RAKESH Bhatia hit a magnificent unbeaten century as Commoners secured a 14-run victory over defending champions Aberaeron in the Girasol Homes West Wales Conference last weekend.

The early loss of opening partner Bill Somerfield did not distract Bhatia (119 not out) from pushing ahead with his innings and hitting four sixes as well as 10 fours.

The Commoners ended on 181 all out, the only other batsmen to reach double figures being Ravi Maunder (19) and Umar Aslam (12).

Steffan Rees topped the Aberaeron bowling with 3 for 21, while other wickets fell to Hywel Rees (3 for 59) and Simon Mitchell (2 for 32).

The loss of danger men John Fice, Dave Grinszpan and Steffan Rees hampered Aberaeron’s chances of producing a winning reply, but Chris Strange (34) gave it his best shot as did his captain Hywel Rees (36). Rees was bowled by Bhatia, who also ran out Dave Grinszpan.

Wicketkeeper Dave Floyd lost his wicket for 23 runs to Arshad Sher (2 for 37), with Bhatia (2 for 14) bowling Simon Mitchell for 13 as the overs ran out for Aberaeron, who finished on 167 for 8.

The rest of the Aberaeron wickets had been shared between Umar Aslam, Ian Lawton and Aiden Reveley.

Talybont their campaign got off to a winning start as they beat Aberystwyth Firsts by 8 wickets on 117 for 2, after dismissing their opponents for a total 116 all out.

Anthony Burrell (69) scored over half the runs for Aber as wickets fell at regular intervals to Graison John (4 for 29), Dave Barrow (2 for 8), Phil Abraham (2 for 18) and Anish Kuriakose (2 for 37).

Talybont passed the winning post with wickets to spare, thanks to opening bat Vinod Matthew (43 not out) and Iwan George (35).

Tywyn pocketed maximum points for the second week running with a convincing 159 run victory against Aberystwyth Seconds on Sunday.

Batting first, Tywyn reached a formidable score of 217 for 3, courtesy of opener Richard Rees (58), James Bradbury-Willis (83) and Jack Williamson (71 not out).

Not content with his batting success, Williamson snapped up 4 for 13 as the Aberystwyth reply folded on 58 for 9. Callum Taylor took 3 for 4 for Tywyn with Sam Williams claiming 2 for 13.

The only opposition of note came from Malcolm McHough, one of the three septuagenarians in the home team, with a defiant 24 runs.

Matters got even worse for Aber when they lost wicket keeper Oliver Banner, who retired hurt with a torn hamstring, but full credit to the rest of the team, which also contained four players under 13 years, for their efforts.