Fourth-placed Reed made it three wins in four matches with a convincing triumph over Flitwick.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat but Jack Tidey was sharp from the off, clean bowling the dangerous Jimmy Hart for two.

Soon after, he removed prolific Bedfordshire batsman George Thurstance (35) with a brute of a delivery. This left the game well balanced with the visitors 60-2 off 13 overs.

During this period of the game, Reed turned to their reliable spin triplet of Tom Greaves, Phil Lill and Reece Fitzgerald who all bowled good spells.

Unfortunately for Reed, a fifth wicket partnership between Tom Russell (89) and Beds all-rounder Jake Higginbotham (30) put Flitwick in a decent position at 177-4 with 15 overs to go.

However, Greaves (2-71) and the impressive Reece Fitzgerald (2-24) got Reed firmly back into the game, with the away side eventually ending their innings on 221-8.

In reply, Reed got off to an excellent start with Will Heslam in particular looking in fine form following his 82 the week before.

The home side raced to another 100 opening stand before Will Heslam was out for an excellent 56 off 58 balls.

This setback could have changed the course of the game but skipper James Heslam and Greaves steadied the ship and as Heslam went past 50, he accelerated the pair to another big century stand.

Despite an excellent spell by Thurstance, Reed reached 222-1 in the 49th over with Greaves hitting the winning runs.

Next up for Reed is a trip to third-placed Hoddesdon this Saturday.