AS the halfway point approaches in the BSF Rounders League, it is all to play for with just five teams boasting perfect winning records.

Rupert Ladies, Moss Bank Ladies, Bishops Ladies, NW Hydraulics and Anderton are all certainly in a strong position going forward to the turnaround.

Darcy Lever Cricket Club were hosts for the latest inter-league match between the seniors, and despite the steady rain throughout the afternoon, the ground was good for playing.

Bolton started the batting and Bury immediately dismissed four batters for no score, quickly followed by five more for just 11 points between them.

A slippery run between first and second base saw a couple of quite spectacular falls with, luckily, no real damage either to the players or to the pitch.

Some excellent bowling, backstop and first-base play eventually saw Bolton being held to just 36 points with captain Kerry Anderton top scorer on seven.

Bury went in to bat with confidence and thanks to Nick Bentley scoring the only rounder of the innings, combined with an equal top score of 12 from C O’Riley, Bury’s first innings totalled 58.

Clearly Bolton had a great deal of work to do to close that gap before even getting ahead of Bury but they went back on with determination.

After two bats each, only two Bolton players were out and they had scored 35, ensuring the game was going to be hard-fought.

Although Bolton failed to gain any rounders, steady batting, particularly from Rachel Crilly (14) and Rachel Forshaw (12), meant they finished the second innings with a score of 88, taking their match total to 124 and giving Bury something to aim for.

Straight away, some excellent bowling saw five batters dismissed for zero, closely followed by three more leaving Bury with a score of just 32 and four batters remaining.

Bowler Amy Griffiths was able to ensure no Bury player scored double figures, and combined with a skilled backstopping/first-base combination, seven players were out at first, giving Bury an innings total of 51, and a match total of 109 – extending Bolton's lead in the series to 3-1.

The final inter-league game between the golden girls takes place on Friday at Bolton Cricket Club.