Division 2 Roundup - Week 18

Published 27/02/2023 at 13:34:11 by Martin Johnson.

Week 18 – Three League Weeks To Go?

After this week’s matches, there are just three remaining League fixtures for each of the teams in Division 2 (plus one postponed match to be rearranged), and promotion and relegation battles are hotting up as each match takes on extra importance.  There is a three-way battle at the top of the table, and also a three-way battle above the bottom team, with both battles remaining very close.

This week saw each team in the top half of the table take on a team in the lower half of the table.

Joint leaders, Greenleys Princes had the easiest match on paper, and they duly ran out 9-1 winners against the bottom team, Milton Keynes Blades.  The Greenleys trio of Tom Davey, Saravana Kumar and Gary Viner rarely looked troubled, except in set 3, where Kareem Omar saved the whitewash, as he twice came back from a leg down to Gary, to take it 11-7 in the final leg.  Blades almost grabbed a second set in succession, as Mark Thomas and Bill Tyler took Tom and Saravana to a fifth leg in the doubles, but just lost out at 11-6 in the decider. From there on, it was all Princes, as they took the remaining sets comfortably, so remain top of the table. Tom stretched his unbeaten run to eight wins in a row, as his team completed their fifth win in a row.

The other joint leaders, Newport Pagnell Lagondas, took on sixth placed Little Horwood Wooden Tops, and Lagondas made it four wins from their last four, emerging as 7-3 winners, to now trail Princes by just two points.  Glen Davison recorded a treble for Lagondas, whilst teammates, Chris Horn and Tony Ardis (back from his travels) each scored two wins.  John Sharp collected two singles wins for Wooden Tops, plus he also teamed up with Paul Reynolds to inflict a rare doubles defeat on Lagondas, as the Wooden Tops pair edged out Tony and Glen in four very tight legs. The result keeps Wooden Tops just two points clear of the relegation zone.

Third placed Chackmore Hasbeens visited fifth Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, and came away with a big 9-1 win, to take them to within just two points of second place, as the battle for the two promotion spots rages on.  Spitfires, whose trio was Graham Silversides, Filip Simek and Irma Gill (the 9th player to play for Spitfires, this season), found themselves 8-0 down, at one stage, before finally getting on the board, as Filip beat Andy Whitehead, to avoid the whitewash.  However, with both Sam Willett and Bub Burman each winning three, Andy winning two, plus the usual doubles win for Bub and Andy, against Filip and Graham, that was the only win for Spitfires on the night.  The wins for Sam also took him up to eleven wins in a row.  Whilst Hasbeens, who are now seven matches unbeaten, are thus very much in the hunt for a top two place, this loss drops Spitfires down to equal fifth, and only two points ahead of the second relegation spot.

Fourth placed Mursley Hawks were the visitors for seventh placed Open University Shockwave, and this produced the only surprise result of the week, as Shockwave ended up as 6-4 winners, to close the gap to Wooden Tops and Spitfires, just above them, to just two points.  Hawks’ Mick O’Mahoney had a hand in all of the Hawks points, as he scored a maximum - with his three singles wins plus he paired up with Ian Spanswick in the doubles, against Yifan Liu and Charles Tien, to win in four legs.  David Bartlett was unlucky to twice lose out in deciding legs.  For Shockwave, it was a fine all round effort, as each of Charles, Yifan and Ganiyu Adebanjo picked up two singles wins, which was enough to give their team the victory.  The wins for Mick took his run of singles wins up to eleven in a row, including finally beating Charles, who had beaten him twice earlier in the season. The result leaves Hawks adrift of the top three, with matches running out, however for Shockwave, whilst they stay seventh, it edges them nearer to the two teams in front of them, whilst they potentially have a marginally easier run in, in terms of remaining fixtures?  

Once again, focus this week moves back to the Challenge Cup, which has reached the last 32 stage, with four Division 2 teams still in contention – Lagondas, Hasbeens, Hawks and Wooden Tops.

The following week, it is back to League action, with the pick of the fixtures probably being Hasbeens in third, playing leaders, Princes, with three of the top five regular players in the Averages potentially all in action. Second placed Lagondas will take on equal fifth placed Spitfires, Hawks in fourth will play the other equal fifth placed team, Wooden Tops, whilst the bottom two teams will play each other, as Shockwave take on Blades.

Players of the Week : Sam Willett and Mick O’Mahoney.