Division 1 Roundup - Week 14+ (Cup Groups R1)

Published 12/01/2025 at 21:06:46 by Martin Johnson.

Hawks and Sharks the Only Winners in Cup R1

Six of the eight Division 1 teams are taking part in this season's Challenge Cup (with MK Sasaki and MK Pumas not entered), and there were just two winners in the first of the Group matches, along with three who lost out, whilst MK Phoenix had a Bye as they are in the one group of just three teams.  It is early days, though, and teams winning two matches out of three, or even one out of three with a good points difference can still progress.

In a reversal of League positions, it was Mursley Hawks with the biggest win of the week, by 46 points over Division 2 leaders, Milton Keynes Powers.  Hawks started strongly, with Ian Spanswick and Mick O'Mahony giving their team an early lead in this Scratch match, as Ian won by 21 against Paul Tompkins and Mick won by 13 against Peter Tillotson.  Keith Carrington dragged a couple of points back against Martin Johnson, but Ian & Mick combined against Paul & Peter to move Hawks 40 points clear after the doubles.  The pattern continued in the next three singles, as Mick and Ian extended the advantage, but Peter pulled back a few points against Martin, leaving Hawks ahead by almost 50 points with the final three singles to go.  Mick claimed his third good win against Keith to put the matter beyond doubt, and although Peter narrowed the gap in the final singles against Ian, it was Hawks who won by 46 points.

The second winners of the week were Milton Keynes Sharks, who overcame a 100 point handicap against Division 3's third-placed Greenleys Moghuls.  As with Hawks, Sharks got off to a fast start, and quickly began narrowing the points gap, with Sarah Hudson and Rupert Greyling particularly effective, and by the end of set seven, they were within just two points of their opponents.  There was good resistance from both Orrin Edwards and Armaan Ahmed in the next two sets, with Armaan taking a few points back against Abhay Tijare, but Spitfires had a one point lead with just the final set to go, and Moghul's Tony Edwardson found Sarah Hudson too hot to handle in that final set, as Sarah extended the points margin to 29 points by the end.

The remaining three teams playing all found the opponents and handicaps a bit too much on the night.  Leighton Buzzard Spitfires went down by 29 points to Division 2's bottom team, Open University Shockwave, having to give away 80 points.  Andy King continued his good League form in winning all six of his games, but team mates, Filip and Graham Silversides each struggled to put much daylight between themselves and a consistent opposition trio of Charity Wong, Charles Tien and Yifan Liu, and Spitfires were never able to get within close enough striking distance to overhaul the points difference.  Fellow Club team, Leighton Buzzard Avengers, also faced an 80 point handicap, in their match at Division 2's equal fourth-placed team, Little Horwood Wooden Tops, in the same Group as MK Sharks.  Matteusz Browarnik managed to win five games out of his six, but with Steve Jordan and Dave Broome being closely matched on points by the opposition trio of Bill Higgins, James McCafferty and Paul Reynolds, Avengers were never really closing the gap fast enough, and by the end found themselves still 44 points adrift in a match of very few one-sided games.  The final Division 2 team in action was Chackmore Hasbeens, who faced the biggest handicap of 110 against Division 3's second placed team, Milton Keynes Cavaliers.  For Cavaliers, Shaunak Navalkissor proved especially difficult to handle for Hasbeens, with only Sam Willett able to claw back points against him.  Chris Paddon and Chris Welch also picked up the odd leg as the match progressed, and with very few big gains along the way, Sam, Andy Whitehead and Bub Burman found themselves increasingly behind the required pace, and despite regular reductions in the deficit, ended up 34 points behind at the end of the match.

Next week sees the first matches in the third sequence of League matches, as Sasaki take on (effectively) second-placed Phoenix, in the top match, whilst elsewhere it's (effectively) third-placed Avengers against fifth-placed Pumas, seventh versus fourth as Spitfires take on Hasbeens, and eighth versus sixth as Hawks take on Sharks.

Player of the Week : Sarah Hudson.
Team of the Week : Mursley Hawks.