Whilst the hosts’ captain, Mark Parkinson, was at the crease, Met Police Bushey were on-course to overhaul Reed’s total of 167. When he departed, caught by Sam Rice off a skyer, for 39, the remaining wickets soon followed. It illustrated how vital Reed’s ninth wicket partnership had been. In their innings, Reed’s number 10, Matt Yates had contributed only 2 not out of a forty-run stand with skipper Maseeh Naeem, but in such a confident and competent way, that without his support, Reed would probably have been all-out for 130 and well within range of Met Police Bushey. Earlier when Reed batted, the Willoughby brothers had set-off at good pace until Rob fell for 12. Fynn then scored 19 taking the total to 60, but 3 quick wickets left Reed reeling at 67 for 4, and then Kieran Willoughby was bowled for 28. Peter Baker and Maseeh Naeem quelled the route and added 40 before Baker lost his off stump. By this time, Naeem, the long-standing captain who has overseen successive promotions from Division 11, and has been an ever present Third XI player since its creation eight seasons ago, was in fine form, alternating between hard-hit boundaries and air-shots, but with the loss of two more wickets he had to re-think his strategy when batting with young Yates as he carefully picked-off boundaries each over and farmed the strike. Naeem finally fell for a well-crafted 63. And an all-out total of 167 was certainly defendable. James Hooper was making a welcome return and opened the bowling with left-armer, Yates. A well-judged caught & bowled by Hooper accounted for MPB’s wicket-keeper / batsman, Stevenson, but the second wicket was a long time coming until an [...]