Headlines – 18th / 19th July

West Herts won the toss and invited the 1st XI to bat. Scoring 196 all-out, the 1sts had a comfortable 31 run victory as W-H were bowled out for 165. Phil Lill was in the wickets again. The Firsts are 6th in the Championship now. Marcus Martin’s 2nd XI marched on with a home win against lowly Wheathampstead. The visitors were shot-out for only 76. There were 3 wickets each for Pete Tidey & Karl Ward, and 2 wickets each for Marcus Martin & Tom Walsingham. Ed Garrott (42 not out) and Richard Johnson (31 n.o.) had no difficulty knocking off the required 77 runs in only 10 overs to win by 10 wickets. The 2nds retain second place in Division 5B. The Thirds travelled to Harpenden where they won the toss and batted first. Baz Curtis and Matt Bowles reached the thirties and later Owen Hughes and Adrian Woodcock boosted the total to 179 for 9 in an undefeated 10th wicket partnership of 64 as the innings closed. Reed earned some welcome bonus points as Harpenden lost 7 wickets before they reached their target, four of them falling to Swetank Khambhat. The 4th XI did not have a league fixture and their friendly against Mayfield was cancelled. However, their position at the top of the Division was unaffected. On Sunday, the visiting Chigwell bowlers restricted Reed to 169 for 8 but then found runs hard to find themselves as they reached only 109 in reply. Reed's captain, Marcus Baker, had led the way with 66 not out with the bat and Jack Tidey took 4 for 14 with the ball. Last Wednesday, Foxton beat Reed in the Keatley Cup Final which was played at [...]