Milton Keynes Kingpins 4-6 Greenleys Kings
Monday 15 October 2018
| Game | Result | Score | Match score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dave Allison lost to Nick Howard (1-3) | 14-12, 10-12, 9-11, 7-11 | 0-1 |
| 2 | Craig Brown beat Guy Sparrow (3-0) | 11-5, 11-9, 11-4 | 1-1 |
| 3 | This game was not played because the away player was absent. | Not applicable | 2-1 |
| 4 | Dave Allison and Craig Brown lost to Nick Howard and Guy Sparrow (0-3) | 5-11, 9-11, 8-11 | 2-2 |
| 5 | Craig Brown lost to Nick Howard (0-3) | 10-12, 12-14, 7-11 | 2-3 |
| 6 | This game was not played because the away player was absent. | Not applicable | 3-3 |
| 7 | Mark Purcell lost to Guy Sparrow (1-3) | 21-19, 5-11, 6-11, 7-11 | 3-4 |
| 8 | This game was not played because the away player was absent. | Not applicable | 4-4 |
| 9 | Mark Purcell lost to Nick Howard (1-3) | 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 5-11 | 4-5 |
| 10 | Dave Allison lost to Guy Sparrow (2-3) | 4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 17-15, 10-12 | 4-6 |
| Team | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milton Keynes Kingpins | 8 | 30.77 | 246 | 46.42 |
| Greenleys Titans | 18 | 69.23 | 284 | 53.58 |
| Team | Player | Games played | Games won | Legs played | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points played | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milton Keynes Kingpins | Dave Allison | 2 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 33.33 | 195 | 91 | 46.67 |
| Milton Keynes Kingpins | Craig Brown | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 50.00 | 117 | 62 | 52.99 |
| Milton Keynes Kingpins | Mark Purcell | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 25.00 | 163 | 71 | 43.56 |
| Greenleys Kings | Nick Howard | 3 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 81.82 | 224 | 123 | 54.91 |
| Greenleys Kings | Guy Sparrow | 3 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 50.00 | 251 | 128 | 51.00 |
| Match date | Monday, 15 October 2018 at 19:30 |
|---|---|
| Competition | League |
| Division | Premier Division |
| Venue | Milton Keynes Table Tennis Centre |
| Season | 2018-2019 |
| Legs played | 26 |
| Points played | 530 |
Published 28/04/2024 03:42 by David Wackrill.
courtesay of Nick Howard
Gutter ball for Kingpins, as 2 man Kings take the honours.
The Monday night match saw MK Kingpins take on Greenleys Kings at the MK Centre.
When you think of the MK Premier League, you wouldn’t get very far before thinking of the trio of Dave Allison, Mark Purcelll and Craig Brown - So long a staple of the league, they faced a 2 man Greenleys Kings team of Nick Howard and Guy Chieff Sparrow (a last minute emergency kept the eager Jordan Natalie Wood Wood at home).
The shortened night started with Nick and Dave taking to the table. Mainly because Purcell and Brown had both synchronised their watches to some US time zone, and were fashionably late.
Dave can count himself unlucky not to be 2-0 up after coming back in both the first sets after Howard stormed into a decent lead - Dave taking the first 14-12, with Howard nedging his way to the second 12-10 - For those who don’t know, a “nedge” is a net and an edge on the same point.
Howard never looked back from his good fortune, and took the next 2 to win 3-1.
By this point, Craig had finally found his way to the Centre, and took on Guy.
If truth be known, Guy never got going, and Craig showed glimpses of his former self rolling out some sumptuous forehand and backhand winners to take it 3-0.
Howard and Purcell were next up, and it was another mediocre game all around, with Howard doing just enough to comfortably win 3-1.
Allison took on Sparrow next, and I’ve never seen a game no one wanted to win quite like this one.
The amount of match and set points that went begging was phenomenal - Sparrow the guilty party on the whole!
I believe there were at least 5 match points when Sparrow was 2-1 up in the 4th, only for Allison to show why he’s still a Premier player and grinding out a 17-15 win to take it to 5.
Another close end, this time with Allison having a match point or two finally ended with Sparrow closing it out 12-10.
Nick and Craig took over next, to decide who would end the night unbeaten.
Having only played twice before (that they can remember), Craig had a 2-0 head to head record entering the match.
However, the first 2 sets went the full distance - Howard taking the first 12-10, before sneaking the second 14-12.
There were to be no heroics from the experienced Craig, and whilst all the leaves might indeed by Brown at the moment, the sky was definitely Grey for him, and Howard wrapped up an unexpected comfortable victory in 3.
I’d like to apologise now for that pun - Craig was worried about how he would fair in the write up, and despite some cracking headlines we were throwing around earlier, they all seemed a little too harsh for a league report ðŸËâ
Last to the table was Purcell and Sparrow - Neither had found their form tonight, and it was a battle of consistency throughout.
Guy won the battle, and the match, taking it in 4.
This meant that the Kings had won 5 of the 6 singles on offer for the night - A surprising achievement!
Heading into the doubles, I’m not sure anyone would have had the Kings up 5-4 with only 2 men - Could the Kingpins fight back for a draw?
In a word. No.
It was 3 comfortable sets for the regular Howard and Sparrow, who showed that familiarity can beat experience and skill.