Reed lose out to Luton Town & Indians

Reed Cricket Club fell further behind Championship leaders Letchworth when their opponents Luton Town and Indians had the best of a draw in Saturday’s encounter.

Thursday’s deluge, which seeped under the covers, had made the pitch treacherous despite the best efforts of the groundsman and when Tom Greaves lost the toss Reed knew they were in for a torrid couple of hours against the side currently one place below them in the table.

After 35 overs with 60 on the board for the loss of three wickets, including James Helsam for four, their worst fears were confirmed.

To make matters worse, William Heslam (30), the only batsman who had made a significant score, became the first of four needless run outs.

After lunch, the wicket dried out and the demons were gone.

As a result, Richard Wharton and Sean Tidey turned the tide, the latter hitting three consecutive sixes in his 21-ball 31.

Wharton (58*) carried on the charge despite the niggardly spin of Mohammed Irshan (20-6-41-3).

Those other three run outs, however, limited Reed to 169 all out.

Luton prospered on the now benign pitch and had raced to 90-3, but the weather had one more trick up its sleeve as rain caused a 40 minute delay, which left them 17 overs in the last hour to win the game.

Ed Wharton (13-4-38-3) and Tom Greaves (15-6-39-3) cashed in as Reed held their catches and Luton lost four wickets.

The tail resisted though and on 127-7 they had the consolation of securing a winning draw thanks to their run rate.

The result leaves Reed second in the table and 61 points behind Letchworth.