REED S hopes of a trip to Lord s in the National Village Cup came to a dramatic end. They lost in the last over against well balanced Buckinghamshire side Bledlow Ridge. After recently winning the Herts/Beds section of the competition and appearing on Sky

REED'S hopes of a trip to Lord's in the National Village Cup came to a dramatic end.

They lost in the last over against well balanced Buckinghamshire side Bledlow Ridge.

After recently winning the Herts/Beds section of the competition and appearing on Sky Sport's Cricket AM, Reed's confidence was high despite losing the toss and having to field in the afternoon heat.

The dependable Pete Tidey and Will Clarke tied down Bledlow early on, and Clarke took the first wicket in the ninth over, snapping up Turner with the score on 21.

Tidey completed his nine overs for a meagre 15 runs while Clarke took a second wicket in his opening spell thanks to a sharp catch from wicketkeeper Simon Jackson.

Marcus Martin then took a wicket in his first over to leave Bledlow at 38-3 at the end of the 15th over.

For the visitors, D Wells (63) continued to anchor his team and was ably supported by S Bird (21).

But Reed continued to bowl tightly and field well before the Buckinghamshire side decided to open their shoulders and run harder between the wickets.

Reed thought they had Brzezicki stumped before he got going before he was run out for 37 after good work from Heslam.

Two wickets in his two-over spell by man of the match Karl Ward saw Reed's confidence grow and saw Bledlow finish on 188-9 in their 40 overs.

Opener Baz Curtis and James Heslam got Reed off to a solid start, with a mixture of solid defence and big hitting shots.

However, with the field now spread, Curtis was the first to go in the 12th over when he holed out playing another big shot and was caught on the boundary for 38 with the score on 65.

That started the slow down of the Reed scoring rate, and all-rounder Clarke followed shortly after before the big wicket of Heslam (38) fell in the 23rd over with the score on 115-4.

With Reed needing 74 from the last 17 overs, it seemed all they had to do was push the ball around the field to win the game.

However, some accurate bowling and good fielding from Bledlow slowed the run rate.

There was a six-ball 11 from Ward as he and captain Simon Jackson tried to guide Reed to victory, but Jackson was out for 34 in the penultimate over.

This left Reed needing seven runs to win, with bowlers Andrew Emms and Tidey at the crease.

Two runs from the first four balls meant a boundary was needed from the last two balls with number 11 Tidey on strike.

Although Tidey make good contact the ball, it did not carry to the boundary and he was caught short of the ropes to leave Reed failing to make Bledlow's target by four runs.

A disappointed skipper Simon Jackson said: "We did so well to get to the national round of the Village Cup, being the best village team in Herts/Beds and beating Langleybury.

"We all performed well. However, missing bowlers Michael Berks and Richard Johnson, and with my brother Chris at only 50 per cent fit, it was always going to be a massive struggle.

"Bledlow were an experienced side who had obviously been in this sort of position before.

"We perhaps showed a little bit of inexperience chasing.

"However, next year we will be coming back fighting stronger in the Village Cup and will hope to fly the flag again for Hertfordshire.