PREMIER/DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 12
Published 15/12/2017 at 15:11:09 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIV SASAKI STILL SUPREME
Champions Greenleys Monarchs will need to make some new signings in the January window if they are to hold on to their title. Never out of the top 2 for over a decade Monarchs sit a forlorn 5th in the table 29 points behind leaders MK Sasaki, who thrashed their 2-man team 9-1. Only the doubles eluded Sasaki, and that was deuce in the 5th, as Dan Smalley, Dakshin Subramanian and Kelvin Choong went through the night unbeaten. Monarchs need some big name players, and fast, to rescue their season now.
Greenleys Kings regulars Nick Howard and Guy Sparrow were joined by their 8th fill-in ‘casual’ player this week in Div.2’s Dan Englander, who did the team proud against 2nd place MK Spinners with a sensational win over Gary Jones. But it wasn’t enough to avoid another defeat for the bottom team by 6-4. Usual hat-trick for Alan Cherry and a consolation brace for Nick.
Another Matt Evans straight games maximum may have steered MK Bandits to a 6-4 win over mid table rivals MK Kingpins, but it was a Jamie Hendy hat-trick that most caught the eye. The 16 year old continues to improve and impressive with every trip to the table and this week triumphed over the handy Kingpins trio of Julian Adams, Mark Purcell and Dave Allison. These 2 young Bandits have proved to be the signings of the season as their team sit in a healthy 3rd place and are looking upwards to glory.
Player of the week is Jamie Hendy.
DIVISION 1
Top of the table Warriors extended their lead to 15 points by winning the Greenleys derby 8-2 against club-mates Eagles. Both sides fielding lower division reserves with Eagles Barry Bishop preventing a singles blackwash by overcoming Div.2’s Jordi Amat Foraster 11-8 in the decider. Maximum for Ollie Horswell and Ricky Taiwo.
MK Phoenix move into 2nd place after a routine 9-1 thrashing of bottom side Chackmore Hasbeens. But the match at least provided a late drama. All was going well for Phoenix until the final set, and with Gerald Ridgway and Terry Lau having already secured their hat-tricks, it seemed a mere formality for star-man Alan Bolding, himself an 18 set winning streak, to join them for a whitewash. But Hasbeen’s Bub Burman had other ideas and, against all odds, triumphed over 4 games.
St.Christopher Van Hire fielded their strongest team since the opening day of the season and were duly rewarded with an 8-2 win over MK Topspin, who they leapfrog in what is emerging as an intriguing race for the runners-up spot with 2 points currently covering 4 teams. Hat-tricks here for Fabrice Spelta and Biao Wang, who duly revenged one of his two defeats this season when he beat Mervyn Kelly over 4 games.
Usual hat-tricks for Julie Snowdon and Andy Smith as MK Pumas join that ‘gang of 4’. Pumas beat OU Primes 8-2 with only the doubles lost and Patrick Wong beating Keith Carrington in straight games.
MK Powers enjoyed back-to-back wins after fielding an unchanged team for the first time this season. They beat Woburn Sands Data 7-3 with JiIten Pitamber posting his first maximum since February 2016, back in the day when he was a Topspin colleague of mine. A brace a-piece here for his brother Minesh, skipper Pete Tillotson and Data’s James Molloy.
Player of the week is Jiten Pitamber.