8 off 45 overs.Buntingford’s reply began slowly and poorly, as Jim Allsopp (9-1-22-2) removed M Cootes (8) and J Clements (12) cheaply, and when Shepherd (9-1-20-1) bowled C Ford (11), Buntingford were reeling. However, the ship was stabilised by Richard Pearce (48) and Chris Chamber (26), who although batted steadily, were unable to raise the run rate to the level required at any point. When probing bowling from William Clarke (8-1-29-1) removed Chambers, and Ed Garrott (10-0-48-2) had Pearce stumped by Simon Jackson, the run chase completely fizzled out, leaving them well short of the required total.James Heslam, who has succeeded Simon Jackson as 1st XI captain, commented after [...]

Despite the up coming club tour to the Cotswolds, Reed's 1st XI managed to keep focused on their promotion push. Thanks to efforts of groundsmen Richard Robertson and Jason Archer the ground was ready for the scheduled start at 1pm despite the weeks rain. Skipper James Heslam lost the toss, but wasn't too disappointed to be put into bat. Baz Curtis and Heslam took the score to 38 before Curtis middled one off the back of the bat and was caught at point. This brought in Chris Jackson who along with Heslam tamed the pitch. They put the bad ball away and along with some good running put on 86 for the 2nd wicket. Heslam was caught for 63, his second successive league 50. Jackson was LBW for 38 when the score was on 136. Reed could have wobbled, but with Tom Fulk scoring a measured 30 and a late flourish from Simon Jackson, 8, and Marcus Martin, 19, Reed posted a very respectable 213-6. This left relegation threatened Broxbourne with 1 point. Reed hoped this would force the visitors to attack their target.This Broxbourne did through the whole of their innings. They had reached a comfortable 29 before Peter Tidey struck, removing Dawson for 16. By the time the score had reached 49, Tidey and protege William Clarke had the visitors struggling at 49-4. When Tidey took his 4th wicket in his 10th over he had only conceded 17 runs. Both bowlers were well into their stride. Clarke took his second wicket in his 13th and final over. He took 2-36. A delighted Tidey picked up his fifer and left the home side in sight of victory as Broxbourne were 89-6. Broxbourne to their [...]