HOPING to improve their recent form Reed seconds travelled to Old Finchleians in North London on Saturday but got more than they bargained for. The day started brightly for Reed, when their opening bowlers Richard Robertson and Karl Ward got them off to

HOPING to improve their recent form Reed seconds travelled to Old Finchleians in North London on Saturday but got more than they bargained for.

The day started brightly for Reed, when their opening bowlers Richard Robertson and Karl Ward got them off to the perfect start, taking a wicket apiece to leave Old Finchleians 14-2.

However, a slow but steady 70-run partnership saw Finchleians move towards a decent total.

In order to combat this, Reed captain Jason Archer made an inspired bowling change by introducing himself, in conjunction with the returning Rupert Martin.

Martin ripped into the Finchleians middle order, and took the wicket of danger man Faisal for 46.

He then went on to take three more wickets in his first spell, and was supported ably by captain Jason Archer, who was also rewarded with three wickets for 24 runs.

Spinner Ben Bowles also excelled with the ball, bowling a highly economical five over spell to heap the pressure on the Old Finchleians batsmen, who were looking to set a challenging total.

Bowles was unlucky not to take a wicket in his stint, but with some decent lower order batting, Finchleians were able to creep towards their first batting points target of 145.

The reintroduction of Martin did get Reed another wicket. However, the hosts were able to survive and batted out their allotted 53 overs for 152-9.

Reed looked to have the edge in the game as their openers went out to chase the target, but as has happened on too many occasions this season, they let themselves down after getting into a strong position.

The top five all failed, and Reed were left in the daunting position of being 28-5.

Some good middle order batting from Karl Ward (18), Richard Robertson (18) and Steve Lovegrove (24) revived hopes briefly, but two run outs involving Lovegrove and Ward summed up Reed's day, and they were eventually all out for 115 in 40 overs.

IT'S now six wins in six games for Buntingford seconds as their success continued at the weekend with a win over third-placed Harlow Town seconds.

Buntingford made an excellent start with John Clements and Steve Baker sharing an opening stand of 63, before Clements went on 25.

Although Poulton (9) and Townsend (13) went quite cheaply, Baker helped take the score along to 104, before he was out for 39.

With the Harlow bowlers sticking to their task, and the Buntingford batsman not really taking advantage of the good start, Buntingford were bowled out for an average score of 149 with two overs remaining.

However, one of Buntingford's major strengths this season has been their excellent bowling, and this game was no exception.

From the first ball they were right on the button.

The impressive Neil Atkins bowled the Harlow opener in his first over, and proved hard to score off by returning figures of 10-7-9-2.

The other bowlers proved equally as mean with the runs they conceded.

Karl White bowled in tandem with Atkins, and returned figures of 7-2-13-1.

The change bowlers offered no respite to the batsman, with Baker 10-2-15-2 and man-of-the-match spin bowler Clements returning 7-0-28-4.

With the team backing their bowlers with some good outfield cricket and some fine stumping from Mike Townsend, Harlow were dismissed for just 67 after 34.5 overs to give Buntingford a comfortable win.

Weekend fixtures

Fulbourn v Royston, Northchurch v Reed, Buntingford v Bishop's Stortford III, Reed II v Southgate Adelaide, Buntingford II v Hatfield Heath, Royston II v Whittlesford II, Bassingbourn v Ashwell