Reed have been crowned King of the Langleys. In the last 10 days, they have beaten Abbotts Langley and King s Langley in the Herts League. And they followed this by thrashing Langleybury in the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Regional Finals of the Nationa

Reed have been crowned King of the Langleys.

In the last 10 days, they have beaten Abbotts Langley and King's Langley in the Herts League.

And they followed this by thrashing Langleybury in the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Regional Finals of the National Village Cup, on Sunday, to reach the last 32 teams nationally.

Saturday's seven-wicket league victory against King's Langley was their third in a row, pushing them to sixth in the table, and provided an excellent boost ahead of their clash with Langleybury the following day.

Despite losing the toss, and being asked to field in oppressive heat, the hosts got off to a positive start as Reed bowling supremos Peter Tidey (25-4-66-7) and Michael Berks (10-3-39-1) took early wickets thanks to some sharp catching by Simon Jackson at slip and Marcus Martin at square leg.

These breakthroughs brought Jadanauth (22) to the crease and he progressed the score to 42-2 before Tidey trapped him lbw signalling the beginning of King's Langley's demise.

This boost spurred Tidey to continue toiling in the heat up the hill as he picked up further wickets to finish with seven.

A stubborn partnership between Robinson (24) and Watson (36) were broken by James Heslam (1-0-14-1) but it provided the required breakthrough for Reed to exploit King's Langley's tail.

On a batting track, Reed were hopeful to gain 30 points, and Baz Curtis (13) and James Heslam (91) made a dream start by progressing the score to 35-0 until Curtis fell to a close caught-behind decision.

This allowed Heslam to take responsibility as he gracefully drove, cut, pulled and hooked.

Together with Tom Fulk (37 not out), the score progressed to 148-2 when Heslam wearily offered a caught and bowled opportunity to Morton (17.1-3-60-2).

William Clarke (11 not out) came to the crease to knock off the winning runs with Fulk, and secure the 30-point maximum.

Fresh from this victory, Reed drove to Langleybury the following day for the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire regional finals.

Despite being asked to field, Reed made a strong start as Peter Tidey (9-2-20-1), on the back of his seven wickets the previous day, continued in the same vein by having Cooper caught at square leg for four.

His accurate spell ensured the serial finalists were kept under pressure for runs throughout.

When A Khan (27) and M Fry (21) began to consolidate, it took an accurate and probing spell from William Clarke (9-1-33-3) to pick up three wickets in three overs to reduce Langleybury to 66-5.

Struggling to lay roots, Richard Johnson (7-0-33-2) took the key wicket of Fry, who represented a significant risk to the game running away from the challengers.

Langleybury were foundering on 96-7, thanks also to a stunning diving catch by Tom Fulk at gully and a penetrating and tight six-over spell from Chris Jackson, who picked up a couple of late wickets with his accurately flighted deliveries.

Finally reaching 160-8 off their 40 overs, thanks to determined innings from D Walker (44 not out), L Channer (17) and R Williams (17), Langleybury were still confident the total was defendable with accurate bowling.

However, they did not allow for Baz Curtis' (58) explosive hitting, who obliterated Carter's (3-0-34-0) left-arm fast bowling with a scattering of fours and sixes to help him reach his 50 in only 40 balls.

This hard-hitting saw the field scatter to the boundary and spectators could sense the confidence dissipating from Langleybury by the over.

It took a ball that slowed up significantly to offer Williams a simple caught and bowled chance to dismiss the danger man.

That, and the early dismissal of James Heslam for two, proved to be the hosts' only successes as Chris Jackson (61 not out) and Tom Fulk (33 not out) reached the total with seven overs to spare.

Skipper Simon Jackson said: "This is a truly significant event in the history of the club, especially after coming so close two years ago.

"On the back of two league wins, the bowling was penetrative and gave us the chance reach an achievable total.

"Baz Curtis' performance in the first handful of overs blessed us with the psychological edge and really knocked the confidence out of Langleybury from the beginning"

Reed are due to face Buckinghamshire side, Bledlow Ridge, in a fortnight's time in their crusade to be National Village Cup champions.