ADECL Evening Cricket, sponsored by NFU Mutual Aberystwyth

In a week that saw the top two teams switch places twice in two days, Rachel’s Dairy snatched back the top spot to claim the title in the final match of the league.

Llanfihangel and Rachels both had rescheduled fixtures in the final week, having had matches cancelled due to rain earlier in the competition. Llanfihangel beat Llanidloes by 85 runs on the Tuesday to go one point ahead of Rachels, but then Rachels beat the Geufron XI by 89 runs on Wednesday to go back to four points clear at the top.

This is a great result for Rachels, who have been twice runners up on run rate alone in the last 10 years (2014 and 2015 both to Penrhyncoch), but never claimed the league title before.

Rachels were given a head start to the season when Llanidloes had to concede the first match of the season, gifting a maximum five points to Rachels. In their first match played, Rachels showed their season form by setting a very challenging 170-6 for Unison to chase. Unison held on for 20 overs to deny their opponents the bowling bonus point, but were 80 runs behind at the close.

Rachels continued with a comfortable win over Pontrhydygroes, chasing the 79 runs required in just 10.3 overs to win by 9 wickets. The university team then managed a victory over Rachels by scoring 153-8. The chase ended in the 18th over with Rachels 19 runs short. Rachels returned to winning ways when they set 134-7 as target for Llanfarian CC, who fell 37 runs short, losing 8 wickets, with Rachels claiming maximum points again.

A resurgent Aberaeron team managed to restrict Rachels to 112-8 in 20 overs at Cae Morfa, thanks to some tight bowling and fielding, including some outstanding catches. The home team chased down the total in 13.4 overs for the loss of just one wicket, in what turned out to be Rachels’ second and last loss of the league competition.

In the crunch match of the season, Rachels set a big total of 167-7 for Llanfihangel to chase. Rachels managed to constrain Llanfihangel to 151-7 at the end of the match to take the lead in the league over the team who would prove to be their main rivals.

Llanfihangel managed to stay in the running by beating Aberareon at their home ground, chasing down the 160-5 for the loss of 3 wickets with 2.2 overs to spare.

This proved to be the end of Aberaeron league hopes, who finished third, just ahead of the university team on run rate.

Llanfihangel took the title chase into the final week, with an 8 wicket win over the Geufron XI, chasing down 103-7 in 18.5 overs. However, with Rachel’s Dairy ahead by four points, the final week see-saw ended with the Rachel’s Dairy team on top and claiming the league title for the first time. They will be hoping to make it a double, with the cup knockout competition starting next week.

Rachel’s top run scorer was Philip Abraham with 138 runs from 7 games including three innings of 30 plus. Vinod Mathew was second with 118 runs in 6 games, also with three scores in the thirties. Graison John and Milton John both had a good all round performances. Young players Titus Mathew, Dan Graison, Austin Thomas and Joel Abraham all performed well in bowling, batting and excellent fielding. New talent Jijo Manuel gave a great performance in his bowling. Nijo and Anish both contributed with their batting.

There were many more exciting matches played in the competition, including Unison’s final ball victory over Pontrhydygroes. Full results and league table are available at adecl.play-cricket.com.