SUMMER LEAGUE MONDAY NIGHT WEEK 6 ROUND-UP
Published 27/06/2018 at 09:54:35 by David Wackrill.
DIV 1Results: HowSmall 4 Ijebu Warriors 1, Spinners 4 Phoenix 1, Stormers 5 Topspin 0
Table: 1st HowSmall (21 pts), 2nd Spinners (20), 3rd Ijebu Warriors (19), 4th Stormers (13), 5th Topspin (12), 6th Phoenix (5)
Top of the table clashes have become a weekly occurrence this Summer as the League leadership continues to change hands on a regular basis. Tonight was no exception with table toppers Ijebu Warriors taking on HowSmall at the beginning of the second round of matches. When the teams met before Warriors’ dashing young gun Jordi Amat Foraster pulled off the biggest win of his burgeoning MK career, catching top Premier player Nick Howard on an off day. But the wily HowSmall skipper was ready for him this time round to reverse that result. Not to be outdone Jordi bounced back in style with a brilliant 7 game win over Guy Sparrow instead, albeit in a 4-1 defea for Warriors. Ricky Taiwo completed the Warriors line up with his usual gritty performance.
Only 3 weeks back Topspin were leading the pack themselves, just as tonight’s opponents Stormers were hitting rock bottom. But times are a changing for these teams and, following tonight’s 5-0 thrashing of Topspin, Stormers now move ahead of them in the table. Andy Smith and myself turned out for Stormers again with Russell Penn and Mervyn Kelly for Topspin.
Welcome to promoted Phoenix pair Gerald Ridgway and Constantin Ioan for this round of matches. Phoenix inheriting the 4 points earned by the previous incumbents, relegated Sweet N Sour. Constantin was unbeaten in his Div 2 adventures but the Bedford man won’t find wins so easy to come by in this cycle. Nevertheless he started with a good one over Pete Tillotson in a 4-1 defeat to Spinners. Alan Cherry was untroubled for Spinners, who return to 2nd spot behind HowSmall.
Player of the week is Jordi Amat Foraster.
DIV 2 (courtesy of Mike Ainsworth)
Blades 2 Swifts 3
Sweet and Sour 4 Hit n Hope 1
Towcester 5 Classics 0
In their last fixture in the top tier and without Julie Snowdon, Sweet and Sour called on Geoff Turner from Division 4 and with Julie still playing the tables in Vegas (in the World Vets Championships) I optimistically asked Dave Wackrill whether three different teams had ever been promoted in the summer league. It turns out they had in 2016* but if I was expecting an easy win for Hit n Hope against newly relegated Sweet n Sour my hopes were dashed when I saw that Kelvin Choong had been drafted in for the evening to play the “Sweet” to Terry Lau’s “Sour”. As a result Ivor Howard and Tony Coomber had an early night with just a single win for Ivor against Terry for Hit n Hope in a 1-4 defeat.
Sweet and Sour therefore stay top of the table while Towcester, with Sarah Hudson stepping in for Iain Lindsay, were only able to close the gap by one point following their 5-0 win against Swifts. A pair here also for Ian Brown. Masood Nassor made a welcome return for Swifts alongside Barbara Peters.
In the final and match Sue Lewis was the star for Swifts with two wins against a Blades team of Bill Tyler and Brian Evans. Brian and Bill both recorded wins again Mo Duncan but Swifts won the doubles and the match with a score of 3-2.
Player of the evening: Sue Lewis.
Week 6 Table
Sweet and Sour 28
Towcester 23
Classics 12
Hit 'N Hope 11
Swifts 10
Blades 6
* 3 sides reached Div 1 in 2016. That has been the only year. We started with Rovers (James Tapp/Mervyn Kelly), 2nd cycle was Sweet N Sour and 3rd cycle was Hornets (Andy Smith/Chris Belton). (Thanks to Dave Wackrill for the information)