REED IV suffered their first defeat of the season away at Chiltern VI on Saturday with a 61-run loss.

On a cool and overcast day Reed captain Paul Garrott won the toss and elected to field.

Reed started with only nine on the field as two players were still finding their way to the pitch, and the Chiltern openers took advantage as they scored early runs.

The first wicket fell when Walsh (16) took a wild swing at a delivery from Nick Green to edge through to Marcus Baker who gladly took the catch.

However, dangerman Horwood, who had hit 598 runs last year in Division 14, remained at the crease until a leading edge off George Garrott (10-4-34-1) shot up to and was caught by Tom Trimble at mid-on.

The momentum continued as the following over saw another wicket fall after a sharp ball from Chris West (10-1-53-2) surprised McGill (0) and he was duly caught by keeper Baker.

As more cheap wickets fell Reed sensed they might be chasing down a small target, but an impressive innings by Davies scuppered Reed’s hopes.

Davies is the most technically-gifted batsman in the Chiltern line-up, and his performance grew stronger as the day wore on.

He was the last wicket to fall for 105, and he had successfully upset Reed by leading his side to 210 all-out.

Tom Trimble (40-14-1) bowled well but it was Christian Martin who proved the most effective and finished his epic spell with figures of 5-38 from 17 overs.

In reply, Reed started well with an opening partnership of 52 between P Garrott and Ben Bowles, both of whom scored runs and frustrated the opposition.

Bowles (18) had looked good until an edge to the slips from the bowling of Davies, who clearly was not happy just to settle with his inspired batting performance and went on to take 7-45.

Promising innings from P Garrott (50) and G Garrott (25) were cut short and the rest of the Reed line up limped to 149 all-out.

Although the defeat was a setback to Reed’s promotion hopes, they still remain in touching distance of the top of the table.