IN the only game played in Division Two, Reed comfortably beat a poor Northchurch side on Saturday.

IN the only game played in division 2, Reed comfortably beat a poor Northchurch side on Saturday.

Despite heavy showers, a coastal beach of sand and Reed captain James Heslam using paper towels on the wicket ensured the match went ahead and the victory means Reed will finish mid table in the league.

Graham Wilson and Lee Johnson bowled 42 of the 45 overs Reed bowled. Wilson bowled tightly with his 2-70 while Johnson ripped through the limp Northchurch batting line up with a season best 6-60.

Tom Calder top scored for Northchurch with 56 before being caught by a sharp catch from ‘keeper Simon Jackson. Northchurch surprisingly declared on 140-8 with a ball to spare.

In the shortened reply, interestingly the visitors opened with slow bowlers and Tom Greaves and James Heslam who got Reed off to the best possible start putting on 87 in 13 overs before Heslam went for 39.

Greaves fell shortly after for 52 before young Marcus Martin went for a duck. With Reed now at 93-3 it was left to Chris Jackson and Liam Mckechnie to take Reed to a much deserved victory with 11 overs to spare. Jackson finished on 28 while Mckecknie notched 26.

Skipper James Heslam was ecstatic with the win and said: “We did a lot of work when the heavens opened in their innings to make the pitch playable. The umpires were great and I feel sorry for Northchurch who only got five points which will virtually relegate them.”

It was an exciting finish at Reed II as the Sunday second XI faced up against Woodcutters.

Reed batted first and for most of the innings it was the Garrott show as openers Paul and George Garrott put on 127 for the first wicket, both father and son scoring half centuries. Paul was the first wicket to fall for 59 eventually followed by George for a well made 80. The final 10 overs saw Tom Greaves knock the ball to all parts of the ground to take Reed to 228-2, Greaves (56*) and Mathew Naeem (4*) came off undefeated.

After tea, Reed went about defending their score and Christian Martin (6-0-30-1) took the first wicket thanks to a good catch at point by Lloyd Bowman. There was then a partnership of 102 between Burdness (64) and Isaacs (101*) before Greaves took a fantastic diving catch at mid-off to break the pair up. Wickets then began to fall at regular intervals, falling to Matt Bowles (8-0-44-1), George Garrott (7-0-38-2) and Masseh Naeem (5.3-0-30-2). It came down to the final over as the opposition needed six to win which they did with just three balls remaining.

Reed IV lost the toss and batted first when they hosted Berkhamsted at the Freman College Ground.

Openers Aiden Swain and Peter Baker went along at a casual rate until Baker was caught for 25. Swain reached 57 before being bowled with the score on 114-3 from 33 overs, the outfield not giving away as many runs as it has done in the past due to the recent bad weather. John Heslam hit 38 and Marcus Baker posted 26 but both were out prematurely and Reed finished all out for 180.

Christian Martin (10-2-42-1) and Lewis Fitzgerald (11-1-38-1) dealt with the openers in Reeds’ defence. The returning Ian Roberts also bowled well but only came away with the single wicket for 23.

Dominic McOmish took two good wickets thanks to a catch from Aiden Swain and a stumping from M Baker after spinning it the other way to fool Butler. However, in the mean time Swale (109*) had scored with some heavy hitting to see his side home with seven balls remaining, winning by four wickets.