Match Report : Division One - Mursley Hawks  vs  Milton Keynes Sharks  (Courtesy of Martin Johnson)

Mursley Hawks were playing what I believe to be the first ever time a Mursley team have played at this level, having gone up after winning Division Two last season, whilst MK Sharks had gone up to Division One a couple of seasons earlier, and come fifth, then fourth, in their last two seasons.

Hawks had captain, David Bartlett, away on holiday, whilst last season's top Division Two player, Mick O'Mahoney, was nursing a sore back, so they called on reserve, Mark Dixon, to join regulars Martin Johnson and Ian Spanswick.  The trio of Rupert Greyling, Derick Rodrigues and Abhay Tijare was the fairly regular Sharks lineup.

Martin kicked off against Rupert, and although Martin had won the last couple of times they'd played, this time it was Rupert who got off to a good start, winning legs one and two quite easily.  Martin started to find his range better in the third, but Rupert's clever use of the net enabled him to hang on and take the opener in straight games.  Ian followed up playing Abhay, and whilst Ian just took the first leg, Abhay hit back well to take the next two, and held Ian off in a close fourth leg, to put Sharks 2-0 up.  Mark played next against Derick, and soon found his range, with strong hitting on both wings, to take a comfortable straight games win, and put Hawks on the board.

Last season, in Division Two, Hawks had gone the season with a 100% doubles record, but that run was soon ended, as Derek and Rupert were never really in trouble against Ian and Mark, winning in straight games to move Sharks ahead 3-1.

The Sharks lead stretched to 4-1, as Rupert somehow fought back from two legs down to Ian, to win in five, by the narrowest of margins at 11-9 in the third and fourth legs, and 11-8 in the fifth; once again his clever use of the net proving the difference!?  Another tight set ensued as Martin took on Derick, who had beaten him a couple of weeks ago in the Summer League, but despite going 2-1 down, this time Martin rallied and just took it 11-9 and 11-7 in legs four and five.  Mark continued the Hawks fightback, as Abhay was unable to contain Mark's strong hitting, to narrow the gap to 4-3 to Sharks.

Sharks ensured they would get at least a draw, going 5-3 up, as Derick beat a battling Ian in four legs, to grab his first win of the night, whilst leaving Ian unlucky not to have won at least one!  Mark and Rupert played next, with both looking for their third singles win of the night.  Rupert just took the first, but Mark blazed through leg 2 to even it up, and then just took leg 3 on deuce.  Rupert again fought back, starting to draw mistakes from Mark, and again it was level at 2-2, as Rupert won leg 4 at 11-9.  Rupert continued his resurgence, and was always just ahead in the decider, but fatally missed a smash at 10-9 up, and Mark swooped in to take it 12-10, to leave Sharks 5-4 up with just the final singles to go.  Martin took on Abhay and took the first leg, but Abhay blasted back on leg 2 to level it up.  The third leg was crucial, and Martin just took it at deuce, and wrapped up the win in four games.

This meant the match result was 5-5 draw, probably a fair result, although as is often the case, both teams will feel they were a whisker away from a win.

With all matches in Week 1 in the Division completed already (by Tuesday night!), it is already looking like it might be a close Division, with one match a 5-5 draw, two matches finishing 6-4 and one ending 7-3, so just four points separating first from last, albeit at this early stage.  Battle is joined! :)