SUNDAY saw the last competition day of the season with the Finestyle Windows and Doors handicap knockout cup finals at Darcy Lever Cricket Club.

In the last game of the season, Darcy Lever C&SC A, runners-up in A Section and on home soil, beat Section A champions, Rupert Ladies 163-120 to win the Festival Trophy for teams in the top half of the league.

Darcy Lever batted first and lost a batter in the first round of batting.

The rest of the team batted steadily with ones and twos until the 10th and 11th batters, Andrea Lyon and Kerry Crompton, each scored a rounder – the only two of the innings.

Double figures were scored by Jenny Chadwick and Emma Holt, each with 10, Crompton with 12 and top scorers Lucy Chadwick and Sarah Gradwell with 15 each.

An innings score of 89 was the target set for Rupert to chase.

All but one of the Rupert players survived the first round of batting and two more were lost at first base in the second.

The Rupert batters were all out for 53 with only Alison Saunders scoring into double figures with 11 before being put out at den.

Taking a 36-point lead into the second half, the Darcy opener succumbed at first base without score and at the end of the first round, they were down to nine players.

Once again, Lyon started off with a rounder but this time went on to top score with 17.

High scorers from the first innings were the side’s only other two high scorers, Gradwell with 11 and Chadwick with 16 to give an innings total of 74 and a match total of 163.

A score of 112 was the target set for Rupert but Darcy and Rupert had played each other often enough over the years to know that it was not an insurmountable task.

Two players lost in the first round did not help and, once again, the bowling attack of Darcy reduced the Rupert team steadily until Mel Howarth was out at den for 12 as again only one Rupert player got a double-figure score.

A match total of 120 by Rupert fell short of the target and gave Darcy victory.

They picked up the trophy sponsored by Stan and Jackie Walker of Finestyle Windows and Doors, both of whom have a long-standing relationship with the Darcy Lever club – Stan as a former cricketer there and Jackie a founder member of the Darcy Lever rounders team.

So, another season gone. Keep an eye on the website for news of events leading up to the 2019 season.

The early game saw Sacred beat St Teresa's 213-106 to win the Dorothy Clarke Cup for teams in the lower half of the league.

St Teresa’s, the runners-up in Section J, were given a start of 40 points in the handicap system against the champions of Section H.

Batting first, the higher-placed Sacred XI team all survived the first three rounds of batting with a very steady display of safe ones-and-in rather than whack it and out.

Five of the Sacred players got into double figures – Tracy Ledwidge was caught out for 10, and Mel Whitelegg was caught with the innings’ only two rounders and an innings total of 16.

There was then a fairly unusual occurrence as the final three batters were all put out at den, Naomi Hough for 10, Laura John for 13 and Libby Horrocks with 18 to close the innings on 102.

St Teresa’s took up their bats but soon lost three players without scoring, and excellent bowling team ensured the St Teresa's players were limited to scores of ones, twos and threes.

Ashleigh Gorman scored the innings’ only rounder on her way to being the only player to hit double figures with 11 points.

Including their 40 points start, they managed a respectable 77 points.

In the second innings, Sacred lost a couple of batters in the first round without scoring but six batters managed to get into double figures.

Leah Fraser and Hough scored 12 each, Paula Bolton hit 13, Ledwidge and Nicole Wilson managed 15 each and Whitelegg top scored with 21 for an innings total of 111 and a match total of 213.

This gave St Teresa’s a target of 137 to win the game, which was a big ask, especially as the 40 start is only applied once.

St Teresa’s lost a batter without scoring and this time nobody managed double figures before the final batter was put out at den for six on only the third round of batting. They managed to add a further 29 for a match total of 106.