PREMIER & DIV 1 ROUND UP WEEK 12
Published 05/12/2022 at 15:49:01 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIV HAKAN HAT-TRICK STUNS SPINNERS
Leighton Buzzard Van Hire may be low in the table, lingering in 6th position, but they can certainly pack a punch when they put their minds to it. Earlier in the season Biao Wang hit a stunning hat-trick against the renowned defensive wiles of Spinners trio Alan Cherry, Jecu Aurelian and Tim Cheek. And now, Hakan Karaagac has emulated that feat, albeit in his team’s 7-3 defeat to the reigning champions. A terrific performance from Hakan, who also came close to sharing the doubles win with Fabrice Spelta, just missing out deuce in the 5th. David Broome was the other Hire man.
Long-time leaders Greenleys Kings had another matchless week with players in their own camp reporting sick on the day this time round. A disappointment for all involved in their fixture with MK Sasaki.
A draw in the Greenleys derby against 4th placed Warriors was good enough to take Monarchs to joint top of the table with Kings. Tomek Nowakowski hit a maximum with Martin Hall and Matt Rayner taking one each, Martin salvaging the result with a final set win over Ricky Taiwo that went to 4 games, all decided by just 2 point margins. Ameya Phatak is a growing force for Warriors and took a good brace here while skipper Ricky and Darren Ward scored single wins.
In the basement match at the foot of the table MK Phoenix ran out 8-2 winners to extend their lead over my bottom placed Topspin side to 16 points. Ioan Constantin and Ivor Howard hit hat-tricks and combined for the doubles and Gerald Ridgway took the remaining win, his first of the season. Div 1’s Paul Haigh filled in for my beleaguered Topspin team this week along with Russell Penn and myself, who both beat Gerald. Despite 6 sets going the distance here, my Topspin side could only win one of them.
Player of the week : Hakan Karaagac
DIVISION I
GIRL POWER FUELS PUMAS COMEBACK
When a despondent Andy Smith trooped back to the MK Pumas ‘bench’ and talked ruefully about changing his bat after throwing away a decisive lead in the opening set against MK Sharks Rupert Greyling, a possible upset seemed on the cards in view of the runaway League leaders struggles against the 4th placed team last time round. But a great display by Pumas' golden girls Lowri Hurd and Julie Snowdon soon turned their fortunes around when they won their opening singles and combined for the set 4 doubles win. The match continued to go well for Pumas thereafter, dropping just one more point in the penultimate set of the evening when the irrepressible Rupert got the better of Julie. Derick Rodrigues and Abhay Tijare were the other Shark players.
Bottom placed MK Powers posted a welcome first win on their visit to Woburn Sands Mosquitoes. The Powers came away with a 6-4 result despite a home hat-trick for James Molloy. But the Mosquitoes could only manage one further success, which came from the bat of Glenn Barcham when he beat Keith Carrington. A blank here for Andy Jenkins and a brace each for Powers’ Pete Tillotson and Paul Tompkins.
Open University Primes regulars’ Andy Tan, Patrick Wong and James Zeng raced into an 8-0 lead against MK Pioneers, ensuring their biggest victory of the season and looking good for a whitewash. But then Terry Lau beat James and Marco Hahn beat Andy to salvage 2 points from the match. Andy Frearson was the other Pioneer.
Finally, a cracking match was fought out at Wing on Friday with 3rd placed Leighton Buzzard Avengers taking on 2nd placed Greenleys Glory. just 2 points ahead of them. They played out a terrific draw to maintain the status quo with no single player dominating proceedings. Bernie Raffe and Alex Du Noyer bagged two wins each, as did John Stamp and Saravana Kumar, playing up from Div.2, for Glory. Saravana is a 2-time winner of the Nick Warton trophy and well above Div 2 standard as he proved here. Cristi Hulpan got a vital win in the final set to make it a blank night for Scott Dixon and ensure the draw for the home boys.
Player of the week : Lowri Hurd