KP Scorpians, one of the many Knighton Park teams, duly took the Leicester Development League by winning all six matches, but with one or two closer than expected results in the final session, when Aman Rashid did not have things all his own way, losing to Harborough’s Ross Campbell when KP won 3-1.
Rashid finished on 91 per cent, Campbell 82 per cent while Rashid’s team mate, Jack Rogers, had 80 per cent. Harborough were runners-up.
Richard Martin was undefeated for Wigston High School when his team won Division Two, ahead of KP Giraffes, who actually scored a very good victory over Wigston, the latter’s team of Adam Green, Robbie Bowsher and Dan Pearson having gained good experience in the senior league this season. Martin’s team mate, Tommy Lane, was second in the averages at 83 per cent.
Knighton Park VIII have been stealthily creeping up the Division Three chart in the Leicester League with a very young team but their immediate successes were brought to a halt by Goons who, although a little remote in third position in the chart, are still hopeful of a top-two finish. All six players in the match won at least one with no maximums on show.
Barry Robinson did well for Goons to beat Jack Rogers, both of these winning two, while John Jacques supported Robinson with two of his own, Dave Tanner one. Richard Martin and Rayan Kotecha won one each for KP and Goons finally secured full points when they took the doubles.
Still undefeated, Unicorn maintained top position by beating Electricity 9-1 with Ron Forster and John Genovese winning three apiece. Harry White prevented a full house by beating John Loan-Clarke.
Arnesby also kept their relatively secure place at second with a similar 9-1 victory over Knighton Park VII when Dave Wagstaffe and Nile Lovett both won three. In this case the whitewash was prevented by a very good success for Chris Parmar-Saville over Dave Small 11-8 in the fifth, the latter hampered in the end with a torn calf muscle.
In Division Four Steve Webb and Graham Cutler did their best for Goons II against top team Leics Police but neither could overcome Chetan Tailer, who took all three for the bobbies, James Smith and Min Gupta one each in support.
Meanwhile Syston Casuals kept a fingertip on the title, although 10 points adrift with a match in hand, by beating Wigston Casuals 8-2, Paul Weston still unbeaten this season and Terry Wale both with maximums.
Long-time leaders leaders in Division One, Unicorn, have been overtaken by Ajax Wolvey who have been showing some serious form of late. They defeated Knighton Park II 8-2 with Reza Kiani only able to gain one singles against Mick Allsopp, who had to retire with injury after winning his other two easily. Jon Williams and Aidan Walsh both won all three with Ajax eventually conceding the doubles.
The bad news for Ajax is that Unicorn are only one point adrift and now have two matches in hand.
The Leicester League uses its grading system to very good effect in various cup competitions which restrict ratings below certain levels to give most players in the league a good chance of doing well somewhere along the way. The five competitions are at the semi-final stage with the draws as follows, with Electricity having a team in all five.
Lillian Williamson Cup (Graded below 115): Regent Sports v Nomads, Electricity v Knighton Park A.
Frith Trophy (Graded below 140): Regent Sports v Electricity, Leics Police v Knighton Park A.
Saracen Cup (Graded below 170): Knighton Park A v Regent Sports, Electricity v Knighton Park B.
Corrall Cup (Graded below 210): Syston Casuals A v Electricity, Knighton Park B v Knighton Park A.
Rose Johnson Cup (Open): Ajax Wolvey v Knighton Park A, Electricity v Syston Casuals B.
John Bowness (publicity officer)
January 26, 2015