Early season Herts SHCL Division 1 leaders Reed let their lead slip away as they lost away against Old Finchleians. Reed finished the match with only a 5 point return as they paid the price for putting their opponents in to bat and then failed to secure the win.Despite the previous days rain the wicket proved less helpful to the bowlers than they had hoped and the home side passed 50 without loss as the Reed bowlers offered too many loose deliveries and failed to exert the required and expected pressure. The introduction of Mitchell Cooper and Tom Greaves into the attack improved Reeds fortunes somewhat but approaching the halfway stage of the Finchleians innings they were comfortably placed only 3 wickets down and well past the 100 mark. The home side went on to declare after 51 of their possible 53 overs with their score at 226-7. Tom Greaves proved the pick of the Reed bowlers with 4 wickets.In reply Reed got off to a steady start but skipper James Heslam fell for 18 with score at 30. Brother Will fell for 19 soon afterwards and Smith and Jackson also made it into the teens without going on to a threatening score. Tom Greaves briefly threatened to put Reed back into the match with a sprightly 40 but after he departed only Sean Tidey with 38 and Richard Johnson, cruelly adjudged LBW when looking promising, made any significant runs. Reed were eventually all out for 180, 47 short of their required target with 8.4 overs still available to them.

Match Report To Follow

Match Report To Follow

Match Report To Follow

Match Report To Follow

Match Report To Follow

Reed travelled to St Albans on Saturday with an unchanged side looking to capitalise on last week’s convincing victory over Hitchin. On arrival, the pitch looked good, and the outfield flat and true. The newly installed 4 lane nets looked equally as impressive and are clearly a real asset to St Albans, however strangely not available for match-day use for either team!Reed lost the toss and the home side elected to bat. The Reed opening pair of Johnson and Cooper continued where they left off the previous week, with Cooper (3-26) picking up the early wicket of St Albans skipper with the score on just two. It wasn’t long before Johnson got in the act, trapping Rowlands infront of the stumps with the score on 41. This then brought in the big hitting Manzoor who stuck to his game plan throughout, striking several boundaries in quick successions. It was Tom Greaves (3-39) who picked up his wicket, with the field delicately set Manzoor was tied back and fell LBW for a fruitful 41. At the other end Jack Tidey and Bernie Morse (2-39) both picked up wickets and the St Albans innings was faltering after a decent start. Chaudry strode out to the crease, and quickly strode back, with Morse clean bowling him without troubling the scorers. Chandra quickly followed and St Albans found themselves in the precarious position of 132-8. However, a sterling 9th wicket partnership between O’Toole and Rossen took St Albans to a more respectable 196 before the final 2 wickets fell, leaving them all out for 200 . An excellent all round bowling performance from Reed on an excellent batting track.In response Reed made excellent early progress, with both Heslams crunching [...]

Reed stay in the hunt!Reed made it 3 wins on the bounce with victory against bottom of the league St Albans on Saturday.The visitors won the toss and chose to bat on a decent looking Reed wicket. They got off to a decent start reaching 38-0 in 9 overs. However, dangerous paceman Jack Tidey got the wicket he deserved trapping Curtis LBW for 16. This opened things up and St Albans faltered to 48-4 off 13 overs with Tidey taking 3 and Tom Greaves removing dangerman Manzoor for 24. The visitors then had some reasonable partnerships with Ingham playing well for his 51 but they were held in check well by some good bowling and fielding by Reed. Rupert Martin bowled excellently taking 2-23 off 11 overs and was well supported during his spell by the returning Mitchell Cooper (1-42), Greaves (2-50) and Tidey (4-37). St Albans finished up 159 all out after 49 overs. In reply Reed raced to an important victory with James and Will Heslam taking full advantage of a weakened St Albans bowling attack. They hit the ball to all parts of the ground on their way to 158-0 in just 19 overs. 1 run from victory James Heslam fell for 76 which resulted in 2 quick wickets but 18 year old Will Heslam hit the winning runs ending up on 78 not out off just 51 balls seeing Reed to victory on 162-2 off 20.2 overs.Results elsewhere went against Reed but things are tightening up into what looks like a 3 horse race for the 2nd place promotion spot with Reed 6 points off second and 1 point off 3rd. Next week Reed host mid-table Ampthill Town.

Match Report To Follow

Match Report To Follow