A youthful Reed IIIs went down to a heavy defeat at home to
Hertingfordbury IIs on Saturday. On a blissful afternoon at
Freeman; Reed skipper Matt Bowles, on his return from a
month out with a knee injury, won the toss and elected to
put the visitors into bat. The decision proved to be a
costly one, as Reed’s bowlers toiled in the hot sun, as the
visiting batsman built a solid and steady total of 238-6
from their 47 Overs. The probing bowling of Jim Allsopp
being the only real highlight for Reed, as they gave the
opposition too many runs in extras and leaked too many
singles.
Reeds reply got off to a faltering start as leading run
scorer Will Heslam departed early. However a solid
partnership from John Heslam, who fell just short of his
half century, and Alan Ward (27) did threaten to drag Reed
into contention. However when both fell, along with a
spectacular middle and late order collapse which yielded
four ducks, the game was beyond Reed. Some good blows from
debutant 14 year old Ollie Benham (16) and some late
boundaries from Julien Fynn and skipper Bowles did drag
Reed into the batting points, but it was too little too
late as Reed were all out for 138, losing by 100 runs.