COMMONERS recovered from their defeat to Aberystwyth the previous week by recording an exciting 21-run victory at home to Tregaron in their West Wales Conference match at the Vicarage Fields.

A fine 76 runs by Umar Aslam as well as runs from Jacob Hughes-Pickering (47), helped the Commoners reach 225 for 7.

The Tregaron reply was faltering on 22 for 3, but a great century from Llyr Hughes (101) got them close, before the reply fell 21 runs short on 204, with Ian Lawton claiming 4 for 37 and Aslam 2 for 28.

After winning the toss, Tregaron opted to bowl after a morning of rain, but their opening bowlers struggled with the wet new ball as openers Neil Stent and Rakesh Bhatia scoed at a good rate early on.

Once Llyr Hughes and Llion Jones had got to grips with the wet ball, however, they accounted for the wickets of the two openers Stent (20) and Bhatia (20) with a wicket a piece. Bhatia had looked in great knick with the bat, but a brilliant ball from Hughes saw the bails flying.

Ian Lawton (19) and Will Copeland (19) came in, and after keeping up the Commoners run rate, both were dismissed.

Umar Aslam (76) then came to the middle, and played a brilliant innings, punishing the bad balls while sensibly holding his end against the good balls.

Aslam was supported by captain Jacob Hughes-Pickering, who rotated the strike to allow Aslam scoring opportunities.

The pair built a 92 run partnership, which steered the Commoners to over 200. Aslam was eventually caught off the bowling of skipper Alun Hughes, his innings included 10 fours and 2 sixes.

With the dismissal of Aslam, Hughes-Pickering took charge of scoring, helping Commoners reach 225 for 7 with his 47.

The father and son combination of Alun Hughes (2 for 48) and Llyr Hughes (2 for 39), as well as Llion Jones (2 for 35), took the bulk of the wickets for Tregaron.

Tregaron’s response then started in the worst possible manner as opening batsman Rhodri Morgan (0) was caught superbly in the slips by Jacob Hughes-Pickering, from a brilliant ball by Chris Ward.

The top order struggled with Llion Jones (12) out LBW by Ian Lawton and Nathan Yates (3) bowled brilliantly by Aslam.

These early breakthroughs brought Llyr Hughes and Jack Brogan to the crease.

Both batsman were dropped early on by the Commoners’ field, and the batsman took their lives and then set about punishing the Commoners for those drops.

Brogan (38) was eventually bowled off the bowling of Rakesh Bhatia, after playing a vital role in supporting Hughes.

With Tregaron on 190 for 4, the game was in the balance when Llyr Hughes (101) brilliantly smashed Lawton for 6 and reached his century, but that was also to be the turning point in the game.

Lawton came back to the Commoners’ attack next ball, and Hughes edged to behind, where Stent held on excellently.

Batsmen came and went after this point with Lawton (4 for 37) and Aslam (2 for 27) cleaning up the remaining batsmen for very few runs. Only Liam Harrington (27) troubled the scorers, although most of those runs came supporting Hughes as Tregaron finished on 204, 21 runs short.