PREMIER / DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 13
Published 18/12/2023 at 13:05:45 by David Wackrill.
PREMIERPOSTPONEMENTS PILE UP
Sickness in the MK Titans camp prompted the postponement of their clash with Greenleys Warriors. That brings the number of outstanding matches to 5 with over half the teams affected. I understand that a statement from the League chairman is pending on the subject.
Titans absence from the tables gave title contenders MK Spinners and Greenleys Monarchs an opportunity to bridge the gap at the top, at least for the time being, and they both won handsomely this week. Spinners saw off MK Sasaki 8-2 with Michael Wilkins taking the Sasaki sets in fine style with wins over Jecu Aurelian and Gary Jones. Zeros though for Sasaki colleagues’ William Kit Liang and div 1 sub Rupert Greyling while Spinners’ Alan Cherry walked away with his customary maximum.
Over at Greenleys, Monarchs were also engaged in their own local derby, against newly promoted Glory, who are doing very nicely in their first season in the top flight. Monarchs took the match 7-3 with a Martin Hall hat-trick, a brace from Tomek Nowakowski, and only one from Dave Beddall this time round, although he also took the doubles with Martin. Hats off here to Glory’s Iain Lindsay with a great double over Tomek and Dave, both deuce in the 5th. Jacob Midson picked up their other win and Scott Dixon also played.
The remaining match saw a 6-4 victory for Leighton Buzzard Generations over bottom side MK Phoenix. Div 1 sub Mateusz Browarnik filled in this week for Generations, alongside regulars Hakan Karaagac and Tim Cheek. While Hakan hit his usual hat-trick, Tim only bagged a brace here, though they took the doubles between them. Mateusz remained winless, enabling Phoenix skipper Gerald Ridgway to log his first win of the season (in his 10th match). However Phoenix hero was Ioan Constantin, with a defensive style all his own enabling him to a deuce in the 5th success over Tim to complete his own brace. Alan Bolding was the other Phoenix man on duty.
Player of the week : Iain Lindsay
DIVISION 1
HANDY ANDY TRIUMPHS AGAIN
Not content with last week’s hat-trick against 2nd placed Open University Primes, MK Pumas’ Andy Smith went one better this time with a hat-trick against top dogs MK Topspin to put himself top of the individual averages at the expense of previous leader, Topspin’s own Jiten Pitamber. Andy’s max saw the Pumas to a 6-4 win with Chris Belton addind two and Adam Snowdon one. Single wins only for Topspin trio Russell Penn, Mervyn Kelly and Jiten.
Topspin’s loss was title chasing Open University Primes’ gain as they halved the deficit to the leaders following a 7-3 victory at Chackmore Hasbeens. Patrick Wong hit a hat-trick here, Andy Tan (2) an. Ning He (1). For Chackmore, Bub Burman hit a brace and Sam Willett one, leaving Andy Whitehead on zero. Next week Topspin and Primes play against each other. Who will be the Christmas No.1 ?
3rd placed MK Sharks ended a run of 3 draws with a 6-4 win over bottom team Leighton Buzzard Van Hire. All round performance here by the Sharks with 2 a-piece from Sarah Hudson and Rupert Greyling, one form Derick Rodrigues and the vital doubles set going their way. Fabrice Spelta is proving a difficult opponent to beat these days and he walked off with a maximum for Van Hire, whose other success came from Iko Jacob. Dave Broome was the other Van man. A great match with half the sets going the distance (Sharks winning 4).
The Friday match at Wing saw Leighton Buzzard Avengers triumph 7-3 over Greenleys Princes. A Steve Jordan hat-trick sealed the deal with good support from Bernie Raffe (2) and Richard Hardy (2). Saish Prabhu hit a brace for Princes and shared the doubles with div 2 sub Lewis Copp. Gary Viner also played.
Player of the week : Andy Smith