SUMMER LEAGUE MONDAY NIGHT WEEK 10 ROUND-UP
Published 24/07/2018 at 11:05:48 by David Wackrill.
DIV 1Results: HowSmall 3 Spinners 2, Ijebu Warriors 3 Topspin 2, Stormers 3 Phoenix 2
Table: 1st HowSmall (35 pts), 2nd Spinners (32), 3rd Ijebu Warriors (32), 4th Topspin (21), 5th Stormers (17) 6th Phoenix (13)
As with any good fixture list the main matches come at the end of the cycle to provide a climax and we closed out the 2nd round of matches tonight with big clashes at both ends of the table. And fittingly too every match finishing 3-2.
Champions Howsmall extended their lead to 3 points over Spinners. Usual brace for Alan Cherry and a blank for Spinners regular Pete Tillotson on his return from holiday. So the match was decided by the doubles, which went to the still unbeaten Nick Howard/Guy Sparrow combo. This match brought up Pete’s own century of Summer League defeats (won 38) since joining Spinners’ Sumer side in 2013.
Meanwhile down at the bottom my Stormers side found themselves in a deciding relegation battle for the second time in 5 weeks after Phoenix pair Ioan Constantin and Gerald Ridgway had given themselves a lifeline by beating HowSmall’s Guy Sparrow last week. In a marathon 4 hour match with barely a ball hit in anger Stormers pulled through with a brace from Andy Smith and a doubles win with me after I had lost my own singles. The last 3 sets all went to a decider so Phoenix may consider themselves a trifle unlucky. It’s sad to see Phoenix relegated after such a valiant 5 match spell over this cycle.
Topspin mainstays Russell Penn and Mervyn Kelly were also returning from holidays and went down to Warriors for whom Jordi Amat Foraster continues to impress, notching up yet another brace for himself. Russell was in fine form himself though with another win over actio man Ricky Taiwo and the doubles with Mervyn. Russell was the only player to beat Ricky twice last winter and continues to be his nemesis.
Player of the week is Russell Penn.
Top 6 averages (5 matches to qualify)
Alan Cherry 95%, Nick Howard 75%, Jordi Amat Foraster 75%, Guy Sparrow 65%, Ricky Taiwo 60%, Ioan Constantin 60%
DIV 2 (courtesy of Mike Ainsworth)
Hit n Hope 5 Classics 0
Blades 0 Towcester 5
Swifts 0 Sweet and Sour 5
High Fives All Round!
At the end of the second round of matches the Towcester team of Iain Lindsay and Ian Brown head the second division of the Milton Keynes Summer league and are deservedly promoted to the first division for the final phase of the league.
Playing against the bottom team Blades Towcester were hardly extended in a 5-0 win with none of the sets going beyond five games. Bill Tyler and Brian Evans represented the Blades team.
On the next table the Sweet and Sour team of Julie Snowdon and Terry Lau kept the margin between them and Towcester to just two points with a 5-0 win against the Swifts team of Sue Lewis and Mo Duncan with just the match between Sue and Terry needing a decider. In fact Terry trailed by 3-1 at one stage, only to win the fifth game at deuce after Sue held matchpoint to go on and win the next two games to snatch victory.
The final match of the night was between the two teams heading the “division within the division” and again the result was 5-0, this time to Hit n Hope against Classics. But if the other two matches were comfortable affairs this match was far closer than the score suggests and Masoud Nassor in particular was unlucky to lose against both Ivor Howard and Marco Hahn in the 7th game whilst the doubles was 4-2 to Hit n Hope. Nick Markham was the other player for Classics and as a result of this score Hit n Hope leapfrog Classics to take over third place again.
Player of the evening: Ivor Howard
Week 10 Table
Towcester 42
Sweet and Sour 40
Hit 'n Hope 22
Classics 19
Swifts 14
Blades 13
Top Averages (minimum five matches)
Iain Lindsay 100%
Gerald Ridgway 90%
Ian Brown 89%
Ivor Howard 83%
Nick Markham 67%
Sue Lewis 50%
Terry Lau 50%