West Wales Conference

Talybont (82-4) beat UWA Commoners (81) by 6 wkts

In a nail-biting finish to the season, Talybont Rachels battled their way to a first conference title in their history, winning an astonishing third trophy of the year.

With three clubs in the mix, the weather threatened to derail the first vs second class at Geufron, but the heavens relented to allow a 20-over match. With so much dampness around, the toss was all-important, and Lady Luck smiled on home skipper Phil Abraham.

His spearhead all season has been his 16-year old son Joel, who was unleashed once again to good effect. He had the dangerous Ravi Mander caught by Zaid Khan without scoring, and also accounted for the experienced engine-room triumvirate of Sommerfield, Lawton and Aslam.

Sommerfield had made 31, and tried his best to be the anchor of the innings. Sher was accounted for by Zaid Khan, and Rasan Singh disposed of Whitehead for 17 and Hughes-Pickering. Ivan George and Khan then wrapped up the tail as Commoners fell to their second successive two-digit total at 81. The innings had only lasted just over 15 overs, and it showed the difficulty of batting first in a drastically reduced match. The bowling was outstanding, with Joel Abraham finishing with 4-18, Zaid Khan 3-21, Rasan Singh 2-18 and Ivan George 1-3.

The reply was launched by Graison John and Vinod Mathew, the ideal right-left handed combination. The score had got to 24 when Mathew fell to the ever-persevering Lawton for 7. At the halfway point, the score was 42-1, but Joseph Thomas fell soon afterwards for 12, again castled by Lawton, to be followed by Rhodri Lloyd-Williams, caught off his nemesis Sher.

The match was briefly in balance, but with John and Huw Davies both placing the ball in the gaps, the chase never looked desperate. Alas for Davies, he chanced his luck too often, being run out in the 20th over with the scores equal. John showed ice-cool nerves in gently pushing the championship-winning single, to predictable whoops of delight from the gallery of past and present players who had gathered to watch history being made. John finished unbeaten on 38, with Lawton picking up two wickets and Sher one.

The success was built on two trump cards, the first being a deep batting line-up that averted the collapses of yesteryear. Even though no batsman made a 100, eight batsmen made 50s, with Zaid Khan’s unbeaten 77 being a season’s best. The top scorer was the aggressive Graison John, with a total of 275. The main contributor to the title was undoubtedly 16-year old Joel Abraham. Reveling in his role as a strike-bowler, he took 33 wickets at 14, an astonishing feat for a teenager. Fellow paceman Zaid Khan took 22 wickets as well, and newcomer Rasan Singh showed the importance of a genuine all-rounder, scoring 200 runs and taking 10 wickets. The attack was shrewdly handled by skipper Phil Abraham, no mean contributor himself.

The tussle for the championship has become a very volatile joust indeed, with four different clubs coming out on top in the last few years, and few would have put money on the eventual winners.

Rachel’s also won both the Aberystwyth Evening League trophies, an unprecedented feat.

(Report: Huw Chambers)