Aberaeron swapped places with Tywyn and District at the top of the Girasol Homes West Wales Cricket Conference after a convincing eight wicket victory in their opponents’ back yard.

The Aberaeron bowlers were on top throughout, and restricted Tywyn to 123 for 7 off 40 overs, before the visiting batsmen passed the winning post on 125 for 2 in the 25th over.

Dave Grinszpan (43 not out), Hywel Rees (40) and Chris Strange (25 not out) all impressed with the bat for a resurgent Aberaeron, as Tywyn’s losing run extended to three consecutive defeats.

Aberaeron had won the toss and elected to bowl first on a windy but otherwise fine Sunday afternoon.

Opening the batting for Tywyn, Callum Taylor and Alex York were immediately tested by the pace of Simon Mitchell and accuracy of Hywel Rees.

Mitchell in particular was unlucky not to take an early wicket, with several edges either going wide of the men in the cordon or bursting through the hands at pace.

Hywel Rees kept the pressure on at the other end, the occasional boundary moving the scoreboard on, but not enough to release the shackles.

An early bowling change saw the introduction of Steffan Rees after only 6 overs and very quickly bore fruit.

With little let up in pace, both Tywyn openers fell in quick succession, with Taylor caught by Mitchell at backward point, and York caught behind by John Fice off a thin edge.

There followed a tight passage of play, with Steffan Rees particularly parsimonious and Tywyn struggling to get the scoreboard moving.

As drinks approached, Tywyn were scoring at little over two runs an over and Hywel Rees, having bowled out for figures of 9-0-25 turned to the ever reliable Paul Hughes and reintroduced Mitchell.

Si-Cho immediately found his Muse and the edge Richard Rees’ bat with the first ball of his second spell, held comfortably at first slip by Chris Strange.

As cloud cover came over, the ball started to swing for Hughes as he bowled three Tywyn batsmen cheaply. With the score standing at 56-6 captain Dave Jenkins thoughts turned to survival and denying Aberaeron the bowling point.

Jenkins and Joe Williamson ate up the overs, defending a particularly hostile spell with men around the bat from Steffan Rees, who finished with outstanding figures of 9-2-11.

Mitchell, returning for his final overs, managed to dislodge Williamson for 11, bowled by a full fast delivery, to leave Tywyn teetering on 80-7.

As Aberaeron turned to Josh Roper and Neil Snowdon time was running out to polish off the tail. Niki Williams instead counter-attacked and quickly overtook his captain, who eventually played some attacking shots of his own to finish on 21 not out.

The late rally took the score past 100 with Tywyn eventually closing on 123-7, with Williams top scorer on 28 and extras second on 26.

Against a strong Aberaeron batting line-up this total always looked light but Tywyn’s opening bowlers, Richard Rees and Dave Jenkins, immediately found their rhythm and applied early pressure.

John Fice was happy to see off the shine, blocking the straight ones and attacking the rare wider ball. At the other end, Dave Grinszpan took his time to get his eye in and get used to the nature of the wicket.

The loss of Fice for 7 in the 10th over, caught by Niki Williams off the bowling of Jenkins, left Aberaeron in an almost identical postion to Tywyn at the same stage in their innings.

Hywel Rees came in at number three and, after surviving a couple of passionate appeals for LBW, quickly upped the scoring rate.

A series of fine slog sweeps against the spin of Jack Williamson were the highlight of a quick-fire 40, before falling to young Ted Hughes, caught by Dave Jenkins.

Dave Grinszpan, who had accelerated rapidly after a steady start, was joined by Chris Strange.

Together the pair made short work of the target, Strange with some meaty blows in his 25 not out and Grinszpan finishing as top scorer on 43 not out.

Dave Jenkins was the pick of the Tywyn bowlers, finishing with 7-1-18.

In a close vote for Man of the Match, Aberaeron’s players selected Simon Mitchell for his 9-2-21 with an honourable mention for Paul Hughes’ 8-3-17.

The win, coupled with Talybont’s loss to Aberystwyth Seconds sends Aberaeron top of the Girasol West Wales Conference, and nicely sets up the match against Commoners on Saturday at the School Fields, Aberaeron.