Au Commoners 129ao (27 overs) Lampeter 132/3 (19.3 overs), Lampeter won by 7 wickets 

Fine & Country West Wales Cricket Club Conference

LAMPETER’S final home game in their comeback season ended in a comfortable victory over Commoners and ensured that they went undefeated at the Bro Pedr school fields, writes Arif Saad.

On a hot, sticky afternoon, Lampeter won the toss and asked Commoners to bat first. Bill Somerfield and Michelle Watson were the opening pair, with Bill looking to be more aggressive and Michelle taking singles and rotating the strike.

Carwyn Gregson, having missed the previous three matches, was straight back into a good rhythm, troubling the batters with pace and bounce. He struck in the fifth over, Bill spooning a catch up to Arif Saad at midwicket to depart for 14.

The wicket brought the dangerous Mo Aslam to the crease, but Elgan Evans and Carwyn were bowling tightly, giving very little for the batters to work with. Eventually the pressure told as Elgan had Michelle driving uppishly to be caught by Daryl Davies at mid off.

Carwyn then struck in the next in the next over, a full ball striking Aslam’s back pad in front of the stumps to see him LBW for 5. With consecutive wicket maidens from Evans and Gregson, Lampeter were right on top with the score at 29/3 after 11 overs.

Mohsin signalled that he was not going to take a backward step, his first scoring shot an aggressive pick up over midwicket for six, from a ball on the stumps.

He took a four off Daryl Davies’ first over but then gave it away attempting another expansive shot against Elgan, picking out Carwyn Gregson in the covers. Farhan joined Sohaib Syed to continue the left-hand right-hand combination.

He too looked to fight back against the pressure, striking two fours off Evans, but fell LBW to the last ball of Elgan’s spell of 8 overs, 3 for 30, featuring two wicket maidens.

At 53/5, Commoners were in danger of collapsing to a low total but Sohaib and Waqar Younis fought back- Waqar the more expansive, striking two sixes and five fours with Sohaib supporting. 

Together the pair doubled Commoners total, taking the team past 100 and to the point where they were starting to wrest back some of the momentum.

Sohaib was opening up, having struck a couple of fours off Gareth John and looked to add another when he picked up a full ball off his legs over midwicket. Unfortunately for him, he just failed to clear Arif Saad who managed to hold on to a leaping one handed catch to dismiss him for 22.

One wicket quickly became two as captain Jacob  Hughes-Pickering, having struck a four was beaten by the extra bounce generated by Daryl Davies to be caught behind.

Tomos Lloyd-Jones then made it three wickets in ten balls as Arshad picked out Gareth John on the fine leg boundary and Daryl Davies wrapped up the Commoners innings with the last ball of his eighth over- having had an edge put down with the keeper standing up, he took matters into his own hands, bowling Waqar for 45 to close the Commoners innings on 129. 

Lampeter began their reply carefully, knowing early wickets could give Commoners the impetus to push for victory. Neil Harris and Gareth John took an over each from Waqar and Mohsin before starting to play their shots.

Once the pair got going however, runs quickly began to pile up. Both Neil and Gareth were quick to punish anything short or on the leg side. Perhaps the shot of the day however was an elegant drive through extra cover from Gareth, finishing on one knee and holding the pose as the ball raced to the boundary.

Commoners turned to the Sommerfields, Bill and Ollie, hoping a change of pace could bring a wicket but Gareth and  Neil made untroubled progress to a 50 opening partnership in the 10th over.

Hughes-Pickering continued to change bowlers, looking for a breakthrough, turning to Farhan and Sohaib but with the batters set it was a tough ask.

Gareth John brought up his 50 with an enormous six over wide long on, the ball crashing high into the tree overhanging the boundary. In the next over, the 16th of the innings, the pair brought up their 100 partnership- the first for Lampeter this season- to applause from the watching crowd taking advantage of a beautiful afternoon to enjoy the cricket in the sunshine.

Farhan eventually picked up a wicket  in the next over, having Gareth caught by Ollie Somerfield for an excellent 53. This brought Elgan Evans to the middle for a brief but eventful cameo.

His first ball was an LBW appeal from the left handed Farhan that was adjudged to have pitched outside leg stump. Having seen Gareth strike the biggest six of the season so far, Elgan went even bigger to his second ball, smashing the ball through the tree and into the top of the 3G cage. His third ball he was bowled attempting to repeat the shot to give Farhan his second wicket.

Sohaib got a wicket to his name, bowling Carwyn Gregson as Lampeter looked to wrap up the game quickly, but there was still time for Neil to bring up his own 50. A powerful six over midwicket took him to 49 and four from the next ball allowed him to raise his bat for his first half century for Lampeter.

It only remained to close out the match and two fours from Neil in the next over took him to 61* and Lampeter to 132 and a resounding victory.

It was an all-round team performance with all the bowlers taking wickets- Carwyn’s 2-14 and Elgan’s 3-30 the highlights- good fielding to restrict Commoners and two commanding half centuries from Gareth and Neil. With Aberystwyth having been defeated by Aberaeron, Lampeter retain third place in the Fine and Country Championship for now, but with fixtures to be caught up it remains a close battle for all of the top five places.