Published 28/11/2018 at 12:12:42 by David Wackrill.

 

No joy for the 3 Milton Keynes teams at the annual Bucks County Inter-League competition on Sunday, which was again held at Aylesbury’s Quarrendon headquarters. Multiple times past winners MK have yet to win the main competition since it’s reincarnation in 2015 after an 8 year lapse. 4 Leagues provided 8 teams between them split into 2 Divisions of 4 teams, a tried and tested format for a great day’s play. Milton Keynes had one team in the top division and 2 in the bottom section.
 
DIVISION 1

High Wycome ’A’ successfully defended their title in a thrilling finish against 2017 champions Aylesbury ‘A’ with Milton Keynes ‘A’ (Alan Cherry, Craig Brown, Guy Sparrow) a distant 4th after losing all their matches, including the ‘wooden spoon’ battle with Aylesbury ‘B’. Alan put up most resistance on the day with 5 wins from 9, Craig won twice and Guy just the once. Many commentators remarked on the high standard of play this year, stronger than before and it’s great for the County that this competition appeals to so many of the top men.
 

The title decider came down to a ‘winner take all’ match which, after 8 sets, stood at 4-4. The final set of the day was between Wycombe’s Danny Baxter and Aylesbury’s Steve Munson. The well matched combatants played up their usual standard to give the sizable audience, who had stayed to watch, an excellent display with their attractive attacking/counter attacking styles. Fittingly it went to deuce in the 5th before a grateful Danny eased home. 
 

DIVISION 2

MK teams: MK’B’ -Tomek Nowakowski, Ioan Constantin, Dave Wackrill & MK’C’ – Andy Smith, Jiten Pitamber, Dylan Cox
 

MK ‘B’ won this division 2 years ago, albeit with a stronger side, but sank this time to a third place finish, just above MK ’C’ who brought up the rear, after losing all 3 matches. The ‘B’ side got off to a flying start in beating our ‘C’ team 7-2 with just the couple of wins going against the grain when Jit hit through Tomek and Andy out pushed Ioan. The crunch set of the day came at 4-4 in our next match against Chalfonts. I was still unbeaten at this stage and faced Janu Aurelian, a formidable pimple bat blocker/hitter (think Christine Scaysbrook with more power). He was much too good and with that loss went our realistic expectations of a top 2 finish.
 

High Wycome ‘B’ are the current holders and fielded a strong 4-man squad intent on keeping their title, which they did with ease. They put out Hari Vennapusa, Nick Lee and (MK Spinner regular) Tim Cheek against our ‘B’ team to beat us 6-2. Our 2 wins came from Tomek who, after 2 moderate performances in the earlier matches was sensational in this one, coming close to a hat-trick with a deuce in the 5th loss to Tim. He shone like a jewel with wins over Hari, in 4 games, and Nick, in 5 (Nick’s only defeat of the day). Amusingly, for me anyway as umpire, Tomek’s first match point against Hari was interrupted by Andy Smith, who came crashing through the barriers from an adjoining court in an attempt at recovering a forehand smash from Chalfonts opponent Nigel Naylor-Smith. At the bequest of the organiser the last set of this match (Tim v me) remained unplayed in order that the event would not overrun.
 

Our ‘C’’ team was a mixture of youth and experience, giving Dylan Cox a chance to play at this level with no pressure. He acquitted himself well despite having just one win to show for his day’s efforts. which was against another youngster, Chalfont’s Harry Maxwell. Andy won 3 sets in all and Jiten 2.
 
Mike Atkinson ran the competition with his usual ruthless efficiency ensuring a prompt 5.00 finish following his insistence on a prompt 9.00 start.. Many thanks to him as always.

Tables/Averages

DIVISION 1		W	L	F	A	Pts
HIGH WYCOMBE A	3	0	19	8	19
AYLESBURY A	2	1	17	10	17
AYLESBURY B	1	2	10	17	10
MILTON KEYNES A	0	3	8	19	8
			P	W	L	%
Robert Hansell (High Wycombe A)	9	8	1	88.9
Andy Misseldine (Aylesbury B)	9	8	1	88.9
Danny Baxter (High Wycombe A)	9	7	2	77.8
Alan Cherry (Milton Keynes A)	9	5	4	55.6
Dave Ralls (Aylesbury B)		9	5	4	55.6
Elson Costa(Aylesbury A)		9	5	4	55.6
Mark Banks (High Wycombe A)	6	3	3	50.0
Steve Munson (Aylesbury A)	9	4	5	44.4
Darren Palmer (Aylesbury B)	9	3	6	33.3
Dave Croucher (High Wycombe B)	3	1	2	33.3
Craig Brown(Milton Keynes A)	9	2	7	22.2
Gary Keers (Aylesbury B)		9	2	7	22.2
Guy Sparrow (Milton Keynes A)	9	1	8	11.1
The Sewell Trophy for the most wins by a Bucks player was won by Robert Hansell.
DIVISION 2		W	L	F	A	Pts
HIGH WYCOMBE B	3	0	21	5	21
CHALFONTS	2	1	13	14	13	(5-4)
MILTON KEYNES B	1	2	13	13	13	(4-5)
MILTON KEYNES C	0	3	6	21	6
			P	W	L	%
Dave Croucher (High Wycombe B)	3	3	0	100.0
Nick Lee (High Wycombe B)	9	8	1	88.9
Yanu Aurelian (Chalfonts)		9	8	1	88.9
Tim Cheek (High Wycombe B)	8	7	1	87.5
Dave Wackrill (Milton Keynes B)	8	5	3	62.5
Tomek Nowakowski (Milton Keynes B)	9	5	4	55.6
Hari Vennapusa (High Wycombe B)	6	3	3	50.0
Andy Smith (Milton Keynes C)	9	3	6	33.3
Nigel Naylor-Smith (Chalfonts)	9	3	6	33.3
Harry Maxwell (Chalfonts)		3	1	2	33.3
Ioan Constantin (Milton Keynes B)	9	3	6	33.3
Jiten Pitamber (Milton Keynes C)	9	2	7	22.2
Nigel Wong (Chalfonts)		6	1	5	16.7
Dylan Cox (Milton Keynes C)	9	1	8	11.1