DARCY Lever C&SC D won the first final of the season in style at Walkden Cricket Club on Friday.

The Section N side beat Rivington Ladies from the section above 146-122, and scarcely needed a second innings to clinch the resounding Horwich Shield victory.

Batting first, Darcy started with three singles, followed by three from Emily Clarke, then after a couple more singles, Lucy Brown scored the first of six rounders in the innings, but the next batter was hit out and another failed to score on the first round.

Georgia Lever escaped with no score from her second bat, but went on to be last batter, denned for 21. The next two batters, Emily Hilton and Beth Heaton both scored rounders and Rivington only managed to dismiss one batter on the second round.

The last three Darcy batters pushed the score along with Beth Whittle including a rounder in her total of 20 while Beth Heaton scored two more rounders to become top scorer with 35 and take the innings total to 119.

Although one Rivington batter failed to score and another was caught out at the first attempt, Shannon Richardson scored a rounder to suggest they would not just roll over.

Darcy dismissed two batters on the second round, but Becky-Jo Hesford scored the only other rounder of the innings as the fielders restricted the scoring to dismiss Rivington for 76 which meant they were requested to follow on.

Rivington lost just one batter on the first round, but the young Darcy team kept them in check as only three batters scored five times, but were then all dismissed, one hit, one caught and one denned.

With a second innings total of 46 which took Rivington’s match total to 122, Darcy had to bat a second time, but they only needed four runs to take the trophy.

With victory almost assured, Darcy had their first batter hit out, Emily Hilton scored one, but Beth Heaton scored a rounder. The Darcy girls batted a second round in which Beth Heaton scored a rounder and Lucy Brown a three before declaring and winning.

Next Friday’s final is at Bolton Cricket Club where Section K leaders Abitaire play Section J leaders Wallys Dollys for the Pike Shield.

Although all remaining league match should start no later than 6.45pm, the cup finals are all scheduled to start at 6.30pm to improve the chance of finishing in good light.

The Chadwick Cup final is at Bolton Cricket Club on Friday August 28, however, a printing error on page 108 of the handbook says 21st, but that is the date of the Dixon Shield final at Darcy Lever CC.

The quarter-finals of the handicap competitions were played on Sunday and the main talking point was the defeat of Rupert Ladies A by The New Inn. Although Rupert had a handicap of 200 runs and a batting time limit, that should not have been a problem considering their recent league performances. They had their eyes on a treble this season because Little Lever XI went out on the first round and they had a comfortable league win over Darcy, but it all went wrong on Sunday as they lost three batters without score and another couple for just two on the first innings.

Rupert’s fielding was up to their usual standard as they dismissed The New Inn for 25 and 20, but their below par batting let them down and they lost 245-184.

The only top Section A team left in the competition is Darcy Lever C&SC A who overcame a 180-run handicap to beat Applejax 302-237.

In last week's rounders report we said Bury completed a clean sweep of home wins in the inter-league series against Bolton. This was incorrect as Bolton seniors beat Bury seniors.