Division 1 Roundup - Week 20

Sasaki Seal Return to Premier

In the penultimate scheduled week of League fixtures, the Division 1 Champions were duly crowned, although the battle for runners-up spot will go down to the wire.

It has been on the cards for some time, but this week's win by Milton Keynes Sasaki confirmed them as Division 1 Champions (with two matches to spare).  They did so in fine style, handing fourth-placed Chackmore Hasbeens their biggest defeat of the season, with Sasaki winning 9-1.  The Sasaki trio of Michael Wilkins, Minesh Pitamber and Cannon Wong won all of the nine singles on offer, against the Chackmore regulars, Bub Burman, Andy Whitehead and Sam Willett, with Andy going the closest to grabbing a singles, as he pushed Michael to a fifth game.  The reliable Hasbeens doubles pairing of Bub and Andy did defeat Michael and Cannon, to grab their team's one point, to deny Sasaki a fourth whitewash.

Things remain close for the runners-up spot, however, as the two teams in contention each ended up with the same scoreline, albeit in different circumstances, meaning that with just one week to go, there is still just the two points between them.

Second-placed Leighton Buzzard Avengers managed a 6-4 win against bottom team, Mursley Hawks, despite being a player short!  Fabrice Spelta provided his customary three singles wins, to move to 25 consecutive singles wins, and 36 from his last 37 singles played.  Fabrice was well backed up, with two singles wins, by Steve Jordan, with the two teaming up in the doubles to beat the Hawks pairing of Ian Spanswick and David Bartlett, in four games.  David had earlier taken the sole singles win on the night for Hawks, in three games against Steve, but it was otherwise one-way traffic to Avengers, as they maintained their promotion challenge.  The defeat for Hawks means they will finish in eighth position, and so drop back down to Division 2, from whence they came, with no wins on the night for either Ian or Martin Johnson.

Third-placed Milton Keynes Phoenix also won 6-4, in a tough encounter with fifth-placed Milton Keynes Pumas.  For Phoenix, Merv Phillips was in fine form, as he dropped just one game in his three singles wins, and also partnered Alan Bolding to a five-game doubles win against Neil Riddy and Adam Snowdon.  For Phoenix, there was also one singles win each for Alan Bolding and Gerald Ridgway, to just see them through for the win, whilst for Pumas there were two singles wins apiece for Neil and Andy Smith, whilst Adam just missed out in a very tight four game battle with Gerald.  The result sees Phoenix stay two points adrift of Avengers, whilst for Pumas, they stay fifth, but are now within two points of Hasbeens.

There is no result, as yet, for the final scheduled match for the week, Leighton Buzzard Spitfires versus Milton Keynes Sharks, as it has been Postponed, but it could go a long way to determining which of the two will join Hawks in the drop down to Division 2.  Sharks lead Spitfires by nine points, but Spitfires have a match in hand, plus a final week match against bottom team, Hawks, whilst Sharks face promotion aspirants, Phoenix.  A win for Sharks may well be enough to see them safe, whilst a win for Spitfires may give them a chance to leapfrog above Sharks in the final standings.

Next week's matches see Hawks host Spitfires, Sharks at home to Phoenix, Hasbeens entertaining Avengers and Pumas at home to Sasaki.  The only other remaining match, postponed from earlier in the season, is Sasaki versus Spitfires, to be played in two weeks' time.

Team of the Week : Milton Keynes Sasaki.
Player of the Week : Merv Phillips.