Published 22/12/2024 07:16 by Michael Howard.
At the start of the evening, Lagondas had a 2 point lead over the Princes, who have a game in hand, so it was a surprise that the match ended in an emphatic win for the home team from Newport Pagnell, although nearly half the legs played were decided by just 2 points.
The evening started well enough for Princes, with a 3-leg win for Saravana Kumar over Mike Howard, although it needed deuce in the second and third legs to secure the win. The next set was the first of 4 5-leg sets during the evening, between Sue Lewis and Gary Viner, with Sue taking the final leg 11-2 to even up the match. Tony then lost the first leg to William Egbuna 11-9, but took the next 3 by 11-9.12-14, 9-11 to put the home side in front.
The doubles featured the regular pairing of Sue and Tony against Saravana and William. The home pair won the first two legs before the Princes pair fought back with the next two, only for Tony and Sue to secure the set with a final leg 11-8. Sue then played Saravana, who struggled against Sue's style and pimpled bat, but won in 4 very close legs by 9-11, 11-9, 14-12, 11-9. That took the match score to 3-2 in favour of the home side, but things didn't improve for the visitors.
Mike then played William in 4 close legs, winning 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7, before Tony beat Gary in the most decisive 3-leg set of the night to ensure that the home team could not lose the match. Sue followed this up with a 3 leg win against William by 12-10, 11-7, 12-10 to confirm a team victory.
The last 2 sets both went to a final leg, decided in favour of Lagondas. Tony and Saravana faced off to determine which of them would secure a maximum on the night. Tony won 8-11, 11-8, 11-9,6-11, 11-4 to inflict only Saravana's 3rd singles defeat in 10 matches in this division (he's also played up in division 1 twice). The final set was another close affair, between Mike and Gary, with Mike taking the 1st, 4th and 5th legs to confirm an 8-2 home victory.
This extended Lagondas lead over the Princes to 8 points, with Mursley Hawks winning tonight to place them 2 points ahead of the Princes, who they play at Greenleys next week, while Lagondas travel to Chackmore to play the Hasbeens, who are in 4th place but have a game in hand to play against the bottom team MK Blades, so may place themselves firmly in the promotion hunt before the final round of matches begins in January.
Player of the match-maximum man Tony Ardis
