PREMIER & DIV 1 ROUND UP WEEK 2
Published 26/09/2022 at 13:35:57 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIVSLAUGHTER AT THE TOP
An early top of the table clash, with both teams level beforehand, between Greenleys Kings and Leighton Buzzard Van Hire turned out to be a one sided affair as the Kings team of Nick Howard, Guy Sparrow and Danny Sedgwick swept all before them for the first whitewash of the season in the top 2 divisions and only 3 of the sets going beyond a 3rd game. Biao Wang, Fabrice Spelta and David Broome were the Van men.
Early days as said, but the only other unbeaten team at this stage are Kings' stable-mates Monarchs, who disposed of MK Sasaki 8-2 this week. Great result for Monarchs, who should be in the mix for the title as usual, but spare a thought for Sasaki debutant Noah Levens, only just turned 14, who notched up Sasaki’s only singles win on the night when he beat Dave Beddall in straight games in his opening set. He will go far. Noah’s new team-mates Nicolas Wong and Michael Wilkins paired up to take the doubles. Dave Tiplady kept his place from last week but fierce hitting Tomek Nowakowski was back in the Monarchs side for this one.
Not a single set went beyond a third game when champions MK Spinners beat club-mates Phoenix in another one-sided match. Credit though to ace retriever Alan Bolding for thwarting the attack of Gary Jones for Phoenix’ solitary point. Alan Cherry and Jecu Aurelian also played for Spinners while Ivor Howard and birthday boy Gerald Ridgway were the other Phoenix guys.
A two man Greenleys Warriors side consisting of Ricky Taiwo and Darren Ward were far too good for my MK Topspin outfit in the other match, winning all 7 sets on offer. With Topspin regular Mervyn Kelly still on his Australian adventure we went for Div 1 substitute Chris Belton to fill in this week alongside Russell Penn and myself.
Player of the week : Noah Levens
DIVISION 1
DIXON QUICK ON THE DRAW FOR GLORY
The first 16 matches in the top two divisions of this new season have seen an excess of one-sided results, so a draw was well overdue and we got a cracking one this week.
Greenleys club was the place to be on Wednesday night as Glory hosted MK Powers. Level after 6 sets with the final 4 all going to a deciding 5th game. Furthermore, the match spoils were shared around with 2 players from each side players taking a brace. Glory’s Scott Dixon needed to beat Sarah Hudson in the last set to ensure the draw, which he duly did at 11-9 in the deciding 5th game. Only 2 sets earlier, Paddy Patel, playing up from Div 3 to help out beleaguered Powers, was rewarded with a great win 11-9 in the 5th himself over Christine Scaysbrook, his first ever victory at this level which left Christine winless on the night. All great stuff. Jacob Midson for Glory and Powers’ Pete Tillotson were the other players involved in this terrific match.
Just MK Pumas in this division stand alone with their 100% win record still intact. This week was the turn of Open University Primes to be on the receiving end of ‘the mean machine’. ‘Mean’ in the nicest possible way, of course, in their reluctance to concede any sets, the Pumas repeating last week’s 9-1 score-line. Primes’ Patrick Wong was the man thwarting their whitewash ambitions on this occasion with an 11-9 deciding game win over Julie Snowdon. Andy Smith and Lowri Hurd hit the hat-tricks while Andy Tan and James Weng scored the zeros.
MK Sharks’ Rupert Greyling defied Woburn Sands Mosquitos single handed with a credible hat-trick in his team’s 7-3 defeat. Braces all round for Andy Jenkins, Rob McPheat and Glen Barcham. Abhay Tijare and Pedro Anastacio were the other Sharks.
Lastly, MK Pioneers main man Paul Haig returned to his old Leighton Buzzard club on Friday to take a brace against the Avengers, albeit in an 8-2 defeat for his new team. Paul beat Bernie Raffe and Christinal Hulpan but found the all action style of Richard Hardy too hot to handle on the night. Paul’s team-mates here were Terry Lau and Andy Frearson.
Player of the week : Rupert Greyling