THE Fine and Country WWCCC League season kicked off with an early start for AU Commoners visiting Lampeter.

In a see-saw battle, Lampeter came out on top thanks in no small part, to a century from Ceri Thomas and 5 wickets from Daryl Davies.

Muhammad Aslam of Commoners called correctly at the toss and after some debate, with a strong bowling attack, elected to field first.

Lampeter attempted to negate the pace and bounce of Ishaan and Waqar Younis and the swing of Michele Watson, however in his second over Ishaan struck twice, bowling first Chris Thomas and then Bedwyr Davies.

Captain Arif Saad was joined by Doug Whittaker and the pair attempted to consolidate however, Saad was defeated on 13 by Waqar, the third batter to be bowled by the pace combination.

Whittaker and Elgan Evans looked to have settled the ship for Lampeter before an ambitious call from Doug resulted in him being sent back and a comfortable run out to leave Lampeter 44/4 after 11.

Evans was looking in good touch and, with Ceri Thomas untroubled at the other end, was getting the scoreboard to start to tick over quicker until an unfortunate inside edge off Hozefa resulted in the ball clattering into the stumps to bowl him for 19.

Jamie Davies came out at 7, with footballing commitments looming, and wasted no time in showcasing his powerful stroke making

Together with Ceri he got Lampeter up to 90.

Waqar, having been muscled to the boundary off his previous delivery, produced the perfectly executed slower ball to deceive Jamie and bowl him for 13.

Daryl Davies bravely battled a hostile spell from Ishaan and helped see Lampeter past the 100 mark in the 24th over, with a plan to get to 30, and then think about attacking.

Unfortunately, in the 27th a leading edge off the spin of Aslam popped up a return catch and with Lampeter 108/7 Commoners were firm favourites for victory.

Jason ’Zed’ Davies, joined Ceri and signalled his intent to fight back, striking his first ball for 4.

Ceri and Zed ran hard and looked to score at every opportunity.

Ceri having played himself in, started to open up and was soon raising his bat to acknowledge the congratulations as he passed 50.

Aslam, sensing that the batters were attacking, set the field back and attempted to prevent boundaries.

This allowed the batters to turn over the strike, push for twos and wait for bad balls to punish and they executed that plan to perfection as runs began to pile up.

Ceri took a liking to the spin of Mohit and Hozefa, with several double digit overs helping Lampeter to cross 200.

Sensing the momentum shifting, Aslam bowled out his pace duo and Waqar delivered the goods in his final over, bowling Zed for a fine 43, the perfect foil for Ceri in a stand of 94.

With 5 overs to go, Richard Thomas made his return to the Lampeter side and looked like he had never been away as he struck a quick-fire 18.

Ceri saved the best for last as he took strike in the final over, with Lampeter 236/8, not knowing that he was on 82 runs.

He despatched the first delivery from Hozefa to the boundary for 4 and a couple of 2s punctuated by a dot ball and wide left him on 90 with two balls remaining.

A flat pull to deep mid-wicket off the fifth ball of the over cleared the rope for 6 and the message was relayed to him that a boundary was required off the final ball for him to reach his maiden century.

Having taken a minute to compose himself, Ceri faced up to the final ball and swung through the line to hit it high and handsome over the fencing and into the Astroturf enclosure, the first player to do so at the new Lampeter ground.

To huge applause from his teammates, Ceri walked off with 102* having added 149 with Zed and Rich for the loss of only one wicket, in the space of 15 overs.

The Lampeter players shared tea duties and put out an admirable spread, however, conscious of time- with many players due to join the celebrations of Lampeter RFC’s 150th anniversary- were quickly back on the field to start the second innings.

Jason Davies began with his trademark swing on a nagging length and was unfortunate not to pick up a wicket in his first spell.

At the other end, Daryl Davies offered extra pace and bounce and he struck in his first over, taking the important wicket of Mohit Mathur- who had impressed last season for Talybont- for 9.

Commoners attempted to hit the Lampeter bowlers off their lengths and the scoring rate was healthy but they lost a second wicket in Daryl’s second over,

Hozefa following a 6 with an attempt to hit over mid-off but only finding another returning player- Lyndon Gregson- who held a good catch.

In the eighth over, the last of the fielding restriction powerplay, Daryl struck for the third time- finding the edge of Asad’s bat and wicketkeeper Saad holding on to a diving catch.

This brought captain Mo Aslam, fresh from a ton the previous weekend, to join the powerful Ishaan.

The pair hit boundaries, including two big sixes from Ishaan, but the Lampeter bowlers stuck to their task, bowled to their field and trusted that chances would come.

Daryl made the breakthrough with the score on 71, Mo Aslam launching a tracer bullet low towards the long off boundary only to pick out the waiting Lyndon Gregson.

A juggle from Gregson looked as if the chance had been lost, before he stuck out a hand to retrieve the ball and send the captain packing.

Elgan Evans had been introduced the previous over, opening with a maiden, and he backed up Daryl with a wicket of his own. Ishaan miscuing another attempt to go over mid-off, the ball slicing up and looking like it would drop safe only for the athletic Gregson to run in and hold on to a fine diving catch.

Two big blows, without addition to the score, left Commoners reeling on 71/5 with three of their big bats back in the shed.

Lampeter had been in a similar position, albeit at a slightly slower rate, and knew that they could not afford to let up, especially with Waqar Younis in to bat.

Daryl bowled through, searching for one more breakthrough and with the third ball of his final over, he delivered- a full fast delivery too good for the Commoners number 7- to give him a richly deserved 5-fer.

Waqar and Ali showed some resistance as Lampeter probed for further breakthroughs. Elgan Evans bowled through for 1/30 and Richard Thomas followed finding his rhythm to bowl with good pace and shaping the ball beautifully.

It was Thomas who eventually ended Waqar’s resistance, the batter spooning up a catch to Doug Whittaker at mid wicket for a top score of 41.

Jason Davies had returned and the change of ends finally brought him a wicket, Ali bowled in the next over for 21.

With Commoners 139/8 and any realistic hope of chasing down the target fading Shah Rome decided to hit out.

Bedwyr Davies switched to spin to tempt the batter and, having connected well with one to heave over the leg side boundary, attempted to repeat the trick only to top edge a sharp chance to wicket keeper Saad.

Michele Watson was left to see out the innings with Singh, both batters defending well to take Commoners to 178/9 and deny Lampeter maximum points.

As Lampeter rushed to clear the field and make it to the celebrations of Rugby in Lampeter, players reflected on a couple of outstanding individual performances, supported by an all-round team effort.

Ceri Thomas (102*) and Daryl Davies (5/38) were the stars of the show, but Jason Davies (43 and 1/39), Richard Thomas (18* and 8 overs, 2 maidens 1/14) and Lyndon Gregson (three outstanding top order catches) played big parts in ensuring Lampeter kicked off their season with victory.

Commoners will challenge this year with an impressive bowling attack and powerful batters.