LORD Raglan A lived up to their rating as pre-match favourites when they beat Sweet Green’s Dream Team in the Blackburn Shield final.

But the Raglan girls went perilously close to becoming victims of the curse of Friday the 13th when the Dream Team lived up to their name in a dramatic finale.

Sweet Green batted first and Lord Raglan fielded well to restrict them to a respectable score of 67, with two batters – Angela Kay and Gina Jones – top scoring with 16. M Cox and Wendy Hornby scored an impressive 24 and 21 respectively for Lord Raglan, taking their innings total to 99.

Lord Raglan managed to field even better in the second innings to hold Sweet Green to 43 for a match total of 115, leaving them a target of just 17 for victory.

What followed was a display of magnificent teamwork from Sweet Green. After the first bat, only five players were left in the line needing to score just seven. But, to the amazement of the crowd, batter after batter fell by the wayside. Despite their best efforts, however, Sweet Green could not quite do enough to secure the win with Lord Raglan hitting 20 to win 119-115.

In the races for league honours, the Section A title is now a two-way battle between Darcy Lever C&SC A and Rupert A after Little Lever XI dropped out of contention.

Five section titles are already decided but in most sections the last two weeks of the season look like being crucial, which should guarantee some closelyfought encounters.