Division 2 Roundup - Week 6

Published 22/10/2022 at 13:18:18 by Martin Johnson.

Princes Power to the Top

Week 6 has seen Greenleys Princes take over at the top of Division 2, following their big 8-2 win over close rivals, Newport Pagnell Lagondas, and has extended their unbeaten run to five matches this season, adding to seven wins at the end of last season in Division 3, with eleven wins and one draw in that sequence.  Saravana Kumar and William Egbuna both went the night unbeaten, each winning their three singles and also combining to win the doubles against Glen Davison and Chris Horn, with Saravana not dropping a leg all night.  Princes’ third player, Gary Viner, also beat Glen to complete their scoring, whilst Chris and Michael Howard both managed one singles win each.  This latest win puts Princes two points ahead of Lagondas, with a match in hand, and four points ahead of previous leaders, Chackmore Hasbeens, whose match this week was postponed by Milton Keynes Blades, due to Blades being unable to raise a team.

Further down the League Table, seventh placed Little Horwood Wooden Tops edged to within one point of equal fifth placed Open University Shockwave, with a match in hand, as they narrowly defeated them 6-4, although the individual plaudits went to Shockwave’s Charles Tien, who won his three singles.  However, with Paul Reynolds and John Sharp each winning twice, and also winning their doubles against Charles and Yifan Liu, aided by one win for Andy Hooper, Wooden Tops did enough for the win.  Yifan came the closest to making it all square, winning one but twice losing in deciding games, whilst Marcus Fung completed the Shockwave line-up.  The result puts Shockwave in fifth, but now only just ahead of Wooden Tops.

Equal fifth placed Leighton Buzzard Spitfires took on fourth placed Mursley Hawks in the final match in the Division, this week, and it was the visitors who took the spoils, winning 8-2, although the scoreline doesn’t fully reflect how close many of the sets were, including three consecutive close five gamers in the middle of the evening.  David Bartlett collected his second successive maximum, also winning the doubles with Martin Johnson, against Andy Fiske and Filip Simek, and Martin got his own first maximum of the season.  Andy and Graham Silversides each picked up one win for the home side, but Ian Spanswick finished the night with the final singles for Hawks, to chalk up their team’s third win from the last four.  Hawks move up to third spot, whilst Spitfires drop to seventh.

Next week almost feels like a “position week”, as it sees second and fourth play each other, as Lagondas host Hasbeens, whilst third play top, as Hawks entertain Princes.  In the lower half of the table, eighth placed Blades take on sixth placed Wooden Tops, whilst Shockwave in fifth host Spitfires in seventh.  However, as I’m away, there will be no “roundup” next week, so I aim to cover it in a Week 7 / 8 edition.


Player of the Week : Saravana Kumar.