Aberystwyth 155 all out (39.1 overs) Aberaeron 158-3 (25.2 overs), Aberaeron won by 7 wickets

Fine & Country West Wales Cricket Club Conference

AS we draw close to the end of the league, Aberaeron were looking for a big win to press on in their pursuit of the league championship. After a night of rain, which did not stop until mid-morning, conditions remained overcast, but with fine weather forecast for mid-afternoon, writes Alex Pitchford.

Despite the apparent ideal conditions for bowling (other than the prospect of a wet ball) both captains seemed intent on batting first, and as Graham Saunders won the toss for Aberystwyth that’s what he elected to do.

The opening batsmen were presented with the challenge of facing Aberaeron’s first choice bowling attack, Simon Mitchell and Steffan Rees, the latter still pumped from his 6 wicket haul last week.

It was looking like a good toss to lose when Simon made the first breakthrough, following up his maiden in his first over with the wicket of Ioan Morris, who had made a confident start with a four and six in the previous over, but found his defences pierced and was bowled for 10.

Dave Wilcockson joined Matt Dodds, who had been struggling to make a good connection with the ball. Dave looked to be positive against the pace of Mitchell, and managed 2 runs off him, but then in the next over found a leading edge playing across the line and the ball ballooned in the air to give Simon a comfortable return catch and a wicket-maiden.

Dodds and Adi Khare then batted with great care and managed to survive the opening bowlers. When Simon took a rest after 5 overs his figures were 2 wickets for 5 runs.

The new bowlers Ted Trewella and Hywel Rees were also very accurate and hence the score progressed very slowly. It was Ted who made the next breakthrough, with the score on 33 in the 14th over, when he managed to york Dodds to have him bowled for 8.

Hywel struck next, having given away just 1 run from his first 3 overs, he managed to squeeze one between Nigel Salmon's bat and pad to have him bowled for 7.

Thus began a fine partnership between Adi and Gareth Lanagan. The pair ran very well together to pinch quick singles and turn ones into twos, and even managed an all-run four.

They batted together until the 27th over, having raised the total to 90, when the introduction of off-spinner Morgan Ashton brought the breakthrough when Adi was adjudged LBW for 21.

The return of Steffan Rees in the 30th over saw the end of Lanagan when the full-pitched ball again did the trick to bowl him for 29.

Harvey Knights and Graham Saunders took a different approach and went on the attack. This worked well for them and they managed to get their team to 147 before Simon Mitchel made a double breakthrough in his final over – first bowling Knights for 29, then Rhys Jones hit his first ball directly to Jamie Davies who took the catch comfortably. Simon finished with figures of 4 for 14 off 8 overs including 3 maidens.

Morgan Ashton was brought back after Simon and Steffan had completed their overs. Graham attempted one too many swipes across the line and was trapped in front LBW for 26. Anthony Evans (1*) and Vlad managed to add a few more before the innings was ended 5 balls early by a direct hit from Alex Pitchford to run Vlad out for 2 and the team all out for 155.

Knowing that they almost certainly needed to bowl Aberaeron out to have any chance of winning the match, Aberystwyth set a close-packed off-side field and looked to bowl tight lines.

However, the fielders were not needed for their early breakthroughs when first Steffan Rees played over a full ball to be bowled by Knights for 2. Shortly after, Alex Pitchford under-edged an attempted pull to be bowled by Saunders for 4.

Dave Floyd continued to bat carefully, choosing his moments to attack wisely, and he was under no pressure to score once joined by Trewella. Ted, in trade-mark style, punished anything slihtly short or off-line severely, striking the ball powerfully down the ground and on both sides of the wicket.

The visitors tried a range of bowlers but none were successful stemming the flow of runs, although Wilcockson was fairly economical after he managed to find his line. Ted managed to survive a few scares, including a comedy pirouette that left him on the floor, but with Dave batting faultlessly at the other end, they managed to get the total to 133 after 20 overs.

And so, at the drinks break, Ted and Dave were able to consult the scorebook and do a little maths to devise a formula whereby Ted had a chance of a century against his old club.

Dave diligently blocked or left every ball he faced while Ted tried to smash boundaries. However, he mostly kept finding fielders and managing just singles. Then in 24th over he saw an opportunity when Rees Jones bowled a slightly short ball and he struck the ball cleanly to the longest boundary where he picked out Ioan Morris perfectly at deep-midwicket who calmly took the catch to dismiss Ted on 95.

It was left to the captain, Hywel Rees, to guide the team home, which he did with a swept four to finish the match in the 25th over with 7 wickets in hand. A commanding win to gain maximum points and put Aberaeron top of table for one day at least. As Tywyn were beaten at home by Rachels Talybont 2nd's, Aberaeron will remain in poll position with 2 games in hand of their nearest rivals.

Simon Mitchell’s very impressive bowling spell, Hywel Rees’ very economical 1 for 19, Morgan Ashton’s 2 wickets and Dave Floyd’s patient 29 not out were very important contributions, but Ted Trewella was adjudged player-of-the-match for his excellent spell of 1 for 23 off 8 overs and his dominating 95 runs.