ROUNDERS: Rupert Ladies A maintained their top form in the Chadwick Cup when they defeated 24-7easyweb to retain the trophy for a third year.

Having beaten Darcy Lever C&SC A by an innings in their league encounter on Wednesday, the unbeaten Section A champions Rupert Ladies A went into their ninth consecutive final at Heaton Cricket Club on Friday full of confidence.

Section B champions 24-7 easyweb batted first and lost three batters first time round and three more on the next bat.

Goodram with 11 and last batter Gorton (10) put up some resistance, but with nine bad balls, their total was just 44.

Rupert made a cautious response although they lost a couple of batters in the first two rounds.

The remaining batters scored at least five times each and had four rounders in the total of 99 which included just four bad balls and one penalty.

Sensing victory, Rupert dismissed six opponents at the first attempt in the second innings and a further two on the next ball.

Keeley Smethurst was last batter, scoring 14 including two rounders, but her efforts were in vain as the scorebook shows a one, two sixes and nine bad balls contributing to their innings total of 36, leaving Rupert winners by 99(I)-80.

It was Rupert’s third consecutive Chadwick Cup victory, but they need to win twice more to equal the record of five held by Bromley Cross between 1993-97.

Elsewhere, it was the last week of the scheduled league season, with six of the 15 sections still to be finalised.

Fourteen play-off matches were scheduled and, remarkably, Sections C, M and N required three-way play-offs for the top-two places, while Section G saw three sides battling for the runners-up spot behind champions Bolton Castle A.

Because Coronado’s final Section E match against Tonge Moor Ladies was abandoned for bad light, the result of Tuesday’s re-match is crucial.

If Coronado fail to win that game, Future XI will be runners-up, but victory will mean that these two will have a play-off on Thursday.

Section I had the only straight forward play-off with Pineapple Chunks and Blackburn Shield winners Royal Bolton Hospital A playing for the top-two places.

The finals of the Sunday Handicap competitions complete the season at Darcy Lever on September 20.

Results and final tables in Wednesday's The Bolton News