The 1st XI made it 4 wins in 5 games and moved into 3rd place in the Herts Championship with another convincing win this time over previously 3rd placed Hoddesdon. On a green-ish wicket due to the heavy rain of the previous two days Reed won the toss and elected to bowl. Hoddesdon got off to a decent start though with Hertfordshire batsman Rob Walters looking in good form. However when Jack Tidey (8-2-27) again made an important breakthrough dismissing Walters for 25 the run rate began to slow. However, the home side continued to build and at 102-4 off 29 overs largely thanks to 41 from Leat they had a reasonable platform on a tricky wicket. Alex Mutucumarana (10-1-29) and Toby Fynn (10-0-39) bowled decent spells during this period for Reed. The introduction of spinners Tom Greaves (8-2-39), Phil Lill (10-3-21) and Reece Fitzgerald (4-0-17) then put Reed on top reducing the home side to 144-7 off 42 overs. Lill returning particularly impressive figures. Although a recovery took place to 185-8 in 50 overs a run rate of under 4 runs per over was good news for the Reed run chase. Reeds reply got off to another solid start as James and Will Heslam got through a tricky new ball period to take the score to 35-0 after 8 overs. Although Will Heslam (10) then went looking to score, this brought Greaves to the crease and he immediately looked to punish anything loose as Hoddesdon turned to spin but with a little less control than Reed’s and the powerful Greaves (48) supported by Heslam (33) took Reed along to 101-1 off 22 overs to look well on course for victory. Although Heslam and Greaves then [...]