Aberaeron held on to defeat AU Commoners by 29 runs in a hard-fought contest at the Vicarage Fields.

UWA Commoners (201-9) lost to Aberaeron (229-7) by 28 runs, Fine & Country West Wales Conference

Commoners won the toss and captain Bill Somerfield decided to let Aberaeron set a total to chase. The pitch appeared flat and true but Bill clearly knew better as once the Aberaeron openers got on it both struggled to find their timing.

Bill made numerous bowling changes early on, Ian Lawton opening with three overs, Umar Aslam bowling one before Arshad Sher came on to bowl three overs of seam, then Umar replacing Ian at the pavilion end.

Both Ian and Umar found some movement and induced inside and outside edges. The openers rode their luck as catches went down behind the wicket or narrowly past the fielders.

Despite their early struggles the Aberaeron opening pair survived and by the 13th over had shared a 50-run partnership. By this point Commoners had turned to Ollie Somerfield and Haziq and it was Haziq who made the first breakthrough. Steff (32) bowled by a beauty that angled in and moved away off the pitch to clip the top of off stump.

Alex Pitchford was Aberaeron’s number 3 and he looked in good form as he despatched his third ball for four. Ollie Evans continued to accumulate, taking ones and twos and waiting for the loose delivery to send to the boundary as he passed his half century.

Pitchford was just accelerating, having taken 9 runs off Sher with three glorious shots on the off side before attempting another big shot against Bill Somerfield and picking out Ian Lawton. Still, a valuable 33 runs off 26 balls to leave Aberaeron 146/2 in the 27th over gave the team a good platform to accelerate with their powerful middle order.

Hywel Rees wasted no time taking 17 runs in 11 balls before the introduction of Guy Baron turned the game again. Guy found a bit of assistance from the dry surface and chipped away at the Aberaeron middle order taking a wicket in each of his first four overs.

Ted Trewella was bowled off an inside edge for 10 and Dave Floyd was caught behind for 0. Throughout the clatter of wickets, Ollie Evans remained, working his way into the 90s as the total passed 200. Umar Aslam did trouble him with big in duckers but Ollie survived some passionate appeals for lbw with a big stride out to the ball and the extravagant movement coming to his rescue.

On 95 Guy dropped short on leg stump and presented Ollie a boundary opportunity. He turned on the pull shot but managed to pick out Jacob Hughes-Pickering at backward square leg to fall agonisingly short of his first century for Aberaeron.

Kevin Regan, Morgan Ashton (13*) and Simon Mitchell (6*) added a valuable 25 runs, Regan falling lbw to Arshad for 7, to see Aberaeron to 229/7 at the close.

Bill Somerfield and Mo Aslam opened the batting for Commoners and Aslam in particular looked to take the initiative and bring the target down while the field was in.

Steff Rees struggled for rhythm early on and an early bowling change saw Hywel Rees bringing himself on in the seventh over to try to check the scoring rate. Commoners openers brought up their 50 stand in the eighth over before Simon Mitchell, in the middle of a 5 over opening spell, produced a stunning bit of fielding at square leg to bring about the first wicket.

Bill clipped a firm shot off his legs and set off for a single; Simon dived to his right, gathered the ball cleanly and threw from his knees back to the stumps to Dave Floyd who removed the bails to run out Aslam for 23.

This brought Arshad to the middle and Aberaeron were fully aware of the danger posed by an extended stay, the batter having scored a brutal century in the first meeting between these teams.

Bill and Arshad scored at a fast rate, Arshad finding the boundary with regularity but unable to launch the big sixes that he had hit with regularity on the astroturf strip at Aberaeron. The grass wicket still offered assistance to the bowlers and slowly Hywel Rees and Ollie Evans began to apply pressure.

Having taken Commoners past 100, Arshad attempted to clear the rope off Hywel but didn’t quite time the stroke and Steff Rees held on safely at long off to dismiss Arshad for 28.

Ollie Somerfield played out a wicket maiden and Ollie Evans delivered the classic one-two when he had the obdurate Bill caught behind by Dave Floyd for 33.

Aberaeron had been on the ropes with the fast start from Commoners but the wickets of Sher and Somerfield lifted the team and they were buzzing around the bat as suddenly every ball looked a potential wicket taker.

Hywel struck again in his next over – his eighth – to bowl Ollie for 2 and Commoners had collapsed from 100/1 to 107/4.

With Jacob Hughes-Pickering and Umar Aslam in the middle and only 123 required off 19 overs, Commoners were still right in the game. An intense passage of play with both teams battling to wrest the initiative in the match was further heightened when the dangerous Umar skied a shot off the bowling of Steff Rees. Ollie Evans charged in from a deepish mid off and took the catch at full tilt on the edge of the square. It was a vital wicket for Abarearon as Umar was capable of taking the game away quickly.

Ian Lawton and Jacob Hughes Pickering steadied the ship for Commoners, taking few risks to try to accumulate six runs an over and keep up with the required run rate. The fast start from Commoners meant that they could afford to take fewer risks at the culmination of their chase. However Ollie Evans and Steff turned the screw and slowly the pressure to score increased.

The pair took Commoners past 150 in the 30th over leaving them 80 runs to find from the final 10. Ollie Evans, capped a fine bowling display with the wicket of Lawton in his last over, bowled for 19, to make Aberaeron strong favourites for the win.

Morgan Ashton picked up two late wickets and Simon Mitchell one as Commoners settled for maximum batting points and denied Aberaeron the final bowling point to close on 200/9. Jacob Hughes Pickering finishing unbeaten on 36.

This was a crucial victory for Aberaeron in the Fine and Country WWCCC championship race and keeps them in the hunt for the title. It had to be earned however as AU Commoners put up a real fight and the match could have gone either way at several points.

The difference between the two teams was the performance of Ollie Evans. 95 runs with the bat and 2/34 and a crucial catch in the field meant that he was the player of the match. Guy Baron’s 4/39 was in vain as the Commoners batters made starts but could not go big and take their team home.

Aberaeron go to table toppers Tywyn next Sunday in a match which will have enormous bearing on the fate of the Championship.

Report by Arif Saad