Greenleys Kings 6-4 Milton Keynes Bandits
Wednesday 7 February 2018
| Game | Result | Score | Match score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guy Sparrow beat Michael Wilkins (3-1) | 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10 | 1-0 |
| 2 | Nick Howard beat Andy Smith (3-0) | 13-11, 11-9, 11-5 | 2-0 |
| 3 | Jordan Moss lost to James Tapp (1-3) | 4-11, 7-11, 11-4, 0-11 | 2-1 |
| 4 | Nick Howard and Guy Sparrow beat James Tapp and Michael Wilkins (3-2) | 14-12, 11-4, 7-11, 5-11, 13-11 | 3-1 |
| 5 | Nick Howard beat Michael Wilkins (3-1) | 13-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9 | 4-1 |
| 6 | Guy Sparrow beat James Tapp (3-0) | 11-8, 11-9, 11-5 | 5-1 |
| 7 | Jordan Moss lost to Andy Smith (0-3) | 5-11, 4-11, 4-11 | 5-2 |
| 8 | Nick Howard lost to James Tapp (0-3) | 9-11, 9-11, 11-13 | 5-3 |
| 9 | Jordan Moss lost to Michael Wilkins (1-3) | 14-16, 2-11, 12-10, 7-11 | 5-4 |
| 10 | Guy Sparrow beat Andy Smith (3-2) | 11-5, 10-12, 11-3, 8-11, 11-5 | 6-4 |
| Team | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenleys Titans | 20 | 52.63 | 356 | 49.93 |
| Milton Keynes Bandits | 18 | 47.37 | 357 | 50.07 |
| Team | Player | Games played | Games won | Legs played | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points played | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenleys Kings | Guy Sparrow | 3 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 75.00 | 223 | 128 | 57.40 |
| Greenleys Kings | Nick Howard | 3 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 60.00 | 203 | 108 | 53.20 |
| Greenleys Kings | Jordan Wood | 3 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 18.18 | 188 | 70 | 37.23 |
| Milton Keynes Bandits | Michael Wilkins | 3 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 41.67 | 243 | 120 | 49.38 |
| Milton Keynes Bandits | Andy Smith | 3 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 45.45 | 193 | 94 | 48.70 |
| Milton Keynes Bandits | James Tapp | 3 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 60.00 | 178 | 94 | 52.81 |
Andy Smith played on loan from Milton Keynes Pumas in Division One.
| Match date | Wednesday, 7 February 2018 at 19:30 |
|---|---|
| Competition | League |
| Division | Premier Division |
| Venue | Greenleys Junior School |
| Season | 2017-2018 |
| Legs played | 38 |
| Points played | 713 |
Published 26/04/2024 15:05 by David Wackrill.
Nick Howard writes ...
Eye of the Sparrow secures first win for Kings!
We might be in the 6th month of the season, but the Greenleys Kings have finally…… FINALLY won a match!
Greenleys fielded the recent “usual” trio of Nick Howard, Guy Sparrow and Jordan Wood. The Bandits favoured “experience” over youth, as they unceremoniously dropped Matt Evans and Jamie Hendy from their match day squad in order to “park the bus” in the form of Andy Smith, to coin a football phrase. Joining the defensive maestro were Mike Wilkins and James Tapp who happened to be passing through the UK for a change……
The Kings were in rampant mood early doors, with Guy taking down Mike in 4, before Nick fired up the crane to lift some of Andy’s chops! After Andy silenced the crowd (all 2 people) by taking the first set, Nick dug deep to win the next 3.
Jordan and James were up next, and despite Jordan dominating set 3 after going 2-0 down, James switched it up a gear and took the 4th 11-0!
The doubles was a classic tussle - Guy and Nick went 2-0 up against James and Mike, before Mike “accidentally” switched the ball to a 2 star practice ball. The Bandits duo went on to take the next 2 sets before coming clean about their sheer deceit….. (if you haven’t sensed the tone yet…. it was quite clearly an accident :) ). That set up a juicy 5th set, which Guy and Nick took 13-11 to make the score 3-1 Kings.
Nick and Mike played out the next singles match, which wasn’t exactly a classic - Nick used all of his 35ft wingspan to fish from the back of the table, and Mike made some uncharacteristic mistakes to give Nick the win in 4.
Guy faced James next, and the former was in no mood to hang around. Guy raced through the match 3-0.
Jordan against Andy was a similarly one sided match, with Andy chopping the ball in half to secure a comfortable 3-0 win - His bat has been submitted to the ETTA for analysis……
With the score at 5-2 to Kings, Nick and James ventured onto the table for their last match of the year. Having never lost to James, Nick was comfortable in the first set taking an 8-3 lead, before succumbing to James’s relentless attacking prowess and losing 11-9. The second set was more one sided than anyone imagined with James taking a 9-1 lead! Nick turned it up a gear to bring it back to 9-9, before losing the next 2 (typical…). The 3rd set gave James an edge throughout, and he had 2 match points at 10-8 up, only for Nick to reel off a couple of good loops to bring it back to 10-10. That was where the resistance ended, and James took the match 13-11.
5-3 Kings…… Surely they couldn’t blow it from here?
Jordan and Mike were next up, and a very close first set went Mike’s way 16-14. Jordan, still seething lost the second comfortably, before regaining composure to take the 3rd. Mike showed a bit too much in the 4th, and ran out a 3-1 winner.
5-4 Kings…… Oh…..dear……God.
Step up Guy Sparrow and Andy “Chopper” Smith. A match that was destined to go down in history one way or the other.
Guy was off to a flyer and took the first set 11-5, before Andy chopped his way back into it winning the second 12-10. Guy replied with another dominant set taking the 3rd 11-3, and putting the Kings within 1 set of a first win of the season. However, Guy had a flair for the dramatic, and wanted to play out a five setter - Andy taking the 4th 11-8.
The 5th was a more one sided affair….. With Guy taking it 11-5 and giving The Kings one to savour!