Reed III too strong for Old Albanian

REED III comfortably beat Old Albanian III by 111 runs on a bitterly cold day in St Albans. It was nothing less than they deserved after good displays in every department. Reed lost the toss and were put into bat, and Ian Fulk and Steve Lovegrove started

REED III comfortably beat Old Albanian III by 111 runs on a bitterly cold day in St Albans.

It was nothing less than they deserved after good displays in every department.

Reed lost the toss and were put into bat, and Ian Fulk and Steve Lovegrove started steadily.

They had 65 on the board when Lovegrove was unlucky to be caught in the covers for 29. The fielder managing to deflect a drive into the air as he fell over, the ball then landed and lodged in his lap. The Reed batsmen continued to score at a steady rate, even after the loss of Richard Robertson and Ian Fulk in quick succession - Fulk losing his wicket after a well constructed 51.

George Garrott (16) and Julian Fynn (39) made good contributions but it was young Sam Deville who really attacked the OA bowlers. His knock of 51 not out, consisted of seven fours and one enormous six.

Matthew Naeem, batting for the first time in the thirds, finished 23 not out as Reed declared on 236-5 after 45 overs.

The OA's batting proved to be stronger than their bowling after losing one of their openers in the first over to a catch by Garrott off Fynn, and they continued to keep pace with the run rate.

The Reed opening attack of Julian Fynn (1-14) and James Hooper (0-35) toiled away with little success. It was the introduction of Richard Robertson (2-35) and Christian Martin (2-34) supported by some excellent catches that brought an end to any chance of an OA's win. The tail was mopped up by Kieran Willoughby (1-7) and Maseeh Naeem (2-0) as OA finished on 125.