Lampeter 242/9 (40 overs) Tywyn 154/7 (40 overs), Lampeter win by 88 runs

Fine & Country West Wales Cricket Club Conference

LAMPETER returned to action in the Fine and Country WWCCC after a three week break for the T20 Cup and Aeron 6s and hosted top-of-the-table Tywyn, writes Arif Saad.

Dave Jenkins of Tywyn called correctly and asked Lampeter to bat first on a thus-far low-scoring surface.  Gareth John opened the batting for Lampeter and was immediately tested with pace and bounce by Ruuman Ahmed who sent down a maiden over, fizzing one past the grille of John’s helmet and striking the batter in the ribs too.

Chris Thomas opened with Gareth and elected to try to use the pace from Ahmed, ramping over the slips before driving square to Niki Thomas at backward point to depart on 4.

Ceri Thomas joined Gareth and the batters appeared to be content to see off Ahmed’s opening spell, opting to attack at the other end- Matthew Maslin taking the brunt as the batters took Lampeter past 50 in the ninth over.

Joel Eynon replaced Ahmed after an opening spell of 1/9 off 4 overs, and found the batters well set and scoring freely- Gareth John taking both Maslin and Eynon over the leg side boundary for sixes and Ceri happy to rotate the strike after two early fours off Eynon.

Gareth brought up his 50 in the 15th over with a 4 off Ed Hughes, but Ed then struck with his first delivery to Ceri- a leading edge popping up and requiring a full length dive from the bowler to hold on. Ceri scored 24 in a partnership of 91, having helped to set a platform for Lampeter to build a good total.

Bedwyr Davies joined Gareth and kept the momentum of the innings going with two sixes and a four in also scoring 24 before becoming spinner John Tolhurst’s first victim.

Elgan Evans almost made it two in two for Tolhurst but having been given a reprieve after a drop at slip wasted no time in making the most of a second chance- taking 15 runs from 4 balls off Ed Hughes, with two fours and huge six. He attempted to keep the attack going against Tolhurst, but picked out a fielder on the boundary to depart for 16.

Carwyn Gregson, Jason Thomas and Jason Davies all contributed to partnerships with Gareth John as he made untroubled progress to a fine century, raising his bat to the cheering spectators.

Rumaan Ahmed (4/29) returned to bowl out his allotted overs and picked up the wicket of Jason Davies before finally dislodging Gareth for 118- having found consistent steep bounce, a straight delivery kept low and snuck under the bat of Gareth who was looking to accelerate the team towards their target of 240. 14 runs from Arif Saad and some quick running from Abhishiek Patel and Doug Whittaker got Lampeter to 242/9, a very healthy score on a tricky batting surface.

After pausing for a tea on the boundary edge, play resumed with Tywyn sending out captain Dave Jenkins and Niki Williams to face the Lampeter bowling attack. Jason Davies was on the spot from the get-go, testing the batters outside off stump on a perfect length. Carwyn Gregson at the other end posed a different sort of challenge to the batters with pace and bounce making life uncomfortable for them.

Together the pair saw off the fielding restrictions and tied down the batters, 19 runs coming off the first 8 overs with two chances going down in the field. Gregson finally got reward for his excellent bowling, spearing one into the off stump to bowl Williams for 2.

With the batters under pressure, captain Arif Saad opted to bowl out the opening pair and together Davies and Gregson restricted Tywyn to 35/1 from the first 16 overs, requiring 218 more from the remaining 24.

With Gareth John and Jason Thomas introduced into the attack, there was no let up for the batters as Gareth had Joel Eynon caught behind for 21 and soon after Jason bowled Dave Jenkins for 20.

John Tolhurst looked in good form as he proceeded to 11 before perhaps the delivery of the day removed him- Jason Thomas starting one well outside the left handers off stump and hooping it back in to bowl him.

Matthew Maslin struck the ball powerfully but was outfoxed by Elgan Evans to be bowled for 16 and Evans picked up his second wicket soon after trapping Sam Jones in front for 12.

At the other end, Abhishiek Patel sent down 7 overs of brisk left arm spin to maintain the pressure on the batters as any thoughts of chasing 243 to win evaporated for Tywyn.

Dylan Williams saw Tywyn up to a third batting point with a composed 42*. Tywyn were targeting the fourth point at 160 but Doug Whittaker deceived Rumaan Ahmed to have him stumped for 7 and despite Liam Thomas’s best efforts Tywyn closed on 154/7.

Lampeter won comfortably in the end by 88 runs with a dominant bowling performance : Jason Davies (0/18 from 8 overs) Carwyn Gregson (1/13 from 8 overs) Gareth John (1/27), Jason Thomas (2/11),  Elgan Evans (2/29), Abhishiek Patel (0/45) and Doug Whittaker (1/4) but it was thanks to the batting from Gareth John in taking 118 out of a team total of 242 that Tywyn never felt in the chase.

Lampeter maintain their unbeaten home record as they move up to third in a hotly contested league table. Tywyn maintain their position at the top but with teams having games in hand and every team capable of beating any other on their day it will surely be another exciting finish in the Fine & Country WWCCC Championship.