PREMIER / DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 19
Published 17/03/2024 at 14:03:27 by David Wackrill.
PREMIERTITANS ON THE BRINK
No significant change at the top as the leading pair batter the bottom duo this week, a double whitewash only avoided by a Mervyn Phillips win over Guy Sparrow for his MK Phoenix side against top dogs MK Titans, now due to take the title on their trip to the tables next Wednesday. Maximums in this match for MK champion Nick Howard, who only 10 days before had successfully defended his MK Championship Singles crown, and Craig Brown. The Phoenix team was completed by Ivor Howard, in his first match since September, and a very feisty Div 2 sub Andy Frearson.
Titans’ rivals Greenleys Monarchs trio of Tomek Nowakowski, Dave Beddall and Martin Hall went one better when beating the MK Sasaki team of Michael Wilkins, Minesh Pitamber and William Kit Liang. Minesh was close to victory though, as he went down 12-10 in the deciding game twice over.
3rd placed MK Spinners beat 4th placed Greenleys Warriors 6-4 thanks to the customary Alan Cherry’s treble, his 16th of the season. He was supported here by a Jecu Aurelian brace and the doubles set between them. Zero for Gary Jones. The Warriors sets came from Ricky Taiwo (2), Darren Ward (1) and Ameya Phatak (1).
The Friday match at Wing pitched the 5th & 6th teams against each other and another close encounter ensued with Leighton Buzzard Generations and Greenleys Glory playing out a draw. A brace a-piece for home boys Tim Cheek and Ben Rolfe plus a single from Antonina Bohach. Visitors Glory replied with a Ian Mead treble and one from Jacob Midson. Zero for Iain Lindsay. Ian M. has been terrific for Glory all year in guiding his team to 5th place in his debut MK season and stands second only to Alan Cherry in the individual averages.
Player of the week : Ian Mead
DIVISION 1
A TILLOTSON TRIUMPH FOR PUMAS
Another crazy week in this Division with no wins for the top trio and no defeats for the bottom three.
Leaders MK Topspin crashed out to their biggest defeat of the season as 7th placed opponents Leighton Buzzard Van Hire recorded their own biggest win. The Van men sent the big boys from their large squad to MK for this one and were rewarded with a 7-3 victory in which half the sets went the distance. Good all round showing for Van Hire with a brace a-piece from Fabrice Spelta, Mateusz Browarnik and Iko Jacob. A brace in reply from Topspin skipper Russell Penn and one from Mervyn Kelly, leaving Mal Hussain winless.
2nd placed Open University Primes shared the spoils in their outstanding fixture with Leighton Buzzard Avengers played off the week before and followed up this week with a 6-4 defeat to MK Pumas, a win that lifts Pumas up to 5th place. Primes might have hoped to have done better against these mid-table teams to keep them in the title chase, They now trail Topspin by 5 points with 2 matches to go.
In the Primes match Avengers, Patrick Wong and Andy Tan got two each and James Zeng one. Avengers replied with an Alex Du Noyer hat-trick, and one from Steve Jordan, Cristi Hulpan remaining winless.
In the Pumas match the Primes were hit with two more hat-tricks, this time from Andy Smith and div 2 sub Peter Tillotson. Pistol Pete’s all-out two winged looping game must have been very well tuned for this one, a flashback to better days. Chris Belton was the other Pumas. The Primes scorers were Patrick (2), Andy T. (2) and James (1).
Chackmore Hasbeens, have been tussling all season with MK Sharks for the coveted 3rd spot and leap-frogged their rivals once again after thumping Leighton Buzzard Avengers 10-0. Full marks go to Bub Burman, Andy Whitehead and Sam Willett. Zeros all round for Bernie Rolfe, Richard Hardy and Steve Jordan. The Chackmore Parish hall venue has certainly been a citadel for the Hasbeens this season.
The Sharks themselves could only manage a draw against bottom side Greenleys Princes, victims of hat-trick man Saish Prabhu, who had good support from Mayuresh Gokhale (1) and Div 2 sub Ricky Jackson (1). Sharks' Rupert Greyling and Derick Rodrigues scored a brace a-piece and Abhay Tijare was the other Shark.
Player of the week : Peter Tillotson