Aberystwyth Seconds (264 for 5) lost to Commoners (265 for 7) by 3 wickets

IT’s all to play for in the race for the Girasol Homes West Wales Cricket Conference title, with Commoners pulling out all the stops for a three-wicket triumph, after Aberystwyth Seconds had posted a challenging 264 for 5 at the Geufron.

Commoners had won the toss and elected to field, and they had early success as Ceri John was caught by Will Copeland from the bowling of Mustafa Ahmed for 7, having stuck one four - but the score advanced to 84, before James Breese was caught and bowled by Anish Kuriakose for 24, having struck four boundaries.

Zaid Khan, batting at three, went on to score a hard-hitting 77 runs, including 4 fours and 6 big sixes, before he was finally caught behind by Ravi Mander by Umar Aslam, to make the score 143 for 3.

A 102-run partnership then followed between Iwan Roberts and Peter Evans, before Roberts was also caught for 77, by Rakesh Bhatia from the bowling of Arshad Sher, having hit 9 fours and 2 sixes.

Evans also reached his half century and was 54 not out, with 6 fours, at the end of the 40 overs, with the other wicket falling to Ahmed (2 for 51 from his six overs).

Bill Somerfield and Rakesh Bhatia confidently set about chasing down the target, putting on 134 runs for the first wicket, before Bhatia was caught by Tom Constantine from the bowling of Titus Mathew for 73, hitting 8 fours and 3 sixes.

Mathew (2 for 47 from 8 overs) also took the wicket of Somerfield for 58, including 6 fours, and there were further bowling successes for Khan (2 for 58 from 8 overs) and Peter Evans (3 for 48 from 7.5 overs).

Crucial knocks, however, by Will Copeland, who smashed a quick-fire 69, with 6 fours and 4 sixes, and Umar Aslam (32), with 3 fours and a six, kept the Commoners’ on track, and their target was reached with an over to spare on 265 for 7.

Aberaeron (232 for 6) beat Aberystwyth (214) by 18 runs

AN 18-run victory against visitors Aberystwyth helped Aberaeron continue their defence of the title, and with less than a handful of games to play, the defending champions are one point behind the leaders Commoners, with a game in hand.

Put into bat by their opponents, Aberaeron reached 232 for 6, before the overs ran out, with the runs coming from openers John Fice and Sam Jenkinson, who both scored 20, before Chris Strange powered to 97, with 9 fours and 8 big sixes.

Strange was denied a century when he was finally bowled by Joel Dixon (3 for 40 from 5 overs), who also accounted for Hywel Rees (16), but Neil Snowdon kept the pressure on the Aber bowlers with his 37 not out, including 5 fours and a six.

There was one wicket each for Zaid Khan, Bryn Morris and Ted Trewella, who bowled well to return 1 for 36 from his 9 overs, which included 3 maidens.

The Aberystwyth batsmen gave as good as they got, but their efforts fell 18 runs short on 214 all out, with Zaid Khan (44, 3 fours, 3 sixes), Anthony Burrell (30, 4 fours one six), Nat Burrell (20, 1 fours, 1 six), Ioan Bebb (36, 5 fours) and Tom Constantine (31), 4 fours, making runs.

Simon Mitchell (3 for 27 from 8 overs) and Louis Fice (3 for 33 from 6 overs) took over half the wickets for Aberaeron while Hywel Rees, Paul Hughes and Neil Snowdown claimed one wicket apiece.

Tywyn & District (102 for 4) beat Talybont Rachels (101) by 6 wickets

TYWYN came out on top in a low scoring encounter against Talybont Rachels, who were dismissed for 101 all out, before losing by six wickets at Cae Rhianfa.

Dave Jenkins took 4 for 20 from 7.1 overs as the Talybont wickets fell in regular succession, the rest being taken by Jack Williamson (3 for 26 from 8 overs) and Jack Mynard (3 for 26 from 9 overs), with Ted Hughes taking three catches.

Talybont found runs hard to come by with Joseph Thomas (20), Sojan Vorghese (17), Nijo John (13) and Phil Abraham (11) the only batsmen to reach double figures.

Callum Taylor led the charge to the winning post for Tywyn with 43, with support from fellow opener Sam Williams (10), before Jack Williamson guided them to a six-wicket victory on 16 not out.

Tywyn wickets were taken by Nijo John (2 for 16, from 4 overs), Joseph Thomas (1 for 11) and Graison John (1 for 7), before their target was reached in 26.2 overs.