Yorkshire Tea National Village Cup

Foxton 232-7 (40 overs)

Reed 234-8 (38 overs)

Reed won by two wickets

HERTS & Beds champions Reed travelled to Foxton for their last 32, first inter-county round of the Yorkshire Tea National Village Cup against Cambridgeshire & Norfolk Champions, and local rivals, Foxton on Sunday.

Winning the toss Reed skipper James Heslam asked the home team to bat first but Foxton started aggressively with the dangerous looking Gareth Roots hammering 14 in the first two overs. However he went in the fourth over lbw to Jack Tidey and the game settled into a steady tempo. Max Bowen and Laurence Farnum took Foxton to 48-1 after 10 overs. Lee Johnson (1 -33) and Jack Tidey (1-37) settled into a good rhythm and restricted Foxton’s run-scoring opportunities.

Off the last ball of the 14th over Bowen was run out for 19 and then a mini Foxton collapse saw them slip to 82- 4 at the 20-over mark. Farnum however remained at the crease looking solid and moved to 49 before he miscued a drive and was well caught by a diving James Heslam at deep mid-off.

Another quick wicket saw Foxton slump to 116-6 off 28 overs but with Reed sensing a low Foxton total on the cards Ian Cambridge arrived at the crease with other ideas. A majestic innings of 47 put Foxton back on track and in company with Tyler Deas (15), and then Tom Stone, Foxton started to put the Reed bowlers to the sword. Fortunately for Reed Kallum Ward (2 -39) bowled Cambridge in the 35th over but 68 had come in only seven overs and it did not stop there.

The last five overs went for another 48 runs as Stone 40* and Mark Ferrari 30* thrashed the now ragged Reed bowling to all parts of the ground. Foxton put on 106 in the last 10 overs and ended their 40 over s on 232 -7.

Reed made a batting order switch in their quest to chase down the demanding total but this mis-fired when the hero of their last round win, Tom Greaves, went for a duck in the first over. However, this setback merely seemed to motivate fellow opener, skipper James Heslam, who launched a savage onslaught on the Foxton opening bowlers. Wicket-taker Gray went for 36 in five overs and fellow opener Deas was blasted out of the attack after conceding 29 in three overs.

In a dramatic and impressive innings of powerful stroke-play Heslam struck 14 fours as he raced to 64 of Reed’s 76 scored in only 10 overs. However, a calling mix-up with partner Chris Jackson off the 1st ball of the 11th over saw Heslam run out.

Chris Jackson settled into a measured and chanceless innings but with Will Heslam 13, Mitchell Cooper (8), and Sean Tidey (7) all coming and going before the halfway mark the match was in the balance with Reed 117-4 at 20 overs.

Jackson (69*) and Jack Tidey put on 53 for the fifth wicket before the latter was caught for 21. Reed reached 217-6 after 36 overs and seemed to be cruising to victory but Foxton’s young seamer Chris Pepper (3 -32) had other ideas. In the 37th over he removed Karl Ward bowled and two balls later also bowled Phil Frenay for a duck. Reed were now eight down and the home crowd contingent roared back into life as they sensed a late victory.

However, their hopes were short lived as Reed’s No.10 Kallum Ward struck his first ball for four before getting his side over the winning line.