Tywyn 130 all out (30.3 overs), Aberaeron 256 all out (39.5 overs).

Aberaeron won by 126 runs

A FINE but overcast and breezy day at the seaside ground was the setting for the league leaders head-to-head. The outcome of the match would see one team in pole position for winning the WWCCC Fine & Country Championship, with Aberaeron behind but with games in hand, writes Alex Pitchford.

Aberaeron’s captain for the day, Steffan Rees, won the toss and chose to bat and look to set an imposing total. Openers Dave Floyd and Jacob Jenkinson made a steady start in the face of fiery bowling from Ruuman Ahmed and accurate, probing bowling from Jaco Oosthuizen. Jacob was the more positive, attacking anything slightly short and finding the leg-side boundary, taking advantage of the early fielding restrictions. Dave chose his balls to hit carefully and the pair progressed the score at around five runs per over.

A change in the bowling saw the end of Jacob, when on 29, at the second attempt, he found the hands of Liam Thomas at mid off to give Ed Hughes his first wicket. Josh Roper started in his trademark style, and with free licence after a good opening partnership of 60, smashed four boundaries, accelerating the scoring, until he was caught behind for 20 by Dylan Williams off Morgan Llewelyn.

This brought Ted Trewella to the middle and then things really started to heat up. Also in typical style, Ted turned good balls into long-hops and stuck them mostly to the midwicket boundary. Ted and Dave put together a very productive partnership taking the score from 88-2 to 141-3. A small mix up of the possibility of single left Dave stranded on 42 and a precise throw by Morgan Yorke saw him run out as Ed Hughes removed the bails.

Morgan Yorke put a stop to what could have led to a massive total. First by bowling Ted for 64, including 12 fours. Then Steffan Rees gifted him an easy caught-and-bowled having scored 9. Prospects for a commanding total were looking shaky with the team total on 189-5 with 10 overs to go.

The home looked to their late-middle order powerhouse to get them up to 250 and beyond. However, the return of Ruuman to the attack made this a little tricky as he took the next three wickets.

Jamie fell for just 1, caught in the covers by Dave Jenkins. Kev Regan hit 5 fours in his 22 before edging behind. Alex Pitchford scored 14 in a scurried partnership with Ifan Rishko before he was bowled by Ruuman, but they had managed to get the total to 229 with 4 overs left.

The youngsters Ifan and Morgan Ashton batted with confidence and skill to get up to 250-9 – a fine effort by them.

Morgan was undone by the spin of Ed Hughes and out for 8, another catch for Dave Jenkins. A frantic last wicket stand added a further 6, with Ifan unbeaten on 21* and Paul Hughes run out for 0 with one ball remaining.

A high-quality batting performance by Ifan in a pressure situation to set a challenging target of 257, but certainly not unreachable at this ground. This would certainly have been higher but for Ruuman’s 8 over 3 for 34.

Openers Jaco Oosthuizen and Morgan Yorke needed to be positive with the imposing chase ahead of them, but they could not afford early wickets and this was a tough ask in front of the impressive opening attack from Steffan Rees and Josh Roper.

Both seemed pumped for the occasion and the batters struggled to find anything to hit. Roper was unlucky as he kept finding the edge but the ball flew to the boundary rather than finding a hand. In this way the score progressed to 27, with few runs in front of the wicket, other than some fine shots square of the wicket on both sides by Jaco.

The anticipation was growing in the home team as chances were occurring at both ends.

This turned to elation as Steff began his six wicket haul when he got through Jaco’s defences to send the flashing stump cartwheeling – bowled for 20.

This was just one of the many precisely delivered in-swinging deliveries on a perfect length from bowling round the wicket.

A repeat delivery next ball saw another stump out of the ground and Morgan Llewelyn dismissed for 0. Jonathon Tolhurst battled hard but was adjudged stumped on 7 when Dave Floyd guided the ball off his pads into the stumps with the batsmen out of his ground. Yorke, having watched three wickets fall at the other end, then thin-edged a ball which was taken by Floyd behind the stumps and Yorke gone for 15.

Tywyn’s captain, Dave Jenkins, also batted belligerently for his 11, before finding the edge and Ted Trewella took a comfortable catch at first slip. Steff completed his 6-for with another inswinger that clattered the stumps to dismiss Niki Williams for 0 on the last ball of his 8 over spell, which had left Tywyn reeling on 63-6 after 15 overs.

The captain turned to his young off-spinner, Morgan Ashton, to press home the advantage.

He quickly dropped onto a good line and length and the batters struggling to get him away. After some resistance to score 11, Dylan Williams hit out to Roper at mid-off to give Morgan his first wicket.

Ifan Rishko continued from his success with the bat and soon found a good rhythm with the ball. Also having developed a talent for swinging the ball in, he too soon struck to bowl S Jones for 21. Morgan beat the defences of Ruuman with his first ball to give Aberaeron the second chance of a hat-trick that day.

It was not to be, as Liam Thomas (22*) and Ed Hughes managed to eke out a bonus point before Ifan bowled another beauty to dismiss Ed for 5 and end the innings on 126.

It was a great victory for Aberaeron in an eagerly awaited opportunity to put themselves ahead of Tywyn.

They did not quite manage that on the day, being still 6 points behind them, but with 2 games in hand and a possible 40 points to gain, they look favourites to go top of the table at the next opportunity.

Notable performances from Dave Floyd scoring 42 and Ted 64 helped set the target, Morgan and Ifan with their late order partnership and 2 wickets a-piece to wrap up the match, but undeniably Steffan Rees claimed player-of-the-match for his all-time best bowling figures of 6 for 22, including 2 maidens, that clearly won the match for the Seagulls.