courtesy of Nick Howard 


Kings skittle Kingpins in opening day rout
 

Just as the sun rises in the east, and Dave Wackrill will try and get the absolute most value out of his games, you can be certain that Mark Purcell and Dave Allison will turn up for Kingpins each year. The two stalwarts of the league were joined by Craig Brown, who filled in as a last minute replacement for a returning Peter Bannister.

The Greenleys Kings were looking to go one better than their best ever, second place finish last year, and took full advantage in the “transfer window”, by securing the talents of MK Open Champion Matt Haynes. Matt was joined by captain Nick Howard, and MK Summer League champion, Guy Sparrow.

The night kicked off with Nick and Mark duelling it out on the far side. Mark was slow to get into stride, and fell 3-0, despite a big lead in the 3rd.

A resurgent Craig was back to the kind of form that has won him countless MK titles in the past. A statistic he’s more than happy to share with anyone who will listen 😉

That being said, he was 1 big forehand away from losing 3-1 to an inspired Guy Sparrow. But table tennis is a game of margins, and from match point down, Craig didn’t look back as he went on to dominate the 5th for a 3-2 victory.

Matt didn’t have it all his own way against Dave in a 3-1 loss, the Kingpins captain coping well with the heavy topspin of Matt.

The left/right hand combination of Matt and Nick proved far too strong for Mark and Dave in the doubles, wrapping it up 3-0 in double quick time.

The 2nd 5 setter was next up, as evenly matched Nick and Craig faced off in an enticing encounter. Nick proving slightly too strong on the night to take the 5th comfortably and move the Kings into a 4-1 lead.

Matt dismissed Mark in 3 comfortable sets - The left handed Kingpin not quite finding his range.

Dave and Guy then played out one of the matches of the night. The Kingpins captain giving young Sparrow a 2-0 head start, before coming back strong to take it to a decider.

At 9-7 up in the 5th, it looked like the Kingpins would secure their second win of the night, but Dave’s forehand went astray, and Guy managed to claw over the line for the win.

On an adjacent table, Matt and Craig were putting on a show of their own. In a topsy turvey match, Craig climbed into a 2-1 lead after being smoked in the 1st, only to be crushed in the 4th (11-2), to take us into a decider. Matt had just enough to pull away in the 5th for a great 3-2 victory.

Dave wasn’t at his best against Nick in the 9th match of the night, winning only 20 points across the 3 losing sets, before Mark put up more of a fight against Guy, but ultimately losing in 3 closely fought sets (10, 8 and 10).

A big victory to start of the Kings campaign, and one to forget for the evergreen Kingpins.