PREMIER/DIV.1 ROUND-UP WEEK 2

Published 07/10/2017 at 15:45:12 by David Wackrill.

PREMIER
MK Sasaki continue to defy the odds as they ‘took out’ Greenleys Monarchs this week to complete an instant and impressive double over the ‘big 2’. Ex-Monarch Dan Smalley and Dakshin Subramanian again scored 2 each and combined in the doubles for the backbone of their success, although Kelvin Choong’s victory over Bedford County player Tom Nowakowski proved crucial. A hat-trick for Monarch’s top man Ian Johnson but just a single win from Nigel Metcalfe in support.
 
After their shock first week defeat to MK Sasaki, normal service was restored for multiple champions MK Spinners with an 8-2 victory over Greenleys Kings. Spinners join Sasaki at the top while Kings prop up the table. Tim Cheek returned to form with a treble to match one from Alan Cherry.  Consolation wins for Kings’ Nick Howard and Guy Sparrow, over Gary Jones, but a blank for Matt Haverly.
 
Former League Singles champion Julian Adams didn’t have maters all his own way on his long awaited return, after a year’s absence, in MK Kingpins 7-3 victory over MK Bandits. He squandered a 6-1 opening game lead against Michael Wilkins before winning in 4 games, but found James Tapp too strong on his next venture to the table, going down in straight games. However, Julian recovered his aplomb in time to beat Dave Buckley in his last set. Mark Purcell also grabbed a couple, losing out to Michael, but Dave Alison surpassed them both by taking a maximum in his usual languid style without dropping a game.
 
Player of the week is Tim Cheek.


DIVISION 1
Woburn Sands Data’s James Molloy got his season off the ground by beating Greenleys Warriors’ Ollie Horswell and Ricky Taiwo in straight games after an opening defeat to Olan Gabriel, which went to a decider, followed by a winning share in the doubles. So emphatic was James victory over the usually durable Ricky that the Greenleys man only took 7 points in total over the 3 games. But that was the extent of Data’s success as Warriors move up to 2nd place with their 7-3 win.
 
MK Topspin still lead the table after a 7-3 victory themselves over MK Pumas. I got a treble and the only resistance put up by an otherwise toothless Pumas came courtesy of Julie Snowdon, who took a brace over Russell Penn and Mervyn Kelly, plus the doubles with Chris Belton. It does seem a rare curiosity that, despite winning both opening matches by wide margins, Warriors and Topspin have still to win a doubles set between them so far.
 
Greenleys Eagles drop down to 3rd after sharing the points with MK Phoenix. Ace defenders Gerald Ridgway and Alan Bolding ‘put up the shutters’ to earn the draw for the visitors. Eagles gave a debut to Iain Lindsay, his first MK outing for nearly 2 years but his only return was a deuce in the 5th win over Terry Lau. Barry Bishop was ‘man of the match’ with a fine hat-trick.
 
St.Christopher Van Hire repeated last week’s score-line when beating MK Powers 6-4. This time round Powers gave a MK League debut to their other Summer signing Mark Moore, alongside Sarah Hudson and new girl Clare Stiles. Mark drew a blank though while the ladies took 2 wins a-piece and narrowly lost the doubles 11-9 in the 5th. Biao Wang was unbeaten for Van Hire with Jez Wilcox and David Broome providing one win each.
 
The two promoted teams met with OU Primes taking full advantage with what is likely to be their only win this side of Christmas, beating Chackmore Hasbeens 7-3. Primes players Patrick Wong, Xiangyu Gau & Martin Lok contributed evenly with 2 wins each. Sam Willet, missing last week, got a brace in return for Hasbeens.
 
Player of the week is Barry Bishop.