BURY took the bragging rights at Elton Vale when the seniors won one of the most exciting interleague derbies in years, beating their Bolton counterparts by just six runs, despite trailing by 50 after the first innings.

Batting first, Bury made a poor start with two batters dismissed at first base and three reaching the base without scoring.

And things did not improve when three more batters were dismissed at first base second time round.

Bolton’s in-form fielders kept the scoring low and after three rounds only Wendy Kelly (Irvine), with a three, and Karen Trippier, with a rounder, had scored better than a two.

Down to two batters, Nick Bentley hit a rounder before being caught out off the next ball, but she finished Bury’s highest scorer with 12.

After surviving a no score, Trippier recorded three before being denned for 11 and the home side were all out for 45.

Bolton started confidently with Lisa Lattona hitting a rounder and Tammy Rowley, Toni Morton and Lisa Birch scoring three on the first round in which the only loss was Zoe Makin, dismissed at first base.

Keely Smethurst was out at first base on the second round, but Lattona and Rowley scored three and six, respectively, to compensate.

With Bolton proving hard to dismiss, Melanie Howarth and Rachael Crilly scored a rounder each as Bolton moved on to a first-innings total of 95 and a lead of 50.

Eventually caught out for 18, Howarth was Bolton’s top scorer with 18. Rachael Price was denned for 16, Rowley scored 15, Crilly 13 and Lattona 12.

With a mountain to climb, Bury did not start well as Kath Bond failed to score off the first ball, but Jo Heaton, Carole Beswick, Louise Williams and Emma Howard all scored three to signal their determination to turn the match around.

Debbie Pierce with five singles, a couple of twos and a rounder top scored with 15.

Howard with three threes and a couple of singles was next to last batter, out at first base for 13 and Kelly was caught out for 11 after scoring a rounder from her previous round.

Scoring 77 for a total of 122, Bury were still in the match, although their lead was a slender 28. But they managed to turn the match around with some sensational bowling and sharp fielding.

One Bolton batter was caught out off her first ball, Howarth scored three and the other nine, just one each.

Three consecutive batters were dismissed without further scores.

With just four batters left at the start of the third round, Bolton had Price hit out and Rowley caught out, leaving Keely Smethurst, who scored three and Lisa Birch one, but they were both denned for a team total of 21 for a total of 116.

The final interleague fixture is the Golden Girls (Over-60s) match at Elton Vale Sports Club on Sunday, starting at 11am.