Division 1 Roundup - Week 1

Division 1 - Week 1

The new season is up and running, and four quite close results point towards a likely very competitive year, although it is of course very early days!

This season, the Division is made up of two teams down from the Premier, Milton Keynes (MK) Sasaki and MK Phoenix, two teams up from Division 2, Mursley Hawks and Leighton Buzzard (LB) Spitfires, joining the four teams from last season's Division 1 who were neither promoted nor relegated, Chackmore Hasbeens (3rd), MK Sharks (4th), MK Pumas (5th), LB Avengers (6th).

Early leaders, and indeed very early leaders are Hasbeens, who picked up a 7-3 win away at Spitfires, who staged this match in the week prior to the official start date.  The match was running neck and neck up to 3-3, with three of the first six sets going to a decider, with closest of all being 11-9 to Barry Hammond, as he just edged past Bub Burman.  However, Hasbeens powered on to take the last four sets, with Sam Willet, Bub and Andy Whitehead each winning twice, plus the customary doubles by Bub and Andy.  For Spitfires, aside from Barry's narrow win over Bub, he also beat Andy, whilst their reserve, Cristi Hulpan won against Sam, on a night where no-one won all their sets.

In the battle of the two teams relegated from the Premier, it went to 'form', as it was Sasaki who edged out Phoenix 6-4, to take a share of second place after the first week.  Michael Wilkins did the bulk of the damage, with a maximum, although he was pushed to five games by both Alan Bolding and Mervyn Phillips, and taken to four games by Ivor Howard, whilst Mike partnered Minesh Pitamber to the win in the doubles against Alan and Ivor.  The other wins for Sasaki came as Minesh beat Ivor in four, whilst William Kit Liang just won a see saw five gamer against Alan at 12-10 in the decider.  For Phoenix, it was two wins for Mervyn, and one each for Alan and Ivor.

Joining Sasaki in joint second are Avengers, who reversed last season's final positions to beat Pumas 6-4, despite a treble for Pumas by Andy Smith.  However, for Avengers, Mateusz Browarnik and Steve Jordan each won twice, and Dave Broome won once, with Dave and Mateusz also winning the often vital doubles against Andy and Julie Snowdon.  Julie won the other singles for Pumas, with her son, Adam, making up the Pumas team - being unlucky to twice lose out in close deciders.

The final match of the week featuring Hawks, in a Mursley team's first ever Division 1 fixture, taking on Sharks.  Sharks got off to a fine start, moving 4-1 up at halfway, but Hawks slowly worked their way back into the match, and it ended up 5-5.  Sharks had two singles wins for Rupert Greyling, plus one each for Abhay Tijare and Derick Rodrigues, plus the doubles for Rupert and Derick against Mark Dixon and Ian Spanswick.  The Hawks wins came by way of three for new recruit, Mark, plus two for Martin Johnson, with Ian unlucky not to pick up a win on the night, as he lost out in three very close sets, especially against Rupert, who staged a comeback from 2-0 down to take the decider 11-8.  Rupert had an even closer set against Mark, in a real cat and mouse struggle, but a missed smash at 10-9 up in the decider proved costly, with Mark cashing in to win 12-10.

This week's matches see Hasbeens take on Hawks, Sharks face Sasaki, Phoenix up against Avengers and Pumas meeting Spitfires, as we continue to see how the Division will take shape.

Player of the Week : Michael Wilkins