FATHER and son Anthony and Nat Burrell were the stars of the show as Aberystwyth climbed to the top of the Rachel’s West Wales Conference with a six-wicket victory over Talybont.

Choosing to bat first, Talybont reached 142 for 8, with captain Vinod Matthew hitting 64, but Aber knocked off the runs for the loss of four wickets, with Burrell senior smashing a fine unbeaten 76, while son Nat made 35 runs.

Visiting captain Mathews won the toss and elected to bat first in bright sunny conditions, but Aber struck an early blow when opener Robin Woodford was run out by a direct hit from Dave Dowell.

Aber’s opening bowlers Tim Bennett and Graham Bird both swung the ball and gave away few runs.

Bennett was finally rewarded when he had Jim Vaughan caught by youngster Zaid Kahn at point, and Talybont were soon in all sorts of trouble as two wickets in two balls left them reeling at 24 for 4.

First an away swinging delivery from Bennett drew batsman Ben Harper into shot, which was sharply taken by Mel Jones at first slip, and the very next ball Bennett also had Phil Abraham caught behind by keeper Anthony Burrell.

Captain Matthews and Sojan Varghese saw of the reminder of the opening spell off, with Bennett finishing with 3 for 24 and Bird, although wickless, bowled 9 overs for 8 runs, and had 3 maidens.

The spin of Patrick Daniel and pace of Daryl Davies kept Mathews and Varghese in check during the middle period, as both players grew in confidence. Skipper Mathews in particular played some hard hitting shots as Talybont looked to post a competitive total.

Eventually, Daniel broke the partnership when he had Mathews caught by wicket keeper Anthony Burrell for a fine 64 runs.

In his very next over he also had Varghese caught at long on by Bird for 26. Two wickets from the final two balls from Rowan Dunabadin ensured Aber achieved maximum bowling points as the visitors where all out for a total of 142.

Aber began their response positively until Mel Jones was caught at deep point off the bowling of Nick Cook - which brought together the father and son partnership of Anthony and Nat Burrell.

Both batsman played with confidence as they chased down the visitors’ total and, following some nicely timed offside shots, Nat Burrell was caught behind of the bowling of Nick Cook for 35.

The total had by that point reached 87, when Zaid Kahn joined Anthony Burrell at the crease and they seemed well on course to end proceedings, until he was dismissed by Woodford.

Burrell, however, held the chase together with a fine 76 not out as Aber eased past the total with six wickets in hand in the 25th over.