Division 2 Roundup -Week 1
The list of players suggests that this seasonâs Division 2 promises to be highly entertaining, with close matches which will probably result in regular changes in league positions. The teams involved are and Leighton Buzzard Van Hire and Greenleys Princes, both relegated from division 1 at the end of last season, promoted Little Horwood Wooden Tops and OU Shockwave and Woburn Sands Mosquitoes, MK Powers, Newport Pagnell Lagondas and Greenleys Valiants. Valiants arises from a merger of 2 Greenleys teams from last season.
The season opened with a close match between Little Horwood Wooden Tops and Greenleys Valiants. Regular players John Sharp, Paul Reynolds and Andy Cooper represented Wooden Tops, with Valiants fielding Ricky Jackson and Slava Volokha and substitute Orrin Edwards from Div 3 team Moghuls. The first 3 sets were decided in 3 games, with Ricky beating John, Paul beating Slava and Orrin beating Andy. Paul/John then played Ricky/Slava in the doubles, the home team winning in 4 close games to even the match at 2-2. Ricky then overcame Paul and John kept the match score even by beating Orrin, both in 4 games. Slava overcame Andy in 3 games before Orrin overcame the loss of the first two games to Paul by taking the next three, to secure his second win of the night. Ricky then secured the win for the away team by beating Andy in straight games to secure a maximum, before John beat Slava in 5 games, leaving the result 4-6.
Greenleys Princes, fielding captain Saravana Kumar and new players Richard Bailey and Anand Keshav, entertained MK Powers consisting of Andy Pearson, captain Peter Tillotson and Paul Tompkins. Richard played his first match for many years against Andy Pearson, who won in 3 games. Saravana and Peter had a hotly contested set which Saravana won in 5 close games, the final one being 14-12. Another 5 game set followed between Anand and Paul. Anand won game two by 18-16 and game four by 16-14 but Paul secured a win 11-8 in the fifth. Powers increased the match score in the doubles, where Andy and Peter beat Anand and Saravana in 3 games. Saravana and Andy then played another 5-game set, which was won by Andy, after Saravana had recovered from losing the first two games to take the set to a final game. In the next set, Richard for the home team took a two game lead only to be pegged back by Paul, who won the next three games to give his team a 5-1 lead on the night. Anand and Saravana restored pride for the home side in the next two sets, Anand beating Peter in 5 games and Saravana beating Paul in 4. Andy secured the win for Powers with a 5-game win over Anand, in the 6th five-game set of the evening, before Peter rounded off the match with a 3 game defeat of Richard, to give the away team a 7-3 win.
Wednesdayâs second match saw Woburn Sands Mosquitoes beat OU Shockwave by 6-4, both featuring regular team players from the last few seasons. Glenn Barcham lost to Yifan Liu before Rob McPheat beat Charles Tien to even the match, both in 3 games. In the next set James Molloy of Mosquitoes played Charity Wong. Although James won in 3 games, it was a struggle, as the first two game scores were 13-11 and 15-13. In the doubles, Charles and Yifan beat Glenn and James in 5 games to level the match. Yifan secured a 3 game win against Rob before Glenn beat Charity in 4 games. Set 7 was another set which went the distance, between James and Charles. In the longest set of the night, James secured a win by 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 15-17, 11-8. Charity then opened her account for the season by beating Rob in 4 games, before James easily beat Yifan in 3 to secure his maximum. Glenn rounded the evening off by beating Charles in another five-game match, securing the match for the home team and leaving Charles without a win.
The final match of the week saw Newport Pagnell Lagondas travel to play Leighton Buzzard Van Hire. The home team was Cristi Hulpan and Lee Draper and newcomer to the league Donnie Macdonald. Lagondas included regulars Glen Davison and Mike Howard, plus another newcomer Yongwang Tian. Glen proved to be in sparkling form, winning all his matches without conceding a game. The opening set, between Cristi and Glen, included some fantastic rallies with fast attacking shots from both players, but Glen prevailed to set the tone for the evening. Next up were the newcomers Donnie and Yongwang, which resulted in an easy win for the away player. Lee then played Mike and, after exchanging the first two games, the third was hotly contested, with lee winning 16-14 before securing the home sideâs first point in the fourth game. Cristi then combined with team captain Bernie Raffe in the doubles, beating Glen and Yongwang in 4 games to even the match. Glen continued his form when beating Donnie in 3 games, before Cristi beat Mike in 4, leaving the match poised at 3-3. That was as good as it got for the home team, as Lagondas won the remaining 4 sets of the night. Yongwang beat Lee, Mike beat Donnie and Glen beat Lee, all in 3 games. The final set saw Yongwang play Cristi. The first 3 games were closely fought but the away player found a way to frustrate Cristi in the fourth and ran out an easy winner, to secure his own maximum and a 7-3 win for Lagondas.
Performance of the week: Glen Davison