Lampeter XI 193/8 (40 overs) AU Commoners 197/5 (31.5 overs) AU Commoners win by 3 wickets LAMPETER CC marked their return to the WWCCC Championship by pushing AU Commoners hard in an arm wrestle of a match.

Jacob Hughes-Pickering won the toss for Commoners and, with the outfield soaked by heavy overnight rain, had no hesitation in choosing to bowl first.

Harish Singh found early swing and was rewarded with the big wicket of Elgan Evans in the third over. A towering skied drive was expertly held by Mark Whitehead running back from extra cover.

Ted Trewella joined Pat Cullen at three and looked in fine early season form.

Pat fell to the final bowl of Harish’s opening spell, a late swinging delivery finding the outside edge and Jan Ruzicka pouching a sharp reaction catch.

Bedwyr Davies was next to keep Trewella company as Ted dominated the scoring. A stand of 29 eventually broken when Bedwyr was bowled by Whitehead.

Ceri Thomas at 5 started in watchful fashion, with plenty of overs remaining and Ted scoring freely at the other end.

Hughes-Pickering, however, made the important breakthrough, bowling Trewella in the first over after drinks. 71 from 55 balls featuring three 6s and seven 4s, in tricky batting conditions was an excellent effort from Ted.

Ceri and Chris Thomas continued to accumulate for 10 overs before looking to accelerate in the final 10. 19 runs from the 34th over - the final one from an otherwise tidy James Carver Hardy - propelled Lampeter towards the 200 mark.

Bill Somerfield collected two wickets as Chris was bowled for 31 and Ceri caught by Whitehead for 36.

Hugo Douglas drew cheers from the crowd as a fine whipped pick-up off his legs found the boundary but Whitehead got his revenge bowling Dougie for 5.

Abhishiek Patel and Dai Davies making their debuts in the WWCCC ran hard and together with Arif Saad took Lampeter to 193/8 for their 40 overs.

Bill and Ollie Somerfield opened for Commoners and were looking comfortable in the early exchanges, Bill driving the first delivery from Elgan Evans for four over mid off. A stand of 34 was beginning to look threatening however Ted Trewella began to find late swing from around the wicket to give Ollie a torrid time.

Having beaten the bat on several occasions Ted found the perfect delivery to snake past Ollie’s defence and clatter into the stumps.

Two balls later he repeated the delivery and produced exactly the same result to bowl James Harvey.

Elgan Evan at the other end had been bowling well with no reward for his variations. Whitehead at number 4 was a dangerous stroke maker, displaying his quality with a powerful 4 from the first ball of Elgan’s fifth over. Evans however had the last laugh as a shorter ball was pulled to the deep square boundary where Hugo Douglas held an excellent running catch.

Three quick wickets had swung the momentum of the match and Doug Whittaker’s excellent sharp catch at mid-wicket to dismiss Bill in the next over put Lampeter firmly in the driving seat with Commoners 40/4.

James Carver Hardy and Hughes-Pickering were tasked with rescuing the Commoners batting innings. For eight overs they remained watchful, Carver Hardy the more attacking of the pair but at drinks Commoners were 80/4 and requiring nearly 6 runs an over for victory.

Carver Hardy went on the attack against the spinners, making the most of several lives from dropped catches to accelerate past his 50.

Hughes-Pickering had proceeded to 31 before offering a sharp return catch to Abhishiek Patel’s left arm spin. Abhishiek held on to grab his first wicket and with Commoners only having 9 batters, the prospect of an unlikely victory still lingered for Lampeter - requiring the final three wickets whilst Commoners needed a further 40 runs.

Jan Ruzicka stifled any hope however as he and Carver Hardy went on the attack and powered Commoners home in the 32nd over. James Carver Hardy’s 79* (nine 4s and three 6s) was the match-winning performance for Commoners. Ted Trewella (71 and 3-12 off 6 overs)  had an excellent day but it wasn’t quite enough to get his team over the line.