Teams from Leicestershire have performed well this season, not least of all the County Veterans in winning the national title, and this sort of form was continued for the most part by an Under-16 girls team representing Manor High School in Oadby in the National Schools Championship.
The four players, with time still left at this level, are Kinar Sheth, Ella Parmar-Saville, Paige Uppal and Byren van Wattingen.
They progressed through several qualifying matches and reached what is to all intents and purposes the national semi-finals by defeating teams from Bedfordshire and Suffolk.
In the latest round of matches they beat Derbyshire’s Lady Manning school 6-2 when Sheth and Parmar-Saville each won two from two, but then fell at the final hurdle, going down 7-1 to a team of much older girls from Merseyside, Parmar-Saville gaining the one. This performance augers well.
Unicorn duly won the Leicester & District League’s Division One title with 22 victories from 22 matches when they won their final two by 8-2 each time, including against a two-man Desford Village, Cavan tian Van Foo and Tim Sheppard unbeaten in this.
Van Foo carried this form on to the match against Knighton Park II when he won all three, as did Geoff Parsons. For KP, James Morley won one while Graham Cleary lost to both van Foo and Parsons in five. KP were given the doubles.
At the bottom, Desford have three matches outstanding and need to conjure up at least one win against either Ajax Wolvey or Thringstone which would normally be unlikely, and then draw against their own second team. If either of the Desford teams beats the other the losers would face relegation while a draw could maintain their higher status.
Division Two champions, Syston Casuals, finished with a 7-3 victory over a two-man Unicorn II, for whom John Genovese scored a vain maximum, desperately needing support. John Szostak, Clive Stretton and Jason Woodfield all won their other to make sure of the win.
Meanwhile, Harry White was continuing some impressive form for Electricity III in second position when winning three against Syston’s second team in a 6-4 success, Chandresh Sodha supporting with two and these two the doubles. Mike James took a good brace for Syston.
Jack Rogers lost a set in his last match against Arnesby’s Dave Small in a 7-3 win but still took the divison’s individual title with 82 per cent ahead of White on 81. For KP thirds, it was Rayan Kotecha’s turn to win a very nice maximum.
Jumping down the league to the intriguing tussle to avoid bottom spot in Division Five. Abbots Road V failed to gain a consolation point against Winstandley Wizards II who had Dan Andrews again in good form with three, two each from Kelsey Andrews and Marcus Harvey. Ketan Patel did well to win the two for Abbots.
This left Knighton Park XII needing just one point against Syston Casuals IV, which they achieved in a 6-4 loss despite a maximum by Scott Morris. Brother/sister combo, Dylan (with two) and Ella (one) Parmar-Saville and the doubles ensured that bonus point to pip Abbots by that point.
Meanwhile, Regent Sports IV continue to win their multitude of games in hand to steal up the chart. They still have three to play and need to win two of them to become divisional champions.