The BSF Ladies’ Rounders League competitive action was completed on Sunday with the Finestyle Windows and Doors handicap finals being played in less than ideal conditions at Bolton Cricket Club. The matches should have been at Darcy Lever Cricket Club, but the venue was changed when the Darcy Lever groundsman declared the pitch unavailable due to the recent persistent rain.

First up was the Dorothy Clarke final between Section H champions Horwich Town A and Northwest Hydraulics who topped Section J and had a 40-run handicap start which, in the event, turned out to be unnecessary.

Horwich had their fourth batter caught out first time round then another dismissed at first base. All but one batter survived the second round and the remaining batters scored till the fifth round when two were out at first base and one for obstruction.

Sam Leaf scored the only rounder and was top scorer with 12, along with Becky Blackenbye and last batter Lisa Rothwell who was denned for a total of ten and a team total of 64.

Northwest Hydraulics lost three batters on the first round and two more on the third, but settled as Georgia Lever was top scorer and last batter with 13 runs while Lucy Brown, with the only rounder of the innings, and Georgia Farrance both added eleven to take them to 60. The handicap start of 40 then pushed the total to 100.

Horwich Town’s second innings was similar to their first as they scored 63 to give them a match total of 127. Zoe Dudley opened with a two and followed up with three threes before being out at first base for 14. Lisa Rothwell finished on 12 after scoring three threes before being given out for obstruction, but they were 27 runs ahead.

Despite losing several batters for single figure scores, last batter Beth Heaton was top scorer scored 30, including a rounder and four threes while Georgia Lever included a rounder in her tally of 28. Megan Crilly stuck with the top scorers and finished with 18 and Emily Hilton scored two rounders in her 17 to push the second innings total to 121 and victory by 221 to 127.

The second game of the day saw Adlington XI A of Section C take on Darcy Lever C&SC A who finished third in Section A after a three-way play-off.  Adlington made a steady start, losing just two batters on the first round and scoring 10. Darcy then found their rhythm and dismissed five batters on the next couple of rounds, then had Kathrine Prescott out at first base after she recorded a one, a two and a three.

Down to just two batters, Charlotte Fairclough scored a rounder followed by a zero before being out at first base for ten and Candice Entwistle, who finished with two consecutive rounders, was denned as top scorer with 14 runs and with the handicap start of 120, the Adlington first innings score was 163.

Because of the handicap, Darcy had a mountain to climb and by the sixth round had lost six batters, but four batters stack in and five finished with double figure scores, led by Vickie Hill with 31, including two rounders. Nicola Mitchell-York scored a total of 28 and last batter Kerry Crompton was denned for 20 after a steady innings which included 12 singles. Elaine Lord also reached double figures with 13.

The only other rounder was scored by Ash Minion whose total was ten and the Darcy total was 138, 25 short of Adlington’s total.

With victory possible, Abbie Dooley and Emma Foster both scored rounders before being denned for 17 and 14 respectively as the innings total crept up to 67, giving Anderton a match total of 230, setting Darcy a target of 93 to win.

First innings successes Elaine Lord and Nicola Mitchell-York were immediately caught out without scoring and Andrea Lyon was dismissed at first base on the first round, then Sue Taylor was caught for two and Sarah Gradwell was caught for just one.

Rachel Foreshaw (18), Jen Chadwock (17) and Kerry Crompton (16) worked hard to increase the score, but in the end, Darcy were all out for 83, leaving Adlington XI A victors by 230-221 and winners of the Finestyle Windows and Doors Festival Trophy.