Reed 4th XI v Baldock 3rd XI at Freman Oval, 16th July 2016 Baldock won the toss and elected to bat on a warm summer afternoon at Freman. There was a healthy balance of youth and “experience” in the 4th XI today. The opening bowling pair of Matt Yates and Jack Childs restricted the run rate over the early overs, with Childs taking the wickets of an opener and the No 3 batsman. Jake Gifford, replaced Yates, but struggled to find line and length and was quickly replaced by Jack Wilkerson. He deserved a wicket with a dropped catch coming off his bowling. Unfortunately, at the drinks break Matt Yates had to retire from the field having taken a heavy blow on the ankle from a well struck shot. Meanwhile from the town end, Martin Johnson was again tying the batsmen down and finished with 2 - 58 from a 12-over spell. With batsmen risking quick singles, their opening bat (who had spent a fidgety 30+ overs at the crease) was run out on 49 by quick reactions and a direct hit from Jack Childs. Alan Ward replaced Jack Wilkerson and finished with 3 wickets to his name. Johnson took a good catch on the boundary off the bowling of Hughes (2 overs, 1 for 13). Baldock batted for 42 overs, finishing on 191-9. Reed’s captain for the day, Bill Mansfield showed prowess behind the stumps with two of the younger players, Ben Mansfield and Kieran McKinna being very active in the outfield. In between innings both sides enjoyed teas, supplied by Mrs Garrott. In reply Reed started solidly if somewhat slowly in response to some tight bowling, with Paul Garrott and Johnson opening the [...]

After promotion last season, Reed IV’s began their season away to Baldock III at Weston Cricket Club. A much changed side from last season’s league winners gave opportunity to five of the current U15 colts to make their open-age league cricket debuts. Skipper Bowman won the toss and elected to bowl. Matt Yates and Jack Wilkerson opened up the bowling ,and both bowled well, before Yates (7-0-41-1) made the breakthrough following a good catch by Kieran Willoughby in the covers, leaving Baldock 45-1. The introduction of Steve Hughes (8-0-33-4) saw 3 wickets tumble in quick succession, including a sharp catch behind from Bowman. Jake Gifford (6-2-22-1) also bowled well and claimed his first wicket in adult cricket. In the final few overs the tight bowling of Martin Johnson (3-1-2-0) and determination of young colt Jonathan Adam (4.3-0-29-3) saw Reed bowl out Baldock for 174 off 34.3 overs. Reed opened with Willoughby and Johnson, the latter was lost early for 3 which brought Bill Mansfield to the crease. Willoughby (16) hit several shots to the boundary and looked in good nick, until he went for one shot too many and was bowled by Rist (8-1-9-3). Two more quick wickets were lost and Reed were looking shaky at 34-4 from the first 10 overs. Mansfield (18) and Bowman set about trying to solidify the innings and dug in to resist the Baldock spin attack. When Mansfield was lost for 18, Bowman managed to hang around until the 28th over to drag the score to 87, before being caught trying to speed things up for 14. There were useful contributions further down the order from Gifford (13) and Hughes (7) which managed to gain Reed a batting point [...]