Reed travelled to Great Gaddesden under the new captain Marcus Martin. Martin won the toss and chose to bat on what looked like a good batting track. Baz Curtis and Furgus Martin opened for Reed. They both looked comfortable until Martin fell LBW for 5. Marcus Martin (29) came to the crease and joins Curtis, both scoring runs all around the park . Curtis was caught behind for 36. Other Reed batsmen to score runs were Robert Costen (17), Richard Johnson (27) and Karl Ward (22). The pick of the Great Gaddesden bowlers were Cheeseman senior with 2-34 and Cheeseman junior 3-25. Reed took to the field with express pacemen Richard Johnson 2-40 and Graham Wilson 3-13 both bowling with good pace. They both took key wickets to put victory in the captains eyes. Reed's fielding was generally tight with a superb catch by Costen at slip. Fergus Martin took a difficult catch at point to remove a threatening batsman. David Hill also bowled well finishing with 2-27 taking two wickets in two balls after catch by Ward and a catch by part time wicket keeper Marcus Martin. Neil Haslam kept on nagging away with a good line and length and finshied with 3-18. Captain Martin was happy with his teams performance and was glad to get his first victory under his belt.

Reed captain Marcus Martin won the toss and elected to field. Reed opened the bowling with Richard Johnson and Andrew Wholley, and the pair got Reed off to a great start with some good pace and swing. Both bowlers bowled 8 Overs straight, with Wholley impressing with figures of 8-1-2-22, and Johnson also picking up 2 wickets with figures of 8-0-2-45, leaving Hatfield struggling a bit on 57 for 4. Hitchiner scored 20 quickly, but was caught well at backwards point by Bowles off of Wholley, who also bowled Causton for 4. Johnson’s 2 wickets came about with 2 sharp catches by wicket keeper Graham Hazard.However, Hatfield dug themselves out of a hole well and showed why they are pushing for honours in the league, after superb innings from Golder and Whitehead. Golder scored 48 before he was eventually run out, and Whitehead scored a cultured 41 before youngster Mitchell Cooper performed heroics to catch him 1 handed off of the pacey bowling of Marcus Martin. Cooper also impressed with the ball, and was unlucky to have come away without reward from his 5 Overs. Jason Pallett was also in good form, his clever off spin only going fro 32 in 7 Overs, bowing at the death. A good partnership from Braine (11 Not Out) and Wynne (31 Not Out) at the end of the innings pushed Hatfield’s score above 200 to a challenging 214 for 7 off of their 40 Overs.In reply, Reed sent out Fergus Martin and Phil Frenay to open their innings. Frenay got out of the traps well, and looked classy as he kept Reed up with the run rate early on. Martin was a perfect foil at the other end, [...]

Reed won an entertaining and bizarre low scoring match away to Crawley Green Nomads on Sunday, this despite only having 10 players and suffering a huge batting collapse.Reed lost bowling all-rounder Rupert Martin before the match due to unforeseen circumstances, and were forced to field only 10 players against the Luton side. Captain Marcus Martin won the toss and put the home side into bat on a strip that resembled a bowling green more than a cricket pitch.Martin’s decision looked entirely justified as his opening bowler Richard Johnson (8-0-41-4) and ripped into the Crawley Green top order, whilst fellow opener Karl Ward (8-2-18-0) tied the hosts down with a sublime spell of line and length bowling. Johnson’s fiery quick bowling was too much for the Nomad’s batsmen, on what was proving to be a challenging pitch, after 12 Overs the home team were left reeling on 36-4 with Reed ‘keeper Robert Willoughby excelling with 3 catches, including one contender for ‘catch of the season’.Skipper Martin then introduced himself into the bowling attack, and his own brand of hostile pace bowling brought instant rewards. Martin took 3 wickets in 4 balls, including that of Y. Jethwa (19) who had looked dangerous. Martin went on to take a fourth wicket in his highly productive 6 Over spell, which yielded 4 wickets for only 14 runs. Crawley Green stalwart G. Hill (28) did manage to take his sides score up towards three figures, but young off spinner Ed Garrott accounted for his off stump with a brilliant ball before he could do too much damage. Jason Pallett also picked up a wicket to end the Crawley Green innings on 96, after just 30.4 of the allotted 40 Overs.Due [...]

Following Reed 1st XI’s success as Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire Champions in 2006 with their victory over Langleybury last year, their quest began afresh again on Sunday as they faced Biddenham away. With the backdrop of a thumping victory against Buntingford the previous day, Reed picked up where they left off, as they amassed a goliath 274 for 5 off their 40 overs, managing finally to beat Biddenham by 141 runs.Reed’s innings again started briskly as skipper James Heslam (58) and Baz Curtis (22) smashed the ball to all parts of a large ground until Curtis feathered a ball to the wicket keeper off Edmunds (9-0-49-2). However, it was an historic moment for Curtis, as this match marked his 15,000th run for Reed CC, marked primarily with his blistering form as an opener in both league and limited overs cricket. Heslam continued with Tom Fulk (90) until he played a lazy shot to point off Edmunds. With the score on 92-2 off only 12 overs, Reed’s openers had built a solid and confident platform for the middle order to exploit, and Fulk, together Chris Jackson (21) continued in steady fashion to pull the score to 145-2 off 25 overs. When Jackson mistimed a lofted drive to be caught off Taylor (9-0-42-1), Clarke (61*) came to the crease to partner Fulk as they plundered the second string bowlers to boost the score to 259 off 38 overs. When Fulk was run-out trying to reach for his century, Richard Johnson (3) joined Clarke but was bowled by a rapid straight delivery from D Morrish (4-0-27-1). Marcus Martin (2*) continued to partner Clarke to the end, as the pair took 17 off the final over, to settle the score [...]

Reed entertained local rivals Baldock at ‘The green’ on Sunday in the North Herts League. Despite the wet weather, Reed’s well renowned good pitch meant that a game was possible.Baldock won the toss and skipper, and ex Reed player, Graham Letford elected to bat. Due to the dampness of the pitch, Reed captain Marcus Martin chose to open the bowling with spinner Ed Garrott and in-form seem bowler Karl Ward. However, the wet ball was proving difficult for the bowlers, and Baldock’s opening batsmen Taylor and Furness took full advantage of this by accelerating the score to 40 after 7 Overs. The game then fell victim of a heavy downpour, and play was halted for half an hour. 5 Overs per innings were lost, meaning the game was now 35 Overs per side.When play resumed, Reed brought on Jason Archer and Rupert Martin in order to bring about a change in luck. This move worked almost straight away when R Martin had Taylor caught superbly at gully by Archer. Archer then followed up his heroics in the field by bowling Furness, and then skipper Letford an Over later. R Cant and N Blenkin then set about steadying the ship for Baldock, with Cant looking especially solid. The pair moved Baldock’s score on slowly but steadily, before the re-introduction of Ward accounted for the wicket of Blenkin, caught behind by keeper Graham Hazard for 6. Some unconventional batting from Rayat and the continued good batting from Cant meant the Baldock total increased towards 100. Rayat was then the victim of a second stunning catch from Archer, this time off the bowling of captain Marcus Martin, who also had Cant caught by Ed Garrott for a good [...]