PREMIER/DIV 1 & 2 ROUND-UP WEEK 17
DIVISON 1
DIVISION 2 (courtesy of Martin Johnson)
A couple of surprise wins, plus a couple of big wins, and a tough match for the leaders, all featured in the latest round of matches in Division 2.
Second placed Chackmore Hasbeens once again picked up a big win, this week 10-0 at the expense of Newport Pagnell Lagondas, to edge just a little bit closer to the leaders, as well as nearer to ensuring a promotion spot. The Hasbeens heroes this week were Andy Whitehead, Sam Willett and Bub Burman, and once Andy had fought off Glen Davison over five legs in the opening set, it was all relatively plain sailing, with just two more individual legs going against them, both picked up by Lagonda’s reserve, Jim Brogan, with Bub moving up to second in the Averages, and took his winning run to 23 on the trot. Andy/Bub made it twelve for twelve in doubles - this week it was Glen/Roy Read unable to defeat them.
OU Primes lead at the top has been whittled down to eight points, as they were picking up a 6-4 win against Mursley Hawks, with Larry Lung and Patrick Wong each winning twice, plus winning the doubles together, whilst Charity Wong added the other win, to make it fourteen straight match wins for Primes. For Hawks there was one win for Andy King, to add to yet another treble for Mervyn Phillips, who made it fourteen wins on the bounce, although he was pushed to 11-9 in the decider by Larry, to provide Larry with only second defeat of the season (both being by the narrowest of margins, 11-9 in the fifth), as Mervyn strengthened his position at the top of the Averages.
Third placed changed hands, this week, as Milton Keynes Tornadoes maintained their recent good form, winning 9-1 against team mates, Milton Keynes Classics, to overtake them in the table, though they are still twelve points away from the promotion places. Tornadoes had won 8-2, last week, as both Charlie Gray and Nicolas Wong were unbeaten, and it was a similar story again, as they repeated the dose, to add to the pair of wins for Tanmay Tijare, who only lost out to Nick Markham. Dylan Cox’s unbeaten run was thus ended, and although he reached deuce in the decider against both Tanmay and Charlie, he came away empty handed, as did Barbara Peters, who completed the Classics line up.
The first of two surprise wins, saw a two-man Greenleys Cardinals team managing to grab a 6-4 win over Milton Keynes Hit ‘n’ Hope, with a treble for James Zeng, plus two wins for Dan Englander, to add to the doubles against Tony Coomber/Ivor Howard. Ivor picked up the one win on the night for Hit ‘n’ Hope in set 2, at which point they effectively held a 4-1 lead, but there was no joy for them after that, as Cardinals took the final five sets, to collect just their second win of the season, and this time despite being a player short. Mike Ainsworth completed the Hit ‘n’ Hope lineup.
There was also a 6-4 win for fellow strugglers, Milton Keynes Blades, their first victory of the season, as they defeated Mursley Swallows. Blades were the quicker into their stride, and although Peter Sear had picked a win in set 2 against Brian Evans, to make it 1-1 at that stage, Blades forged ahead to 5-1 at one point, after snatching two tight sets, first the doubles at 11-9 in the decider, as Bill Tyler/Mark Thomas edged out Roger Shelton/Martin Johnson, and then Mark came back against Martin, from 2-1 down and 10-4 down in leg 4, to pull it back to deuce, which he took, along with game 5. Roger hit back with two wins for Swallows towards the end of the match, whilst there was an odd finish when Peter played Mark. Mark went 2-0 up, but then Peter won leg 3 and was well ahead in leg 4. Another big comeback from Mark saw him level at deuce, only for Peter to hang on and force a decider. However, with the match score then at 5-2, Mark conceded leg 5 ? However, Brian then won a close encounter against Martin, to ensure the first win for Blades.
Player of the Week : Mervyn Phillips.