REED stormed to a nine-wicket victory over Hemel Hempstead on Saturday.

REED stormed to a nine-wicket victory over Hemel Hempstead on Saturday.

Reed were surprised to be offered the first chance to bowl on the track and openers Graham Wilson and Lee Johnson found the right areas straight away and managed to tie the Hemel batsman down. With Hemel on 23, Wilson got the first wicket after a great catch by Chris Jackson and then the flood gates opened with Johnson ripping through Hemel leaving them at 54-7. Johnson got his first five-wicket haul of the season and the man-of-the-match award with 5-43 off 13 overs.

Wilson bowled throughout the innings taking 3-54 off 19 and Jack Tidey cleared up the tail taking 2-17 off his five overs. Reed caught some great catches from Stuart Smith, Liam McKechnie and two from Jackson as Hemel were bowled out for 125 in 37 overs.

With Reed missing two of their regular first-team batsman and having 15 overs to bat before tea, a tough session looked to be in store. However, Hemel did not have the bowlers that were capable of emulating those of their opponents and were unable to really trouble Reed.

Reed lost young Tom Greaves with the score on 14 however with Greaves out, Aussie McKechnie came in and gave them no grace. McKechnie and captain James Heslam took the game to Hemel and proved that it was good bowling and not the wicket that bowled out Hemel as Reed reached 61-1 at tea.

Reed raced to victory in 26 overs and without losing any further wickets as Heslam finished on 65 and McKechnie on 47.

A delighted James Heslam said after the match: “It was a great victory for the lads. It was great for Lee (Johnson) to get amongst the wickets and for Liam (McKechnie) to get some runs at last. All the guys bowled well on a track which was better than we thought. With us getting 30 points and Hemel one point shows how much we were on top in the game. Hopefully we can keep this going next week away to Redbourn.”