Reed completed a comfortable win over Welwyn Garden City III in the end, but made heavy weather of it midway through their innings. The home side surprisingly decided to bowl first on a wicket that good to bat on. Reed opened with inform Matt Bowles and the returning Fergus Martin. Both looked solid and did well against the pace of Nolan. Bowles in particular put the bad ball away while Martin rotated the strike. Bowles was the first to go, caught behind for 35. This brought in Baz Curtis who had exchanged his normal opening spot for the number 3 position. It didn’t take long to see this was a bad idea as he served up a catch to the keeper and was out for a duck.From 56-1 suddenly it was 61-3 when Richard Johnson was run out for 1. Reed began to get bogged down with some tight bowling from Sumpter and Wells. Suddenly the pair had reduced Reed to 97-6 and the decision to bowl looked a good one. Marcus Baker joined Will Dobson and the pair started to be more aggressive against the two bowlers and it looked to be paying dividends as the pair put on 47 before Baker was caught at mid on with a full length one handed catch.It looked like maximum batting points would be out of the question, but Keiran Wheeler had other ideas. He and Dobson decided that aggression was the answer and hit some lusty blows. Dobson used his feet well and smashed 3 sixes on his way to 58 not out. Wheeler fell with the score on 205 trying to go for one more big shot. His 25 cementing his number 9 spot.After a [...]

Skipper Baz Curtis lost the toss and Watford Town’s skipper had no hesitation in putting Reed into bat on a green looking wicket. Fergus Martin and Curtis opened the batting and looked quite comfortable against the opening bowlers. Ali was getting some seam movement, but the extra pace of Khali wasn’t causing too many problems. Curtis was just getting into his stride before he was caught behind for 14 and Reed were 24-1 in 7 overs. Matt Bowles joined Martin and the pair had added 13 before Martin was well caught in the slips for 11.The score had reached 42 when Connolly who had replaced Ali struck for the first time. He had Johnson adjudged LBW. He quickly followed that up bowling Bowles for 13 and Blissett for a duck and it was suddenly 45-5. Phil Freney and Marcus Baker looked like they were beginning to rebuild and had put on 27 before Connolly struck again.Shepherd took over from Khali and he also got in the action quickly. From 72-6 their was another collapse. He reduced the home side to 75-8. Keiran Wheeler and Kallum Ward decided putting bat to ball as the best answer. Wheeler hit a quick 9 before being caught. Peter Tidey followed the same bat to ball route and hit a quick 15 and got Reed over 100. It was left to Shepherd to bowl Ward for 9 and Reed were 107 all out.Watford went out for a tricky 40 minutes before tea and it was vital that Reed picked up some quick wickets. They got a dream start when Wheeler struck first ball. After some quick padding up Khali came to the wicket, but he was quickly removed after a [...]

Despite the result being only a draw Reed’s 2nd XI did everything possible to win the game. Baz Curtis won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. Three balls in to their innings Curtis must have thought this was unwise as he was bowled for a duck. Mitchell Cooper faired little better and Reed were 12-2. Matt Bowles and Phil Freney began to rebuild the innings with Bowls in particular taking a liking to the bowling of Khan. The pair had put on a solid 52 when Bowles miss timed one and was caught at midwicket. Reed were flying along at around 5 an over, but a sudden collapse saw them reduced to 90-6 from 21 overs. Freney was adjusted LBW when he had reach 35 and looked set to press on.It looked like the visitors would give away a serious over advantage to their hosts, but Roddi Liebenberg has different ideas. He started slowly, but at 139-8 in only the 28th over he had plenty of time. Could anyone stay with him. The answer was a solid yes in the form of Rupert Martin. Martin showed great defence, and with some good running and sensible aggression the pair started to get on top. Low who had done all the early damage was finally replaced and the two batsman began to take advantage. Liebenberg raced to 50 and Reed passed maximum batting points in the 41st over. The outfield was fast and the steep slope made defending runs difficult. With still 13 overs to go Reed not only had to get more runs, but also use up the overs. Liebenberg started to be more aggressive and boundaries came more regularly. He hit two [...]

Reed won and took the brave decision to put St. Margaretsbury II into bat on what looked like a flat batting track. Mitchell Cooper struck early removing Blemkin for a duck with only 12 on the board. St. Margaretsbury regrouped well putting on 73 for the 2nd wicket and looked well on top and on the way to a big total. Keiran Wheeler who had replaced Cooper tempted the well set Banbett into coming down the track and we was caught by King for an excellent 47. Reed suddenly found a new lease of life. Chris Peckett struck twice in two balls. He had Jackman LBW for 0 and the next ball Griffiths was unlucky to volley the ball onto his stumps. Suddenly it was 86-4 and the game was back in the balance. Martin Beedell was now the rock of the St. Margaretsbury innings. He was joined by Charlie Frederick and they had put on 46 when an ill judge single so Beedell run out for 54. Again Reed struck twice as Wood was bowled by Peter Tidey. The score was now 131-6 and Reed began to turn the screw. Frederick was unlucky to adjudged LBW for 28 with the score on 153. Run were now becoming harder to score and tail was removed for the addition of 17 more runs. St. Margaretsbury were all out for 170. Peckett and Tidey both taking 2 wickets with Keiran Wheeler taking 3.St. Margaretsbury were going to need early wickets to put the home side unpressure and they did just that. A fine open spell from Sheffield and Hanley saw the home side 13-2 with Baz Curtis and Cooper both removed by Hanley by catches in the [...]

Reed’s 2nd XI were looking to put some poor performances behind them and get some valuable league points. They won the toss and decided to bat first. Baz Curtis and William Helsam opened for the home side and looked comfortable. Heslam played some lovely shots putting the bad ball away. It was Curtis who was the first to go when he tried a misjudge cut and was caught behind for 10. Heslam looking in good nick got a ball that rose off a good length and was well held at square leg for 14. Fergus Martin was bowled for three and from looking at a good start Reed were suddenly 27-3.That quickly became 4 down when Bowles who scored his 16 all in boundaries was out. Richard Johnson looked at his majestic best and had moved to 17 when he was bowled. Suddenly the visitors could sense the home side were vulnerable. Roddi Liebenberg was joined by Mitchell Cooper and started to rebuild. Liebenberg bounced on anything that was lose and with some clean hitting cleared the boundary four times as he raced to 50. The pair put on 92 in only 10 overs. Still at 163-6 in only the 33rd over, if Reed were to be bowled out quickly Shenley Village would have plenty of over to chase down the total. Reed’s lower order had other ideas. Cooper went for 27, but Keiran Wheeler smashed a quick 27. The 9th wicket went down with the score on 207, but their was still more runs to come. Rupert Martin and Peter Tidey put on 43 in 8 overs to take the score to 250 when the declaration came. Tidey was 25 not out with Martin [...]

A match that could have been won by either side was finally won by Reed by 3 wickets with 8 over to spare. Host Sandridge won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. They got off to a steady start on a wicket with variable bounce. It took an excellent diving catch from William Heslam off the bowling of Chris Peckett to make the first break through. Peckett was the pick of the opening bowlers and he want on to take 3-34 in his 18 over spell. Once a wicket fell they seemed to come in batches and this was a theme of the whole match. Julian Fynn replaced out of touch Kallum Ward and produced an excellent spell of bowling. He removed the aggressive Mannyfield for 23 and then had Norman’s middle stump cartwheeling out of the ground for a duck. Unfortunately he couldn’t complete the hattrick. Fynn finished with 2-46.Keiran Wheeler replaced Fynn and produced some excellent flight and gyle, turning the ball square at time. He removed the dangerous Peters who was looking take the game away from Reed. Wheeler was helped by some fine outfielding with some good catches being taken. Sandridge put on some valuable runs on at the death, but were finally dismissed for 176 with Reed gaining an extra over to chase the total.Baz Curtis and William Heslam opened for Reed. Young Heslam went to the spin of Peters for 1. Matt Bowles joined Curtis and both were cautious against the spin of Peters and accurate seam bowling of Murphy. They rotated the strike well and picked up boundaries where they could. Bowles looked in good touch until he was caught and bowled by Murphy for [...]

Reed's 2nd XI travelled to Redbourn hoping to put some poor recent performances behind them. Skipper Baz Curtis won the toss and decided to bowl first on a green looking wicket. This looked like a great decision when Rupert Martin struck in his first over. Their was some swing in the muggy conditions and Martin and opening partner Mitchell Cooper bowled well. Cooper found the edge of Hales's bat only for Curtis to drop it. After that chances became fewer the ball stopped swinging.Hales was finally run out for 18. Cooper was replaced by Julian Fynn who was unlucky not to pick up some wickets when he had two catches dropped in one over. Keiran Wheeler replaced Martin and removed opener Irwin when Tidey finally did hold a catch for Reed. Mauder and Bruce put together a good partnership with Bruce playing some attacking shots. Wickets were falling reasonable regularly, but not without a decent partnership inbetween. Wheeler missed a chance to remove Bruce with a caught and bowled that he would normally take easily.Bruce finally went for 49, but the home side still batted positvely and finally post 194-9 in their 53 overs. Cooper and Peter Tidey both took 2 wickets and Wheeler 3.In reply Baz Curtis and Fergus Martin put 52 for the first wicket before Martin was run out by his skipper. Curtis finally showing some form reached 56 before being held in the deep. Phil Freney and Richard Johnson tried to keep Reed in the match, but some fine pace bowling from Thatcher kept Reed behind the rate. As wickets started to fall their was only going to be one winner, but Rupert Martin and Marcus Baker held out for the [...]

The 2nd XI were desperate to get back to winning ways against bottom of the table Potters Bar III. Baz Curtis won the toss and immediately put the visitors into bat in the humid conditions. With rain showers except the plan was to bowl the strugglers out cheaply and knock off the runs. The plan looked well on course as Rupert Martin took 2 quick wickets both from catches held by Keiran Wheeler. Skipper Scott misjudged a single and Martin was again in the action as his fine through over the stumps to keeper Marcus Baker had the skipper wells short of his ground.Peter Tidey who was bowling from the other end and seemed to have his mojo back after a frustrating first half of the season. He was swinging the ball nicely and took the 4th wicket leaving Potters Bar on 44-4. Then came the first rain break. The teams were off for a while, but the wicket was immediately playable as soon as the rain stopped. Reed continued to pick up wickets. Wheeler has replaced Martin and soon picked up two wickets. Scott was joined by Rowland and the pair had moved the score on to 99 before Scott drove a Will Dobson and William Heslam held a good low catch a extra cover.Dobson struck again quickly and at 102-8 Potters Bar looked down and out, but Rowland and Swale started to put to ball. Reed just lost control of the game and the pair on 81 for the 9th wicket. Heslam took a great diving catch to remove Rowland for 76, his third catch of the day. The 10th wicket put on another 16 before Marcus Baker took a stumping off the [...]

With some last minute excitement and dropouts Reed seconds were preparing themselves for playing there opening league match of the season with only ten men. It was a situation the Reed players did not relish being in. But then, like Omar Sharif in Laurence of Arabia or a gunslinger strolling into town, Paul Watts came pacing his way across the pitch towards the pavilion. Not needing to be asked twice, Reeds fixture secretary and usual second eleven umpire donned the whites for the first time in six years whilst Marcus Martin thankfully agreed to undertake the umpiring duties.Reeds captain Peter Tidey won the toss and asked Mark King and Ritchie Barlow to don their pads and open the Reed innings. The pair were just starting to get going when a poor call led to King (14) being left short of the crease. Barlow (7) soon followed as Reed struggled on 28 for 2. Matt Bowles and Mitchell Cooper then occupied the crease for fourteen overs but found difficulty in getting the bowling of Allen (18-5-50-3) and Connah (14-6-44-1) away as the runs began to dry up. Bowles (14) was then stumped and Ed Blissett suffered a second ball duck as Reed found themselves at 52 for 4. Marcus J.E. Baker then joined Cooper as he tried to inject some life into the innings. Both batsmen were now looking comfortable at the crease as they took quick singles and hit some class boundaries as Preston rotated their bowlers. They had put on 50 together before Baker (18) played around a straight one from Murrell (11-3-30-5). Kallum Ward then played some aggressive shots, including a huge six, making 23 before being caught from one big shot too [...]

The 2nd XI travelled to Northwood on Saturday trying to put their poor run of form behind them. Unfortunately this wasn’t to be the case. Deciding to bat first skipper Baz Curtis set the tone with two poor shots, the second of which he managed to snick to the keeper. Phil Freney tried the exact same thing to the third ball of the match only to snick it over the slips for four. J. Vedener was their tormentor. He was just getting enough movement off the pitch to make driving difficult. William Heslam returning to 2nd XI action look in good form and put the bad ball away before he was also tempted to drive and was caught at mid off. Richard Johnson joined Freney at 27-2 and that soon became 3 as Johnson was out of the last ball of the over LBW for a duck.Freney consolidated with his new partner Matt Bowles. Bowles again looked in good form and the pair had moved the total on to 55 before Freney was caught for 24. Will Dobson joined Bowles and the pair made quick progress put on 60 runs in 11 overs. The run rate wasn’t the issue, it was the loss of wickets. Dobson looked set for another 50, but was out for 49 caught on the boundary going for his fourth six. Bowles had looked in no trouble, but somehow managed to get a get a leading edge and was caught and bowled for 34. Reed were 130-6 with still 20 overs to go. If they could bat their overs a very good total was likely. The remaining batsman all got it, but got out when set. At 164-8 it seemed like [...]