PREMIER / DIV 1 ROUND-UP WEEK 20
Published 24/03/2024 at 16:51:03 by David Wackrill; edited 3 times, last on 25/03/2024 at 14:32:29 by David Wackrill.
PREMIER HAMZA BONANZA THWARTS ANY CHANGE AT TOP
Greenleys Monarchs go into the final week needing a miracle if they are to stop MK Titans from lifting the title, but all will be revealed next Wednesday when the rivals play their final matches of another engaging season.
Hot favourites Titans ground out an 8-2 victory this week over Greenleys Warriors and will surely not fall at the last hurdle. A potentially difficult match against the current Summer League champions was well negotiated with just the loss of a couple of sets when Nick Howard went down to Ameya Phatak and Guy Sparrow lost to Ricky Taiwo. Titan-in-chief Craig Brown came through unscathed. Zero for Warriors’ Darren Ward.
Title rivals Monarchs could make no significant inroads into their deficit on the leaders, now standing at 7 points after a 9-1 victory in their fixture against clubmates Glory. Hat-tricks here for Martin Hall and Alex Meade but debutant Aaron Lee lost out to Glory’s big hitting Div 3 sub Mohammad Hamza. What a win that was for Mohammad in his own Premier debut!! Ian Brown and Jacob Midson were the other Glory boys on duty.
The 9-1 scoreline theme continued in another club derby, this time at club MK, with Spinners thrashing Sasaki. Michael Wilkins saved the blackwash here with a well crafted win over Jecu Aurelian, leaving Spinners Alan Cherry and Gary Jones on maximums and Sasaki's William Kit Liang and Div 1 sub Jiten Pitamber on zeros.
Finally at Wing on Friday, Leighton Buzzard Generations went one better than their counterparts when securing a 10-0 win over MK Phoenix. Tim Cheek. Hakan Karaagac and Antonina Bohach were the Generations scorers while Gerald Ridgway, Mervyn Phillips and Ioan Constantin played for Phoenix. Just the one set with the distance when Gerald extending Hakan to a final game in the last set of the evening.
Player of the week : Mohammad Hamza
DIVISION 1
‘BELTER’ FROM CHRIS LEAVES TABLE TOPPERS IN A SPIN
My chart topping MK Topspin team lost for the 5th time in the last 8 matches in this week’s match against club mates Pumas, but still remain clinging desperately on to championship aspirations, now just 4 sets away from the title. Chris Belton did the damage and how he must love playing against Topspin as he always seems to reserve his best performances for us and duly collected another 3 wins here, plus the doubles with Andy Smith, to seal Pumas’ 6-4 victory. Adam Snowdon (1) and Andy (1) were the other Puma scorers. Topspin replied with 2 wins a-piece by Jit Pitamber and Mervyn Kelly. Zero for Russell Penn.
Open University Primes kept their own title hopes very much alive though with a 6-4 win over 3rd placed Chackmore Hasbeens, but must now win big against Topspin in the final week of the season to do so. Primes’ sets came from Andy Tan (2), Ning He (2), Patrick Wong (1) and the doubles. Hasbeens response was the usual Bub Burman hat-trick and one from Sam Willett. Zero for Andy Whitehead.
Another 6-4 result was posted in the Greenleys Princes/Leighton Buzzard Avengers match. Avengers were the wining side here as Alex Du Noyer extended his own unbeaten run to a handsome dozen. Support came from Bernie Raffe (2 wins) and an assist in the doubles. Cristi Hulpan remained winless against the bottom side. Saish Prabhu (2) and one each from Gary Viner and John Stamp was the Princes reply. A rare success here for Gary, 14-12 in the 5th against Cristi.
The only one-sided affair was between Leighton Buzzard Van Hire, still in a 7th placed relegation spot, and 4th placed MK Sharks. Hat-tricks here for Van men Fabrice Spelta and Dave Broome with a brace supplied by Iko Jacob in a 9-1 win with no sets going the to a decider. Sharks sole winner came from Rupert Greyling. Zero for Sarah Hudson and Abhay Tijare.
Player of the week : Chris Belton