REED will travel to Langleybury in the regional final of the National Village Cup after a nine-wicket crushing of Waresley. Waresley elected to bat and struggled against opening bowlers William Clarke (7-0-34-1) and Peter Tidey (9-2-21-0) as they were li

REED will travel to Langleybury in the regional final of the National Village Cup after a nine-wicket crushing of Waresley.

Waresley elected to bat and struggled against opening bowlers William Clarke (7-0-34-1) and Peter Tidey (9-2-21-0) as they were limited to 50-2 off 20 overs.

But having paced the innings, P Gillett (62) and S Lewis (29) upped the scoring rate.

When Lewis was caught on the boundary by James Heslam off Jason Archer's medium pace (9-0-53-2), this brought Warnam (56) to the wicket, who struck his score off 32 balls to get Waresley back into the game.

When Karl Ward (9-0-40-1) bowled the danger-man, and the lower order were mopped up by some skilful fielding by the young Reed side, the opposition ended on a respectable and challenging 192-8 off their 40 overs.

Reed made the worst possible start when Baz Curtis was dismissed with a yorker in the first ball of the innings, but this provided Simon Jackson (80 not out) with the perfect platform to build upon his ton the previous day as he worked the ball to all gaps with James Heslam (88 not out).

Heslam showed his true intention with some punishing pulls and drives, the pair's hare-like running between the wickets showed the difference between the sides' ages as Jackson and Heslam regularly turned ones into twos, to reach the opposition's total in 29 overs.

The game at Langleybury sees a repeat of the game at the same stage as the 2003 final, and will take place on June 18.

Simon Jackson said: "This was a startlingly efficient victory for Reed. We shall be going into the final hoping to run Langleybury to the wire again, but this time actually ensuring we end up as victors of Herts & Beds.

"Chris and James batted with ferocious power, and responsibility beyond their experience. If they can carry this over in a fortnight, and our bowlers hit their lengths, we can really show Langleybury what we are capable of.