THE Morris & Bates Aberystwyth & District Evening Cricket League reached its conclusion this week with another nail-biting finale at The Geufron on Wednesday evening, writes Alex Pitchford.
The knockout stages of the Bari Williams Cup and Plate got underway with the cup quarter finals on 16 July.
Aberaeron's Taverners took on their Gulls, a team of mostly young players in development, at their home ground.
The young players bowled well, but the strength and depth of Taverner's batting enabled them to set a tough target of 175, with Chris Coupar, Ted Trewella and Rhodri Davies all retiring on 30+.
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The Gulls made a valiant effort, with young players Huw Rishko (18), Tomos Lloyd-Jones (27), Iolo Trigg (18) and Ifan Rishko (20*) making contributions, but their innings ended 61 runs short of the target.
On the same evening, at The Geufron, Unison scored 113-4 for Llanfihangel to chase, Jacob Hughes-Pickering (30*), Farhan (19) and Umar Aslam (23*) being the main contributors. Unison's strong bowling attack saw Llanfihangel fall 45 runs short, with Amir Hasan taking two early wickets and Guy Baron taking three later on.
The next day saw another inter-club quarter final, this time between the two Rachels Dairy teams.
Their 1st XI proved the stronger, scoring 156/4 in their 20 overs.
The Rachels 2nd team were all out for 104. The last quarter final provided the most thrilling cricket of this round. Llanfarian set 113-6 off their 20 overs.
Pat Jones scored 28 and two others scored 30+. Llewelyn Hughes, Andrew Jones and Rhodri Jones each took 2 wickets for Tregaron. Tregaron chased it down with three balls to spare, mostly thanks to Glyndwr Hughes (25) and Dylan Garner (30*).
The Cup and Plate semi-finals took place the following week at The Geufron, starting with Tregaron vs Aberaeron Taverners.
The Taverners batted first and scored 121 before they were all out in the 16th over - Chris Coupar scored 18, Ted Trwella 30* and Kev Regan 29. Andrew Jones claimed 3 wickets and Dylan Garner and Rhodri Jones two each.
Tight bowling by Aberaeron restricted Tregaron to just 87 off their 20 overs. Josh Roper with an economical 1 for 9 off his 4 over opening spell, Rhodri Davies taking two wickets and Chris Strange with an impressive 4 for 14 off his 4 overs sealed the victory for Aberaeron.
The Geufron 2nd XI had secured place in the Plate final by finishing best of the third placed group stage teams, so the one Plate semi-final was between the Geufron 1st XI and Pontrhydygroes. Pontrhydygroes scored 117/6 in their 20 overs and then bowled out the Geufron team for 63 to put them into the final.
The Plate final took place on 30 July at the Geufron. Pontrhydygroes again chose to bat first and scored 113/7 from the 20 over first innings. The Geufron 2nd XI were all out for 91 in the 18th over, to give Pontrhydygroes the Plate title for 2024.
The final of Bari William's Cup, and the final match of the ADECL for 2024, was on 31 July at the Geufron between Unison and Aberaeron Taverners.
Aberaeron clinched it in a final thrilling over to take the title, worthy of the full report by their captain Arif Saad, which follows. It has been another great year for the evening cricket league. With thanks to our sponsors, Morris & Bates, and all the players and officials.
Unison vs Aberaeron Taverners, 31/7/24, The Geufron Aberaeron 148/6 (20 overs) beat Unison (143/8) by 5 runs A THRILLING finish to the ADECL Midweek Cup saw Aberaeron Taverners hold off defending champions Unison to win by 6 runs.
Taverners won the toss and captain Arif Saad decided scoreboard pressure was the way to go in the final, electing to bat first.
Ted Trewella and Chris Coupar began steadily, Josh Lane and Mohsin keeping a lid on the scoring. Mohsin struck in the third over, extra bounce doing for Ted who top edged to Jacob Hughes-Pickering.
Chris Strange survived an early scare as he was put down behind the stumps but was quickly into his stride, hitting powerfully over the top and rotating the strike to ease to 35*, the final six over deep mid-wicket his cleanest blow.
Kevin Regan joined Chris Coupar and at the change of ends after 10 overs Unison would have been content with Aberaeron only at 70 runs but with wickets in hand.
Coupar departed for 23 in the 12th after one late cut too many was excellently caught low and at full stretch by Hughes-Pickering to bring Jamie Davies to join Regan.
The pair accelerated the scoring rapidly, 25 runs from one over particularly profitable. But, the introduction of last year’s final hero Mo Aslam saw immediate reward, as he bowled Jamie for 13.
With the retirement of Kevin Regan for 33 and a middle order collapse that saw Kurt Forward, Josh Roper and Rhodri Davies all departing for low scores - two more falling to Aslam - Taverners were in danger of falling short of a good total.
A late flurry from Paul Graham and Arif Saad saw Taverners up to 148/6, around about par for the pitch though 10-15 runs short of where they would have liked to be.
In reply, Unison sent out Bellenie and captain Jacob Hughes-Pickering to face the opening salvo from Josh Roper and Ted Trewella. As in the previous rounds, the Taverners bowlers were on the money, swinging the ball at pace and giving very little away.
Bellenie, at the top of the order for his belligerent hitting, attempted to attack but a flying edge was well held by a retreating Rhodri Davies at backward point.
Mo Aslam found the bowling equally difficult to get away at first but got into his stride and was soon up to 29 and looking to finish in style. A heave to cow corner was held by Ted Trewella , despite a clash in the field with Kev Regan running round from deep midwicket.
With runs in the bank, Taverners were content to set the field back and force the batters to attempt to beat the outfield. Farhan eventually lost patience and spinner Paul Graham turned one past the swipe to bowl him for 6.
Jacob Hughes-Pickering saw the team to 68/3 at the change of ends - only two runs shy of where Taverners had been but with fewer wickets in hand. His retirement for 30, sealed with a six, meant that Amir and Mohsin were tasked with getting Unison within reach of victory.
Amir fell victim to the pace of Kurt Forward, the ball clipping the bail to dislodge it and dismiss him for 1. Mohsin too fell before the score reached 100, Rhodri Davies having him caught at deep square leg by Josh Roper for a valuable 12.
When James Harvey departed, bowled Chris Strange for 3, with the score on 114 and with only 17 balls remaining, the game appeared done. Bill Somerfield, however, had other ideas as he targeted the leg side, moving across his stumps and attempting to beat the ring field on the boundary.
Kurt Forward bowled the 19th over with Unison on 121, requiring 27 for victory. Ollie Somerfield was on strike and a full straight delivery crept under the bat to bowl him for 2. Guy Baron took a single to give Bill the strike and with 10 balls remaining Unison required 24. Kurt, thus far economical and accurate, perhaps felt the pressure of the situation as suddenly a series of wides and no balls crept in, and when Bill hit the penultimate ball of the over for 6 and took a single off the last to retain the strike, the total shot up to 133 and left Unsion requiring 16 for victory.
Chris Strange - fresh from 4 wickets in the semi-final - took the final over. His first ball was full and straight but Bill got under it and lifted it to cow corner. Kevin Regan had been positioned for the shot and held a fine catch but in doing so stepped back over the rope to give Bill 6 and bring the equation to 10 required from 5. He attempted to repeat the shot next ball but could only spoon it out toward the boundary for a single which brought Guy on strike.
Guy kept out another full straight delivery and set off for a single. Strange picked up in his follow through and attempted to throw down the stumps but incredible anticipation from Kurt Forward meant that despite the throw missing, he was able to gather the ball on the run and break the bails to run out Guy.
The dot ball was more crucial than the wicket but it meant that danger man Bill was on strike with 9 needed from 3.
Again he tried to go over midwicket but could only drop it short of Kevin Regan but scrambled running and a slight misfield meant the batters managed 2 runs, leaving Bill on 28, with 7 required for victory and no more batters to come.
A single from the next ball took Unison to 143 and Bill to 29, leaving Josh Lane needing to hit a six off the final ball to win the game. Chris Strange held his nerve and fired another ball into the blockhole to finish with a dot ball and secure victory for Taverners.
Robin Varley presented the recently rediscovered Aberystwyth Corporation Coronation Cup, first presented in 1953 to Penparcau and the Bari Williams Trophy to winning captain Arif Saad. Taverners celebrated an ADECL league and cup double, and with Aberaeron having claimed the weekend T20 Cup too, it makes it three out of three for the Seagulls this year.