PREMIER/DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 10
Published 22/11/2019 at 08:55:17 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIVISION OUTSTANDING OLLIE OBLITERATES TOP DOGS
Greenleys Kings 5 point lead at the head of the table was gone it a flash this week as they failed to win for the first time this season when held to a draw by club-mates Warriors. Ollie Horswell was the star turn with a glorious maximum that stunned the opposition. His first victim was Guy Sparrow, dispatched at 12-10 in the decider. This was followed by a straight games defeat of Jordan Moss, but it was the hat-trick set that had heads turning, as Ollie trailed 9-4 in the 5th to Nick Howard before making a remarkable comeback to clinch it 11-9. Ricky Taiwo and Valentin Cazacu both beat an under par Jordan to complete the Warriors score while Guy and Nick won the Kings’ sets between them.
Greenleys Monarchs are now level on points at the top after thumping MK Phoenix 10-0 for the second time this season. They excluded all of their hard bat specialists last week but this time round selected two, Ian Johnston and Dave Tiplady, who both had an easy match. Rubber bat man Martin Hall was no less inconvenienced in the whitewash against the Phoenix trio of Terry Lau, Alan Bolding and Gerald Ridgway. We are a step nearer to seeing the hard bat ‘dream team’ all in action together as Monarchs continue to pick and mix from their pool of players. Come on Monarchs – make it happen!
3rd placed MK Spinners called on Div 2 reserve Dylan Cox for his Premier debut. alongside team regulars Alan Cherry and Gary Jones, against promoted MK Powers. And he did not disappoint with a crucial win over Colin Munford that earned his side a 6-4 victory. Alan took his standard maximum but Gary got into difficulty against Clare Styles and Minesh Pitamber, losing both by 2 point margins in the 5th. So a good night for Clare and Minesh with a brace a-piece.
In the absence of skipper Russell Penn, my bottom of the pile MK Topspin side gave their own debut to another Div 2 player, Paul Tompkins, alongside Mervyn Kelly and myself. Paul was part of the title winning MK Likely Lads squad from 2005/06 but hasn’t played much since and struggled here against the MK Kingpins line-up of Dave Allison. Mark Purcell and Peter Bannister who were giving nothing away. The 9-1 scoreline hardly flattered Kingpins as I avoided what would have been a 3rd successive blackwash for Topspin by scraping out a 12-10 in the 5th victory against Mark.
Player of the week is Ollie Horswell.
DIVISION 1
PUMAS EXTEND LEAD
Favourites MK Pumas went 7 points clear this week after beating 5th placed Greenleys Glory 7-3, enjoying some good fortune along the way. An eventful but frustrating evening for home skipper Ian Brown, who wasted 3 match points for what would have been a straight games win over Julie Snowdon. Staring defeat in the face, Julie managed to dig deep into her reserves and turn the set around to win over 5 games. Then Ian came as close as he’s ever come to beating Andy Smith, going down 14-12 in the decider. So Ian had to settle for just a win over Chris Belton and a share in the doubles with Jacob Midson, who surprisingly was winless on the night. Dan Englander was Glory’s other winner against Chris. Pumas' ace Andy extended his current unbeaten run to 18.
2nd placed Greenleys Eagles welcomed back stalwart Geoff Callaway after a six match absence and he won twice in their 6-4 win at Chackmore Hasbeens, beating both Andy and Chris Whitehead, but finding hot property Bub Burman a step too far. No such problem for Iain Lindsay who snapped up his 7th hat-trick of the season in 8 appearances. Dave Plumb beat Chris Whitehead for Eagles other point to end a run of 8 consecutive losses. Eagles take on Pumas next and a mouth watering clash between Iain and Andy awaits.
Fabrice Spelta was the man of the match when St. Christopher Van Hire entertained Woburn Sands Data. The Luxembourger scored a treble at the expense of James Molloy, Darren Ward and Rob McPheat to see his team home by 6-4 . Paul Haigh contributed with two wins and David Broome one. Darren notched a brace for Data. James one and they won the doubles together. Half the sets went the distance here.
A second win in a row takes bottom placed Newport Pagnell Vantage to within 4 points of this week’s vanquished opponents Open University Primes. Vantage like their time on the table and took 6 of the sets to a 5th game (one more than last week) in a match that ended at 11.15 pm. Michael Howard lost 2 of these marathons in what is becoming an annoyingly regular habit for him. He really should have taken the first though when 10-5 up in the decider against Andy Tan, who had earlier won from 7-9 down in the 5th to Tony Ardis. No such dramas for in-form Sue Lewis who walked away with another maximum and once again shared the vital doubles with Tony, who won 2 singles on the night. Patrick Wong and James Zeng got one each for Primes.
Player of the week is Fabrice Spelta.