PREMIER / DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 20
Published 26/03/2023 at 13:18:16 by David Wackrill; edited 1 times, last on 26/03/2023 at 14:27:52 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIV
KINGS RECLAIM CROWN
Many congratulations go to Greenleys Kings in this penultimate week for sealing the title for the second time (previously won in 2020). It was fitting that they needed a strong performance to do so against defending champions MK Spinners, winning 6-4 in a terrific match at MK centre on Wednesday. Craig Brown returned to the scene of many of his past multiple triumphs to give a virtuoso performance against his old team with a near faultless hat-trick with just the one game dropped to Tim Cheek while dispatching Jecu Aurelian and Alan Cherry in straight games. Good support as always came from Nick Howard (2 wins) and Guy Sparrow (1) to secure the victory. For Spinners, Alan took a brace, Jecu one win and they combined for the doubles. While that’s the 2nd League title for Nick and Guy it’s the 5th (or is it 6th?) for Craig, who proved to be a shrewd Summer signing for Kings’ wily skipper Nick.
Main challengers Greenleys Monarchs needed to better Kings’ score on the same night to take the title race to the final week but failed to do so, going down 7-3 at home to the unpredictable Van Hire side. The Leighton Buzzard team have the largest and most used squad in the Division and this week turned out Javier Goh, Biao Wang and Fabrice Spelta who were too good for Monarchs’ regulars Tomek Nowakowski (2 wins), Dave Beddall (1) and Martin Hall. Usual hat-trick for Javier here with Biao providing two wins and Fabrice one. Not that Monarchs went down without a fight as half the sets went the full 5-game distance.
Greenleys Warriors seem certain of a top 4 finish following their 9-1 success over MK Phoenix. Alan Bolding was Phoenix’ sole winner when beating Shirishlal Basant Rai while Ioan Constantin and Div 1 sub Rupert Greyling hit zeros. Maximums for Warriors in chief Darren Ward and Ricky Taiwo.
More Div 1 subs appeared for club MK in the derby match between Sasaki and my Topspin team, one for each side in an exciting drawn match. Sasaki regulars Michael Wilkins and Nicolas Wang scored their team’s points with 2 singles each and a share in the doubles as Andy Frearson made his, albeit winless, Premier debut for them. It was a different story for Topspin sub Jit Pitamber, doubling up on the night with his own Powers team’s match with seemingly endless energy, and walking away with a magnificent brace which included the prize scalp of Nicolas. A decent brace too for Russell Penn, snatching his first ever win over Michael in the process.
The focus of attention now turns to the ‘Percy Hyde Trophy’, awarded to the MK League ‘regular’ for topping the averages. This all depends on next week’s result and, while still a few candidates remain, is safely in the hands of the current leader Tomek.
Player of the week : Craig Brown
DIVISION 1
GLORY BOYS ARE CHAMPIONS
Premier side Kings weren’t the only Greenleys team to clinch their Division with a week to spare as club-mates Glory were more than happy to join them early on the winners’ rostrum following their 8-2 triumph over Woburn Sands Mosquitoes. A defiant James Molloy bagged a useful brace for the losers, beating both John Stamp and Jacob Midson, otherwise it was all one-way traffic for the League leaders with a Scott Dixon hat-trick sealing the win. Andy Jenkins and Glenn Barcham were the other Mosquitoes.
Back to back draws for 2nd placed MK Pumas in a cracking match with Leighton Buzzard Avengers, in 3rd spot. This went to the wire after a bright start by Pumas, taking the opening 2 sets with Andy Smith beating Alex Du Noyer and birthday girl Julie Snowdon seeing off Richard Hardy in 5-game thrillers. Avengers continued to battle away though and got their reward when squaring the match in the final 3 sets with excellent wins for Richard Hardy over Chris Belton (11-9 in the 5th), Bernie Raffe over Andy (12-10 in the 5th) and, finally, Alex over Julie (in straight games).
Another draw too, though they are quite the specialists at them anyway, for Open University Primes in their mid-table match with MK Sharks. No hat-tricks in this one either with the Sharks again looking at Derick Rodrigues and Rupert Greyling for all the points. For Primes James Zeng and Andy Tan hit a brace a-piece and Ning He one. Abhay Tijare was the third Shark on duty.
Finally, the basement match between this season’s relegated pair was a lively affair ultimately decided by 2 deuce in 5th thrillers that went Pioneers way. Firstly Paul Haig beat Jit Pitamber and this was followed by a Marco Hahn victory against Sarah Hudson. Jit, also playing a Premier match on an adjacent table, and Sarah won their other 2 singles each for Powers but it wasn’t enough to stave off another defeat as bottom team Pioneers move within one point of them. Terry Lau for Pioneers and Paul Tompkins for Powers were the other players here.
Player of the week : Scott Dixon