Reed’s Fourth XI were back to winning ways on Saturday
despite three last minute drop-outs. It is testament to the
strength of the Reed structure that sufficient colts were
available and drafted-in to fill the vacancies. Botany Bay
won the toss and batted first. Booth had been prolific
until today but was bowled by Christian Martin for a
single. Skitt held-out and nearly carried his bat for 45
although his only major support came from Bridges, (19).
The teen-aged Matt Giblin bowled two spells each of 5 overs
and returned the astonishing figures of 2 wickets for just
4 runs in those 10 overs; a superb example of controlled,
line and length bowling. 3 wickets a-piece from Ian Roberts
and Alan Ward ensured that Reed’s target was relatively low
as Botany Bay were all-out for 121.
For the first time this season Reed had to bat second and
skipper Peter Baker chose utility batter Paul Garrott to
accompany him. They set-off at 9 runs an over initially
although the rate slowed down after a while. Baker scored
30 then Darren Radford hit an entertaining 20. In the 24th
over Paul Garrott hit the winning runs with his eighth
boundary and in so doing notched-up his own half-century
finishing on 52 not out. Reed IVs are now in third position
in their Division and look forward to their visit to second
placed Hertford next week. Reed (30 points) beat Botany Bay
(4 points) by 8 wickets.