LEAGUE ROUND-UP WEEK 6
Published 26/10/2019 at 13:37:08 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIVISION
PHOENIX ON THE RISE AGAIN
A massive 8-2 win for MK Phoenix this week over fellow promotees MK Powers lifted them off the bottom of the pile. Big maximums here for Alan Bolding and Ioan Constantin plus a rare brace from Terry Lau in Phoenix’ biggest Premier win of the decade. Powers triumphed in the only set to go the distance, the doubles, at 11-9 in the decider. That left Sarah Hudson to pick up Powers only singles win when she beat Terry 3-straight. Jit Pitamber and Clare Styles made up the numbers for Powers.
Lowly MK Kingpins squared their match with Greenleys Monarchs at 2-2 following an emphatic doubles win by the Dave Allison/Pete Bannister combo but couldn’t maintain their impetus, as the mighty Monarchs ran away with the last 6 sets for an 8-2 win. Kingpins only singles success was a 5-game thriller for Dave Allison over Dan Appanna. Hat-tricks here for Ian Johnston and Martin Hall and blanks for Pete & Mark Purcell, although Mark was involved in the longest set, ending in a 19-17 in the 5th win for Martin.
Leaders Greenleys Kings were going to rest their star turn Matt Haynes this week, but he got a late call to arms as stand in for an unavailable Jordan Moss. To say he was untroubled by my MK Topspin team would be an understatement as the talented lefty casually extended his unbeaten Premier run to 33 sets. Kings’ old hands Nick Howard and Guy Sparrow provided excellent support in the 9-1 win as Topspin were dispatched in double quick time early on, with Kings easing their foot off the gas with the match well won as Nick dropped a couple of games to myself and Mervyn Kelly respectively and our endeavours were finally rewarded in the 9th set when I best Guy, coming from 2 games down to nick it 11-9 in the 5th. Russell Penn was the other Topspin player.
Second placed MK Spinners continue to match Kings set for set, although their run of easy looking fixtures continued this week against a weakened Greenleys Warriors side who searched beyond their 8 man squad for the 3rd time already this season in order to complete their quorum. Warriors gave a place this time to Iain Lindsay, very much ‘flavour of the month’ in Div 1, alongside skipper Ricky Taiwo and Vlad Varnica. Spinners ran out 9-1 winners with maximums from Alan Cherry and Gary Jones with only 2 sets going beyond 3 games. Tricky Ricky has an excellent record against fellow defenders, however, and he showed his nous again here with a straight games win over Tim Cheek for Warriors solo success.
Player of the week is Martin Hall.
DVISION 1
EAGLES SOARING INTO TITLE CONTENTION?
Greenleys Eagles replace Woburn Sands Data in 3rd place after thrashing them 8-2 this week. Iain and Joe Lindsay won 7 sets between them and are proving to be the most potent father/son force in the League since Dave & Ryan Murphy hung up their bats far too prematurely a few years back. Should Eagles continue to select this pair in tandem then a title challenge is bound to ensue for the former Premier side. Dave Plumb completed the Eagles line-up and notched up their other success at 12-10 in the decider against Darren Ward. James Molloy and Dave McGarragh got a win a-piece for Data.
Leaders MK Pumas came away with an 8-2 score from the Open University in their tussle with Primes. Good wins here James Zeng over Julie Snowdon (11-9 in the 5th) and Andy Tan against Chris Belton. Martin Lok just missed out on a win over Chris, losing 11-9 in the 5th. Andy Smith was untroubled for Pumas with all straight game wins.
2nd place St. Christopher Van Hire matched Pumas score in a tougher assignment at Greenleys Glory, who had little reward for much endeavour. Jacob Midson was outstanding for the home side in dispatching Fabrice Spelta and Paul Haigh with just one game dropped. But Biao Wang was a set too far for him as the classy pen-holder completed his hat-trick for the loss of a single game to Christine Scaysbrook. Ian Brown completed the Glory line-up.
At the bottom of the table Newport Pagnell Vantage are still looking for their first win after going down 7-3 to Chackmore Hasbeens. Bub Burman hit a hat-trick for Hasbeens with Andy Whitehead and Sam Willett scoring 2 each. Michael Howard beat Andy and only lost to Sam at 13-15 in the decider. Sue Lewis picked up Vantage’s other singles win by beating Sam in 5 games and Michael/Sue also won the doubles, which is always a Vantage strength. John McMahon, from Div 3, took one game when extending Sam to a 4th end.
Player of the week is Joe Lindsay.
DIVISION 2
(courtesy of Martin Johnson)
New leaders, once more, in Division 2, as the title chase hots up.
Note: The result of Woburn Sands Mosquitoes versus St. Christopher Spitfires is still awaited – the Report will be updated once that result is known.
Milton Keynes Hit ‘n’ Hope again had the week’s biggest win, and the first 10-0 in the Division this season, against Milton Keynes Blades, a win which catapults them to the top of the table (barring a big win for Woburn Sands Mosquitoes), and leaves Blades at the foot of the table. Hit ‘n’ Hope’s trio of Marco Hahn, Ivor Howard and Paul Tompkins won all their singles sets against the Blades line-up of Brian Evans, Bill Tyler & Tony Coomber, with Paul / Marco also just edging the doubles at 11-8 in the fifth against Tony / Brian. Brian had offered the main resistance in the singles, pushing both Ivor and Paul to deciding games, but couldn’t quite grab a win.
Milton Keynes Tornadoes collected a fourth win in five matches, to stay in second spot, after beating Newport Pagnell Lagondas 6-4, with their regular pairing of Nicolas Wong and Tanmay Tijare again doing the damage. Nicolas scored another maximum, to remain top of the averages (bar a reserve who has only played once), with Tanmay winning twice, as well as the doubles together against Glen Davison / Chris Horn. The Tornadoes line-up was completed by Abhay Tijare, substituting up, but although he won a couple of games, could not add to the victory margin. Glen and Roy Read each won once for Lagondas, plus Roy pushed Tanmay to five games, whilst Chris took Nicolas to five and overcame Tanmay in four games. Lagondas hang on to fourth spot, in what remains a tightly contested Division.
Milton Keynes Shambles and Milton Keynes Cavaliers both had a very different result to last week, as Shambles bounced back from last week’s 9-1 defeat, to this week win 8-2, whilst Cavaliers could not follow up the fine 6-4 win of last week, when they were a player short. This week only Chris Paddon could get on the scoresheet for Cavaliers, with wins against Dave Burrill and over Jim Robinson (in five games), but lost out in five games to Paddy Patel, who scored a maximum for Shambles, with Paddy also defeating John Bradley and Geoffrey Turner. Dave and Jim each won their other two singles, whilst Paddy / Jim combined to beat Chris / John in the doubles. The result leaves Shambles just a point behind Cavaliers near the foot of the table, but both have overtaken Blades.
Milton Keynes Classics were denied a win for a second week running, as they drew 5-5 with Mursley Hawks. Individual honours just went to Frank Beck, who despite playing with a new bat, managed to win all his singles, plus the doubles with Martin Johnson, for Hawks’ fourth doubles win on the trot. Frank survived from two games down and 10-8 down in the third against Nick Markham in his first set, before fighting back on his way to his maximum. Martin also won one set for Hawks, against Barbara Peters, but lost out narrowly to Nick Markham and, in straight games, to Masoud Nassor, as Nick and Masoud won two each. Barbara also beat reserve, Dan Walters, in other set, to complete the scoring. The result leaves Classics in third spot, and Hawks in sixth.
Player of the Week : Frank Beck.
OTHER DIVISIONS
If anyone would like to report on any other Division then please let me know.