REED travelled to St Albans on Saturday with an unchanged side looking to capitalise on last week’s convincing victory over Hitchin.
On arrival, the pitch looked good, and the outfield flat and true.
The newly installed four lane nets looked equally as impressive and are a real asset to St Albans, however strangely not available for matchday use for either team.
Reed lost the toss and the home side elected to bat.
The Reed opening pair of Richard Johnson and Mitchell Cooper continued where they left toff the previous week, with Cooper (3-26) picking up the early wicket of St Albans skipper with the score on just two.
It wasn’t long before Johnson got in the act, trapping Rowlands in front of the stumps with the score on 41.
This then brought in the big hitting Manzoor who stuck to his game plan throughout, striking several boundaries in quick succession.
It was Tom Greaves (3-39) who picked up his wicket, with the field delicately set Manzoor was tied back and fell lbw for a fruitful 41.
At the other end Jack Tidey and Bernie Morse (2-39) both picked up wickets and the St Albans innings was faltering after a decent start.
Chaudry strode out to the crease, and quickly strode back, with Morse clean bowling him for a duck.
Chandra quickly followed and St Albans found themselves in the precarious position of 132-8.
However, a ninth wicket partnership between O’Toole and Rossen took St Albans to 196 before the final wickets fell, leaving them all out for 200.
It was an excellent all round bowling performance from Reed.
In response Reed made excellent early progress, with both Heslams, James and William, crunching the loose ball to the boundary with ease.
A double bowling change made little difference with the pair putting on 85 before William (32) was out looking to work a ball to leg.
This brought in Joe Curk, who continued where William left off, dispatching the good and bad ball to the boundary with immaculate timing.
James Heslam (55) reached his half century before uncharacteristically playing around a ball from O’Toole.
This gave a glimmer of hope to St Albans, however Curk (51) was in full flow and reached his 50 before being caught with the score on 163.
Chris Jackson (30*) and Greaves (26*) saw Reed home as they comfortably reached their target with 7.1 overs remaining.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here