Greenleys Kings 6-4 Milton Keynes Kingpins
Wednesday 21 March 2018
| Game | Result | Score | Match score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guy Sparrow beat Mark Purcell (3-2) | 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6 | 1-0 |
| 2 | Nick Howard lost to Dave Allison (1-3) | 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 6-11 | 1-1 |
| 3 | Ian Brown lost to Julian Adams (1-3) | 10-12, 13-11, 5-11, 7-11 | 1-2 |
| 4 | Nick Howard and Guy Sparrow beat Dave Allison and Mark Purcell (3-1) | 3-11, 16-14, 12-10, 11-9 | 2-2 |
| 5 | Nick Howard beat Mark Purcell (3-1) | 4-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 | 3-2 |
| 6 | Guy Sparrow beat Julian Adams (3-1) | 11-9, 11-8, 3-11, 12-10 | 4-2 |
| 7 | Ian Brown lost to Dave Allison (1-3) | 3-11, 6-11, 11-9, 5-11 | 4-3 |
| 8 | Nick Howard beat Julian Adams (3-1) | 11-6, 14-16, 11-2, 11-3 | 5-3 |
| 9 | Ian Brown lost to Mark Purcell (2-3) | 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 4-11 | 5-4 |
| 10 | Guy Sparrow beat Dave Allison (3-1) | 7-11, 13-11, 15-13, 11-9 | 6-4 |
| Team | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenleys Titans | 23 | 54.76 | 395 | 49.56 |
| Milton Keynes Kingpins | 19 | 45.24 | 402 | 50.44 |
| Team | Player | Games played | Games won | Legs played | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points played | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenleys Kings | Guy Sparrow | 3 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 69.23 | 255 | 134 | 52.55 |
| Greenleys Kings | Nick Howard | 3 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 58.33 | 219 | 119 | 54.34 |
| Greenleys Kings | Ian Brown | 3 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 30.77 | 237 | 100 | 42.19 |
| Milton Keynes Kingpins | Mark Purcell | 3 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 42.86 | 247 | 119 | 48.18 |
| Milton Keynes Kingpins | Dave Allison | 3 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 58.33 | 235 | 129 | 54.89 |
| Milton Keynes Kingpins | Julian Adams | 3 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 41.67 | 229 | 110 | 48.03 |
| Match date | Wednesday, 21 March 2018 at 19:30 |
|---|---|
| Competition | League |
| Division | Premier Division |
| Venue | Greenleys Junior School |
| Season | 2017-2018 |
| Legs played | 42 |
| Points played | 797 |
Published 26/04/2024 00:08 by David Wackrill.
Nick Howard writes ...
Sparrow completes the feat, whilst Kings break records.
In the match that everyone was talking about this week…….. Kingpins faced the in form team of Greenleys Kings.
Kingpins had an outside chance of winning the league, but that opportunity was smashed as Sparrow beat Mark in the opening match.
Guy had the opportunity to become the second player this year to win an entire “round” of matches (behind Alan Cherry) - My guess is you would have got odds of somewhere in the region of……. say…….. 10 million to 1 after the first 3 rounds of matches. By his own admission, Guy hadn’t had the best season, and his average was in the 30’s heading into round 4.
To add to Guy’s personal achievement, the Kings had the opportunity to win their 5th match in a row, and complete the sweep of all teams in the league - My quick search has concluded that no other team has competed the clean sweep (in a row) this year. Considering the Kings first 15 matches yielded 53 points across 4 draws and 11 losses……This would be quite the turn around!
As if that wasn’t enough incentive….. The Kings only had to match their stable mates Monarchs, to finish ahead of them this year - Something I’m told, has never happened.
Dave and Nick were second on, and whilst I’d love to talk about the quality of this match….. I just can’t quite find the right words. Dave took the first 2, and whilst he had a momentary lapse in the 3rd, went on to take the 4th, and bring the match level.
Julian and Ian Brown faced off after that, and Julian’s quality shone through for a comfortable win against an out of practice Ian.
The doubles was the turning point in this match.
Dave and Mark took a commanding 2-0 lead, before letting the 3rd slip away. The 4th was another close affair, with the home team edging it. Nick and Guy carried the momentum into the 5th, and walked away with a valuable 11-9 victory.
Nick and Mark produced another feast for the eyes after that - Assuming miss hits and errors are your kind of thing……
Nick made less of them, and won 3-1.
Julian and Guy were next up, and the untouchable Guy won his 15th match in a row to bring the score to 4-2 Kings.
Ian faced an in form Dave next, and the latter played consistent throughout - Although Ian had his chances to take it to 5, he ultimately lost 3-1.
Nick and Julian were on after - The first time these 2 had ever met.
Nick won the first, and had a relatively simple smash to take the 2nd, before spooning it 20 foot long - Pretty reminiscent of his entire night!
After Julian had sneaked that set, Nick won the 3rd and 4th comfortably to give Kings a 5-3 advantage.
Ian gave Mark an almighty scare in the penultimate game of the evening - Leading 2-1, he had chances to close it out. But Mark isn’t a consistent top 8 player for nothing, and he found a few shots when it mattered to take the 4th, and then run away in the 5th.
This left the 2 unbeaten men on the night - Guy and Dave.
Dave won the first, whilst Guy was dreaming of the sponsorship deals.
Once Guy had plumped on going with Butterfly, he woke up, and fought brilliantly to take the next 3 sets and claim his 16th win in a row, and a 6-4 victory.
The Kings came to the party late, but they have swept all comers aside in the final round, and are feeling good heading into the summer break.
Great season by all, and congratulations to MK Spinners on what sounded like an exciting night in Kingston.