PREMIER & DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 4
Published 16/10/2023 at 15:12:03 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER DIV CRAIG PUTS OLD MATES IN A SPIN
The two principal title contenders locked horns this week and suitably produced a close match with MK Titans living up to their name in seeing off rival club-mates Spinners 6-4 to remain the only unbeaten team in the Division. A treble from chief Titan Craig Brown against one of his old teams led the way, supported by a brace from Guy Sparrow and a share in the doubles set with Matthew Horrocks. Jecu Aurelian secured 2 wins for Spinners with Alan Cherry and Gary Jones just one each. Spinners remain top though.
Monarchs are currently in second spot after another club derby, this time over at Greenleys against Warriors. Despite the 7-3 score-line, half the sets, al won by Monarchs, went the distance. As usual big hitting Tomek Nowakowski led the way with a hat-tick and a share in the doubles. Dave Beddall (2) and Martin Hall (1) were the other scorers. A brace from Ricky Taiwo and one from Darren Ward won the sets in a hard night’s work for Warriors with Shrishlal Basant Rai winless.
The two promoted teams faced off against each other with Greenleys Glory running out comfortable 8-2 winners over MK Phoenix. With Glory fielding their major summer sighning the match was only likely to go one way, and so it proved with the expected Ian Mead treble well supported by a brace a-peice from Jacob Midson and (off the mark at last) Ian Brown. Consolation wins for Iaon Constantin and Mervyn Phillips over Jacob and Ian respectively. Gerald Ridgway also played.
In the other match Leighton Buzzard Generations beat MK Sasaki 6-4 with no player dominant and no-one losing all three. Hakan Karaagac and Tim Cheek picked up 2 a-piece for Generations, as did Michael Wilkins for Sasak,i who were unfortunate in having Noah Levens retire early in his final set when conceding to Tim. Noah had opened the match brightly with a win over Div 1 sub Alex Du Noyer and then played out a 5-game thriller with Hakan, before going down 10-12 in the decider. Alex played his part in the victory though when beating Sasaki’s Minesh Pitamber, who in turn denied Hakan his hat-trick in the penultimate set of the match.
Player of the week : Craig Brown
DIVISION 1
CHACKMORE MORE ‘FULL OF BEANS’ THAN HASBEENS
What a contrast in the fortunes between the promoted teams to this Division, so far at any rate. The Div 2 champions Chackmore Hasbeens have started the campaign in great style, only going down to their first defeat this week, and by the slenderest of margins too, while Greenleys Princes, close runners-up in Div 2 last year, are struggling at the foot of the table with just 3 points to their name.
An Andy Smith treble ensured Chackmore Hasbeens’ first reversal of the season in a tight fought match, with the evergreen defender steering his Pumas team home to a 6-4 victory. Chris Belton (2) and Adam Snowdon (1) completed the Pumas scoring. Hasbeens sets came from Bub Burman (2), Sam Willett (1) and the customary Bub/Andy Whitehead doubles combo showing once again why they are one of the best pairings outside the Premier. Meanwhile, in the top v bottom clash, a whitewash win over troubled Greenleys Princes keeps MK Topspin well ahead in the title race. Maximums here for Jit Pitamber, Russell Penn and Mervyn Kelly. Zeros for Saravana Kumar and div 2 subs Robert Anderson and Lewis Copp.
Also going great guns at present are 2nd placed Open University Primes, with only Leighton Buzzard Van Hire’s Dave Broome stopping them adding another whitewash result to their account when he beat Andy Tan. Ning He and James Zeng got the trebles for Primes whilst Andy Fiske and new sighning Sophie Storey completed the Van Hire team.
Finally, the Friday match saw Leighton Buzzard Avengers beat MK Sharks 7-3. The Avengers had the rare luxury of changing their whole team from the last match and rolled out comfortable winners for the first time this season with an Alex Du Noyer hat-trick, a brace from Bernie Raffe and one from Cristi Hulpan. Sarah Hudson, fresh from her weekend’s multiple British League triumphs when representing the Milton Keynes Ladies team, returned to the Sharks line-up to notch a brace, while skipper Rupert Greyling adding a third point and Abhay Tijare remained winless. Sharks, one time League leaders by 5 points, now find themselves in the bottom half of the table.
Player of the week : Andy Smith