Greenleys Kings 4-6 Milton Keynes Spinners
Wednesday 13 December 2017
| Game | Result | Score | Match score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Englander lost to Tim Cheek (1-3) | 4-11, 5-11, 11-8, 3-11 | 0-1 |
| 2 | Nick Howard lost to Alan Cherry (0-3) | 10-12, 10-12, 7-11 | 0-2 |
| 3 | Guy Sparrow lost to Gareth Jones (2-3) | 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 4-11, 10-12 | 0-3 |
| 4 | Nick Howard & Guy Sparrow lost to Alan Cherry & Gareth Jones (0-3) | 8-11, 8-11, 5-11 | 0-4 |
| 5 | Nick Howard beat Tim Cheek (3-1) | 11-9, 11-2, 9-11, 11-4 | 1-4 |
| 6 | Dan Englander beat Gareth Jones (3-1) | 11-13, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 | 2-4 |
| 7 | Guy Sparrow lost to Alan Cherry (0-3) | 6-11, 4-11, 2-11 | 2-5 |
| 8 | Nick Howard beat Gareth Jones (3-0) | 11-6, 12-10, 11-8 | 3-5 |
| 9 | Guy Sparrow beat Tim Cheek (3-2) | 11-9, 12-10, 13-15, 2-11, 11-9 | 4-5 |
| 10 | Dan Englander lost to Alan Cherry (0-3) | 6-11, 7-11, 6-11 | 4-6 |
| Team | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenleys Titans | 15 | 40.54 | 317 | 46.41 |
| Milton Keynes Spinners | 22 | 59.46 | 366 | 53.59 |
| Team | Player | Games played | Games won | Legs played | Legs won | Legs average (%) | Points played | Points won | Points average (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenleys Kings | Dan Englander | 3 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 36.36 | 195 | 86 | 44.10 |
| Greenleys Kings | Nick Howard | 3 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 60.00 | 188 | 103 | 54.79 |
| Greenleys Kings | Guy Sparrow | 3 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 38.46 | 246 | 107 | 43.50 |
| Milton Keynes Spinners | Tim Cheek | 3 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 46.15 | 235 | 121 | 51.49 |
| Milton Keynes Spinners | Alan Cherry | 3 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 100.00 | 159 | 101 | 63.52 |
| Milton Keynes Spinners | Gareth Jones | 3 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 33.33 | 235 | 111 | 47.23 |
Dan Englander played on loan from Greenleys Cardinals in Division Two.
| Match date | Wednesday, 13 December 2017 at 19:30 |
|---|---|
| Competition | League |
| Division | Premier Division |
| Venue | Greenleys Junior School |
| Season | 2017-2018 |
| Legs played | 37 |
| Points played | 683 |
Published 07/11/2024 19:49 by David Wackrill.
Nick Howard writes ...
We three Kings fall to the wise men of Spinners.
For the first time this year (so I’m told), the Spinners played their usual trio Alan, Gareth and Tim - They must have felt intimated coming to the home of the strongest team in the league - The Kings have been supporting the rest of the league from the bottom of the table all season!
The Kings turned out the ever present Guy Sparrow and Nick Howard, with Dan Englander being called up as a last minute replacement - although who he was replacing is anyones guess! The 3rd spot in the Kings is open for grabs with a total of 7 different players having filled it since the start of the season.
So… If any of your relatives get a table tennis bat for Christmas, trial by combat begins in January to lock down the last spot on the team!
The matches on the whole went to form - Alan didn’t drop a set in his 3 wins, although Nick gifted him the first set 12-10 after being 10-6 up! The second was also 12-10 - It’s a game of inches as Al Pacino once said.
Nick won his other 2 fairly comfortably, with a huge slice of luck in each of the 4 sets he played with Tim.
Gareth dug deep and found some inner inspiration to win his only game of the night against Guy (12-10 in the 5th).
Guy himself had to find some divine intervention to stop Tim taking the spoils - Guy led the match 2-0, before Tim fought back and looked set to take the match. Guy produced the shot of the evening with all the footwork of Michael Flatley to dance around a forehand and fire it down the line late in the 5th - He went on to take the match 11-9 for his only win of the night.
As for super sub Dan - He saved his best for Gareth - The Monday practice partners had a tough 4 sets, with Dan producing some excellent sustained attacking play, and Gareth searching for the answers. He never found them, and Dan won in 4.
Gareth and Alan took the doubles in 3 closely contested sets.
Final score - Spinners 6 Kings 4