THE NatWest Tournament heralded the start of the rounders season in St Helens.
And it brought a new rule whereby batters reaching second or third post from their hit, score a half a rounder.
This in itself has changed the emphasis from preventing full rounders being scored to more tactical fielding.
As a result, scores are higher than in previous seasons, with scoring more evenly distributed.
The NatWest Cup saw Windle City defeat United Gladiators by 2-1, with rounders coming from Denise Cotham of Windle and Diane Thomas of UG. Becky Wharton's catching for Windle proved invaluable.
In the Show Cup, the first group match saw Bobbies Lane defeat UG 7-5 with rounders form Bobbies Lane's Sandra Smith and three from UG's Diane Thomas.
League results: Pilkington Vikings 15 Burtonwood 16, Haresfinch 5 Grasshoppers 6, Bobbies Lane 12 Spartans 13, Vikings 14 United Gladiators 8, Burtonwood 3 Windle 13, Spartans 7 Rainhill 6, Grasshoppers 6 Vikings 20, UG 10 Burtonwood 9, Haydock 20 Rainhill 9.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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