REED S lead at the top of the Herts Division 2 has been narrowed after they drew at home against Flitwick. Having won the toss and electing to bowl, Reed set about their task in earnest, with skipper James Heslam dismissing P Gurney with a catch at third

REED'S lead at the top of the Herts Division 2 has been narrowed after they drew at home against Flitwick.

Having won the toss and electing to bowl, Reed set about their task in earnest, with skipper James Heslam dismissing P Gurney with a catch at third slip for a duck from Andrew Young's (9-1-50-1) excellent delivery.

Flitwick's prolific South African overseas player B Moses (115 not out) then stepped up to the crease and teamed up with fellow opener C Ferguson (40). The pair began to get to work and dragged the score to 94-1.

However, Ferguson went soon after, when Simon Jackson dislodged the bails with a perfect stumping leaving the visitors 94-2.

William Clarke (10-1-47-1) then despatched J Heart (0) without much fuss, and swung the game back in Reed's favour.

Peter Tidey (18-3-51-3) continued to work hard in tandem with Clarke, and they grabbed two further wickets.

But neither could find a way of dismissing Moses.

Reed continued to chip away from the bottom up, as Andrew Young completed a sharp run out to dislodge M Harvey (12), and Heslam then ran out Whinnet to leave Flitwick 189-8.

However, Moses had other ideas as he opened his shoulders to lift Flitwick to a competitive 212-9, despite Graham Wilson (8-0-31-2) snaffling two late order wickets.

With the rain threatening Reed's early innings reply, it could not have started worse, as Heslam misjudged the pace of the ball to be dismissed for a duck.

Baz Curtis (37) found his feet to add some weight to the chase, and together with Chris Jackson (49) took the score to 69-1 off 18 overs.

Reed looked to be in a promising position, before Curtis was the victim of an unfortunate lbw decision, and then Jackson went after a brilliant catch by Moses.

William Clarke (17) and Tom Fulk (24) increased the run rate despite some difficult bowling from D Read (10-3-25-5), who did eventually see Fulk off lbw.

Simon Jackson (7no) entered the action and nudged his way forward, after Marcus Martin was dismissed for 8.

Read then took the wicket of Clarke, with Reed having already made the decision to shut up shop.

Playing for the draw, Reed denied Flitwick 30 points, and closed the innings on 164-8 off 47 overs.

Reed Captain Heslam said: "It was a shame that the game ended as it did for us.

"We bowled well, but Moses batted very carefully and sensibly throughout, while our batting let us down slightly.

"We were in with a good chance, but losing wickets at key moments proved unfortunate.

"Our fielding was good, with two run outs, and on balance we felt we had the edge over their batting."

The draw meant Reed lost slight ground at the top of Division 2, with Berkhamsted closing the gap to 11 points.