PREMIER/DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 7
Published 01/11/2019 at 13:14:29 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIVISION
FIRST WIN FOR TOPSPIN
In an early repeat of the opening week’s fixtures leaders Greenleys Kings had a surprisingly tough match with 5th placed MK Kingpins, winning by 7-3. They had polished them off 9-1 first time round but met with greater resistance this week, both sides making changes that proved significant. Kings gave a seasonal debut to Gary Deakin who lost to both Dave Allison and Mark Purcell. Gary’s solo win came at the expense of Peter Bannister, who secured Kingpins third point himself with a terrific straight games victory over Nick Howard. It could, perhaps should, have been an even better night for Kingpins as skipper Dave let slip a 9-5 lead in the decider against his opposite number. A rare malfunction here from the usually consistent ‘Mackem’ machine. Meanwhile Matt Haynes, a latecomer to the match, extended his unbeaten run to 36.
Second placed MK Spinners lost on their last trip to Greenleys Monarchs, and did so again this time, though only by a 6-4 margin. Man of the match for Monarchs was Ian Johnston with the prize scalp of Alan Cherry included in his hat-trick. Martin Hall continued his good form with a brace and Tomek Nowakowski won one to complete the Monarchs scoring. This was Alan’s first defeat of the season and Gary Jones first blank. Spinners took the doubles 11-9 in the 5th and Tim Cheek’s one win (over Tomek) was just as close, at deuce in their decider.
A great win for my MK Topspin side, our very first ever in the Premier, over fellow promotees MK Phoenix. We triumphed 6-4, taking the final 2 sets of the evening. I enjoyed a straight games maximum, Russell Penn & Mervyn Kelly a win a-piece and the crucial doubles went our way for a change. Mervyn Phillips got a couple for Phoenix with Alan Bolding and Ioan Constantin one each.
MK Powers turned out a 2-player team for the second time this season, but only lost 8-2 to Greenleys Warriors thanks to a fine brace from Sarah Hudson. The Luton champion beat Cazacu Valentin and Ricky Taiwo, but went down to Ollie Horswell. Peter Tillotson was the other Powers player and his team slipped to 7th. However, only 4 points now separate the bottom 3 teams, who were all promoted from last season.
Player of the week is Ian Johnston.
DIVISION 1
DANNY BOY TRIUMPHS AGAIN
Young Danny Sedgwick shot to local League fame last year when he beat Michael Wilkins from Championship side MK Sasaki in a Premier match for Greenleys Warriors. Prior to that sensational victory Danny’s last appearance in the League had been in Division 6, so quite a leap for him. A star in the making maybe and if so then he took another stride this week with a straight games maximum at Woburn Sands Data. After dispatching Dave McGarragh and Darren Ward comfortably, he conceded only 8 points in his 3 games with Rob McPheat. Danny’s fireworks help set up an 8-2 win for Greenleys Glory, with 2 wins each coming from the bats of Ian Brown and Jacob Midson. Consolation successes for Data were logged by Dave and Darren. With the talent at their disposal it’s surprising to see Glory in 5th place but expect a top half finish this term.
It was top v bottom when leaders MK Pumas took on Newport Pagnell Vantage and a one-sided match duly ensued. The score was 9-1 with Chris Horn, playing up from Div 2, surprising Chris Belton for the Vantage win, taking it 11-6 in the 5th. Maximums for Andy Smith and Julie Snowdon. Mike Howard and Sue Lewis played for Vantage.
Greenleys Eagles stuck to that well known sporting philosophy about not changing a winning team and it paid rich dividends with a 10-0 win against Open University Primes, which propels them into 2nd spot in the table. Usual maximums for Iain Lindsay and son Joe but a Dave Plumb hat-trick was his first of the season. James Zeng, Martin Lok and Andy Tan appeared for Primes.
A 2-man Chackmore Hasbeens restricted high flying St. Christopher Van Hire to a 6-4 win. Bub Burman grabbed 2 for Hasbeens, Andy Whitehead one and they took the doubles set between them. For Van Hire. Biao Wang was unbeaten, David Broome won one but Paul Haigh remained winless.
Player of the week is Danny Sedgwick