Division 2 Roundup - Week 3

Published 02/10/2022 at 13:19:37 by Martin Johnson; edited 1 times, last on 02/10/2022 at 22:31:42 by Martin Johnson.

Chackmore Hasbeens retained their 100% record, and top spot in Division 2, winning 8-2 against Little Horwood Wooden Tops, with maximums for Andy Whitehead and Bub Burman, who also took the doubles against Bill Higgins and Andy Hooper.  Chris Whitehead also added a singles win over Andy H, whilst Bill and Paul Reynolds each managed to pick up one singles.

Newport Lagondas remain second, just two points back, as they also won 8-2, against Open University Shockwave.  Charity Wong had put Shockwave into an early lead with a close win against Glen Davison, and later grabbed a second against Michael Howard, but the rest of the sets went to Lagondas.  Tony Ardis went the night unbeaten, including winning the doubles with Michael, although Charity and Yifan Liu pushed them to 11-8 in the decider.  Yifan had an unlucky night, as two of his singles were also close in the fifth, but he and Marcus Fung ended the night without any wins.

Greenleys Princes have made a good start in the Division, with a second win in a row, to add to seven in a row in Division 3 at the end of last season!  They had a fine 9-1 against Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, although five of the sets went to a decider, with Princes taking four of those five.  Tom Davey and Saravana Kumar went the night unbeaten, with Gary Viner also winning two, but just losing out 11-8 in the fifth to Andy Fiske, whilst Filip Simek twice lost out att 11-9 in the fifth, as did Andy King once, as Spitfires lost for the first time this season.

In the final match, Milton Keynes Blades struggles continued, as Bill Tyler had to retire after one singles and the doubles.  He had managed to win his opening singles, and team mate Mark Thomas collected three 11-9 in the fifth wins against David Bartlett, Ian Spanswick and Mick O'Mahoney, but with David, Ian and Mick all wiining against Yi Toong Yee, it meant a first win of the season for Hawks, but a third straight loss for Blades.

Player of the Week : Saravana Kumar.

PS: Whilst not in Division 2, I was struck by the scoreline in one game in a Division 3 match last week, in the match between MK Shambles and Mursley Swallows.  In set 8, Peter Sear had just edged ahead of Jim Saunders by 2 legs to 1, after scores of 12-10 and 11-9 in legs 2 and 3, but even tighter games were to come.  Leg 4 went on, and on, and on, and on .. eventually going to Jim at 34-32 !!  Jim then also took leg 5 at 13-11 to win the set after some 147 points.  In many years of seeing scorelines, that leg score of 34-32, which meant 23 deuces, is the highest I've ever seen in an 11-up set, and more deuces than a 40-38 I once saw under the old 21-up system!