A beautiful spring day saw Aberystwyth 2nd XI host Talybont Rachel’s CC at the Geufron for the third fixture of the season.

Aberystwyth II (171-9) beat Talybont (121) by 50 runs, West Wales Conference sponsored by Fine & Country

TRCC won the toss and decided to bowl first on a green early season pitch. Looking for their first win in over a season, Aber 2s opened the batting in a very positive manner, with an impressive opening stand of 58 in tricky conditions between Adam Shaw who ended up with 45 and Matt Salter 31, which was bought to an end when Philip Abraham took a sharp catch close in.

As so often happens in cricket one brings two, and the momentum in the game shifted. TRCC capitalised on this and following a spell of damaging bowling had taken a further four quick wickets during the middle overs. Graham Saunders who came in to the match on the back of two fifties in the two previous matches capitalised on his form with a hard fought 34, and Omair Syed chipped in with a very useful 23, between them a partnership of 48 which got Aber out of a potential hole.

West Wales conference table 200523
(Submitted)

The innings finished 172 for 9 after 40 overs. At the break, both teams had their sights on winning, and it felt like Aber had just given themselves enough to bowl to, with the knowledge that they had to go out and take 10 wickets to win the match.

TRCC got off to a quick start of 31 runs by the end of the fourth over through Vinod Matthews and Ben Harper capitalising on a nervous start from the Aber team, however the opening bowlers of Sohaib Syed and Omair Syed persevered getting the breakthrough in the 4th over with a solid catch from Gruff Jones which really set the tone for a high energy fielding display by Aber.

This wicket gave Aber the boost they were looking for, and following some excellent bowling also by Austin Thomas the next five wickets fell for 34 runs. The bowling was supported by a fantastic low catch by Matt Salter, two sharp slip catches from Graham Saunders and two decisive run outs, as Aber took their chances when they arrived.

Despite this there was still the threat of one good partnership being able to take TRCC over the line as the required run rate was not unachievable considering the number of overs left in the match.

Balanced on a knife edge Philip Abraham looked to take the ascendency with the bat scoring 31, however Aber’s response in the form of young Pranav Krishna who bowled with great discipline put all the pressure back on TRCC, and it wasn’t long before the match was wrapped up, TRCC bowled out for 121 after 26 overs.