Reed Third XI put in a disappointing performance in the first week of return fixtures. Reed had already lost to West Herts playing away and were looking to exploit the home advantage at the Freman Oval. However, batting first Reed's innings never really got going. Cheap early wickets took the impetus out of the batting. Paul Garrott looked in good form in getting to 23, bringing him up to 300 runs in the season so far, before falling LBW. This left Reed on 40 for 4. Marcus J.E. Baker (32) looked to counter attack but his premature departure would prove costly. Tom Nussey (22) gave valiant assistance to Ben Moody during the middle overs. Unfortunately Moody (42 not out) ran out of partners as Reed fell to a well below par score of 151. With such a low total there was no way for Reed to defend their score. Their only option was to attack and hope early breakthroughs will lead to a collapse. Sam Rice and Maseeh Naeem were given the job to upset the openers with the old ball. However, whereas Reed had little luck in their innings, West Herts’s Rehman (58) lived a charmed life as his swashbuckling innings all but took the game away from Reed. Joe Graves was able to take two good wickets to open up the game when the new ball was taken. But it was not enough, Reed's poor performance with the bat left nothing for the bowlers to work with and the game was quickly over; West Herts winning by 8 wickets. Now past the half way stage of the season Reed are really going to need to improve if they want to become competitive at [...]

As the new captain of Reed's Third eleven Marcus J.E. Baker saw the path to success coming through an improvement in the fielding and spirit of the team. An opening fixture against West Herts was the first opportunity to set the new standards. Baker had won the toss and decided to bat first, with the experienced opening pair of Paul Garrott and Robert Willoughby. Both made a vigilant start when Willoughby was caught and bowled for 17. Owen Hughes joined Garrott and immediately looked at ease. Garrott meanwhile was carving out a crucial knock and looked set for a half century when he was lost, caught for 43. Baker then came to crease and scored freely. They had put on 50 for the fourth wicket when Baker (33) was bowled. Hughes’s patient and diligent innings ended soon after for 33. The remaining Reed batsmen each made contributions but not enough to get Reed to 200 with the innings ending all out for 161. Reed's opening bowlers suffered poor luck. Hughes and Joe Graves both gave maximum effort but things just went against them. Eventually Joe Graves (2-18) made the breakthrough. He then struck again and Matt Yates, replacing Hughes, took the third wicket. The momentum was with Reed. But young county player Brady (45) and King (27) took West Herts to within twenty runs of victory when Willoughby bowled King. The eagerness of the hosts to finish the game quickly was costing them their wickets as Reed sensed an upset as the wickets fell in quick succession. It was here that the aspects that M.J.E. Baker wanted his team to target, team spirit and fielding were focused on. The young side was as one and [...]