Reed beat the weather and Hoddesdon with dramatic batting display
The weather put paid to much of the Cricket scheduled for Saturday but a window in a bleak general weather allowed the Saracens Herts Championship League match between Hoddesdon and Reed to survive and produce an amazing batting display from the visitors Reed who secured a valuable win. Reed won the toss and in view of the weather invited Hoddesdon to bat first. An early run out saw the home team slip to 12-1 but then several rain interruptions followed and the match was scaled down in overs. From a low point of 90 – 3 Hoddesdon put together a good late surge to register a very respectable 229-3 from their 41 overs thanks to a fine 81* from Davis well supported by a fluent 78* from Curtis. Reed were faced with needing 230 to win from just 37 overs, a target in excess of 6 runs an over. However, skipper Heslam instructed a victory charge from the word go and switched his batting order around accordingly. Sean Tidey promoted to open with Will Heslam set off at a furious rate striking 4 boundaries in the first over. Will Heslam reached a good 26 off 27 balls before being bowled with the score on70 but the arrival at the crease of Tom Greaves saw things get even worse for the home side. Greaves struck the ball majestically and powerfully all around, and often well out of, the ground. He rapidly moved to 50 catching up with Tidey who was by no means slow scoring. Tidey eventually fell caught in the deep for a superb 55 but the Reed charge to victory was well underway with the score 152 – 2. The shell shocked Hoddesdon bowlers [...]