PREMIER/DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 3
Published 13/10/2018 at 17:15:36 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER
CHRISTINE TO THE RESCUE
A first ever Premier win for newcomers Greenleys Warriors who overcame former champions MK Kingpins. Kingpins had called up Russell Penn, their regular ‘go to guy’ when they need a reserve, but he was no match for Warriors own stand-in Christine Scaysbrook, who won their crucial 9th set meeting in straight games with the sides level. This left man of the match Ollie Horswell to wrap up the win, and his own hat-trick, with a victory over Mark Purcell, who had earlier lost to Ricky Taiwo. A brace here for Kingpins’ ever consistent Dave Allison.
A hard fought match between Greenleys Monarchs, bottom last year, and champions MK Spinners saw Monarchs triumphing 6-4 after racing into a 5-0 lead, helped along the way by deuce in the 5th epics between the much improved Martin Hall and Tim Cheek and the doubles set. Gary Jones stopped the rot by beating Martin in 4 tight games but Monarchs’ Ian Johnson was in top form for his hat-trick with only Tim pushing him to 5 legs. After losing in straight games to Ian, Alan Cherry came storming back with wins against Martin and Monarchs' latest star signing Dave Tiplady. Dave was too strong for Gary, but lost deuce in the 5th to Tim to round off a tough night’s table tennis.
Michael Wilkins’ absence from the MK Sasaki line-up for the first time this season sparked rumours, hotly denied by the Sasaki camp, that he was still dining out on last week’s sensational win over Alan Cherry. It was, however, left to the young guns Matt Haynes (3 wins), Jamie Hendy (2) and James George (1) to bring an end to Greenleys Kings impressive 6 match winning streak. Kings went down fighting though in the 7-3 defeat with skipper Nick Howard notching up a good brace and Guy Sparrow one. But a blank for Jordan Wood and a rare doubles defeat, 11-9 in the 5th, for the Howard/Sparrow combo.
Player of the week is Ollie Horswell.
DIVISION 1
DIVISION 1
BIAO IN SHOCK DEFEAT
MK Phoenix were understrength for the top of the table clash with leaders Topspin and reliant on regulars Terry Lau and Iaon Constantin, who didn’t let them down, earning 4 points between them. Both players inflicted the first defeats of the season on Mervyn Kelly after he had extended his unbeaten run to 7 with a win over Div.2 reserve Ivor Howard. I hit a maximum for Topspin with a brace from Russell Penn, slowly returning to form, and Mervyn’s single success proving vital in our 6-4 victory.
The Division’s top player, Biao Wang, started his season off with a surprise defeat to Woburn Sands Data’s big hitting James Molloy in St.Christopher Van Hire’s 8-2 win. Remarkably this was Data’s only singles success on the night as Paul Haigh and Fabrice Spelta took hat-tricks, although James also won the doubles with Rob McPheat. A blank here for their Div.2 stand-in Andy Jenkins.
The Greenleys derby finished all square with the 2-man Eagles side of Geoff Callaway and Barry Bishop holding Glory to a draw. Neither were a match for Ian Brown but took the other sets on offer between them. Scott Dixon and Christine Scaysbrook made up the Glory side.
MK Powers were 8-2 winners over Newport Pagnell Vantage with a brace each by Iain Willcocks and Clare Styles backing a Sarah Hudson hat-trick, a year to the week since her last one. Vantage’s hero was old hand Tony Ardis with a decent brace himself, both taken over 5 games. His win against Iain was particularly impressive, coming back from 2 legs down. He also managed to stay calm when needed against Clare, to take the 4th leg 13-11 and remain ahead in the decider. Blanks for Sue Lewis and Mike Howard.
Player of the week is James Molloy.