Reed were unfortunate in the
end not to beat Redbourn, in a very close encounter on
Saturday. Lee "red bullet" Johnson fresh from his Sky
Sports show took the 9th Redbourn wicket in the final ball
of the game, leaving Reed frustratingly with 1 Redbourn
wicket left and Reed without a delivery to take it with.
Batting first all Reeds top 4 batsman got in on a wicket
that was not easy or free scoring, especially with tight
bowling and good fielding from Redbourn. Skipper James
Heslam and Tom Greaves got Reed going before Greaves was
first to go for 15. Heslam was just finding his form before
he went for 22. Liam McKechnie and Chris Jackson then
started building the partnership that looked like it was
going to set a total that would win the game. McKecknie and
Jackson were batting with all the style and grace of Emmy
Award winning actors before both fell shortly after each
other for 32.
Reed went from the comfortable 99-2 to 106-5 when Will
Dobson followed shortly after, despite hitting one of the
biggest 4s seen at Redbourn. Marcus Martin (21), Jack
Tidey (13) and another not out from Simon Jackson (11) kept
Reed going to set Redbourn 170 to win.
At tea Reed thought it was a total that could be defended
or they could bowl out the opposition due to the now golf
bunker look of the wicket. Redbourn got off to a slow
but solid start putting on 57 in nearly 22 overs. With the
solid foundation in place Reed thought that they must have
batsman later in the order to play their shots. However
regular wickets throughout the innings stopped this from
happening. Will Dobson back from his appearance
against Buckinghamshire under 25s in the week bowled
superbly again taking 4-52 from his 17 overs. Young Ed
Garrott bowled with enough flight and guile in his 2-45 to
keep the 3rd Reed spinner in his kennel.
S Root was the pick of the batsman finishing as the not out
batsman on 50 and with Redbourn not having the players to
bat with him they ended up on 157 and 13 runs short despite
Johnsons near last over heroics. Heslam said after the
game "that we were the better side in a really enjoyable
game. Throughout the whole of their innings the game could
have gone either way. I was pleased with our lads as we
showed good intensity and ensured the final result. With
one more over no doubt we would have won the game."