Reed CC round-up

SHL Division 2

Abbots Langley 246-5

Reed 93

Abbots Langley won by 153 runs

REED travelled to newly-promoted Abbots Langley on Saturday looking to continue their good run of form.

Missing a couple of keys players, Reed skipper James Heslam arrived at the ground to find the track had been uncovered, and the heavy overnight rain had left the pitch wet and sticky. With the forecast set to be warm and sunny, Reed won the toss and elected to bowl, looking to make good use of the conditions.

However, the Reed openers struggled with their run-ups under the conditions and bowled loosely, making life too easy for the Abbots Langley openers.

Some frequent bowling changes failed to turn the tide and Reed continued to offer the home team an easy ride with too many run scoring balls being delivered. Inglis was the pick of the Abbots Langley batsman, hitting an impressive 94, but all could have been different if Reed had taken two early chances to dismiss the Australian.

Runs continued at a steady pace, and a splutter of wickets in the latter overs saw the run-rate slip slightly, as the home side set a challenging target of 246-5.

With just 44 overs to chase down the total, Reed needed to set the tempo early on. However their poor day continued, losing early wickets cheaply while looking to chase the match.

The Abbots Langley openers bowled in the right areas, and made good use of the new ball and the drying track. The Reed batsman, like their bowlers, failed to turn up and rise to the occasion.

Wickets tumbled quickly and cheaply, with only Sean Tidey making a short cameo of clean hitting. Reed lost their final wicket with the score on 93, ending a performance way below the high standards set in their previous nine matches.

SHL Division 6

Reed IIs 142

Cheshunt 146-4

Cheshunt won by six wickets

REED IIs suffered another disappointing weekend with defeat against Cheshunt.

Visiting skipper Sam Stephenson had no hesitation in putting the home side into bat. Baz Curtis and Fergus Martin opened and survived an excellent spell of seam bowling from P England who exploited the conditions and on another day could have had a hat full of wickets. Curtis was putting the bad ball away from the other end and had raced to 26 before a leading edge was skied to mid-wicket where he was well held.

The run rate was slow, but steady as Martin and Phil Freney tried to see off the new ball. The pair had put on 42 before Martin was caught behind for a patient 19. Richard Johnson came to the crease and looked to be aggressive. Both plays took time to adjust to the spin of Stephenson, but boundaries came at regular intervals. Both looked well set and Reed had reached 100 without too many scares.

Stephenson struck again to remove Freney for 37 and at 115-3 with 17 overs to go a challenging total looked possible.

S England had other ideas, though, as he ripped through the rest of the Reed order taking 5-41 in 14 overs to leave Reed 142 all-out.

Johnson top scored with 39 and none of the last seven Reed batsmen made double figures.

Reed needed quick wickets to put the league leaders under pressure, but despite the run rate being slow wickets didn’t come. Rupert Martin was the first to strike when he had Warboys caught at mid-wicket.

Cheshunt decided that taking no chances was the way to go and the run rate was very slow. Ward went for only six runs in his seven overs.

Wheeler replaced Martin and again the visitors found him hard to get away. Wheeler struck twice to leave Cheshunt 67-3 before skipper Stephenson came to the crease with some sensible aggression to put any run-rate nerves to bed. He hit 52* despite Reed picking up another wicket with 40 runs needed.

In the end Cheshunt got home with four overs and six wickets to spare.

Reed IIs thrashed Hitchin IIIs by nine wickets in their match in Division 10 with Will Heslam top-scoring with 61* while the IVs lost to Watford Town IIIs by 159 runs in Division 13.