Just because it is the lowest division doesn’t mean that Division Five is not competitive. In fact, just the opposite yet it also offers the chance for clubs to put teams of new players into the league to give them a taste so that the division very often becomes almost two separate ones.
This season three teams rule the roost at the top. Knighton Park IX are leading, their latest result a 9-1 victory over Winstanley Wizards III when Paul Ducksbury, who is top of the averages on 90%, Ayman Gabbar (85%) and Fares Gabbar (67%) won all the singles. They also have Abe Lam (86) in their team of four. Ras Kotardia and Steve Burrage won the doubles for the Wizards to avoid the full house.
Knighton Park’s 11th team were not so lucky against second placed Abbots Road IV who are one point adrift of the leaders. They had Kishen Mistry (85%), Zakaria Yusuf (81%) and Sameer Shaikh (78%) all in good form maintaining pressure near the top.
Third and six points behind but with a match in hand are the Park’s 10th team who defeated Desford Village IV by 8-2 when Tony Scarborough (78%) and Bill Walmsley (62%) both won three and Phil Wood (78%) one, Mike Smith (86%) sitting this one out. Notable was a win for Gemma Hargrave who is graded at 63 over Wood, graded 108, while Gillian Wisdish did the same.
Lutterworth have been sweeping all before them in Division Four but received a shock this week when third-placed team, Abbots Road III, beat them 9-1 with Bradley Lapworth and Eiz Eddin Al Katrib both unbeaten and beating players graded above them, while Ketan Paten supported with a couple with only Mike Eastell able to pick one up for the leaders who are still ahead by six points despite this setback.
A different result saw Blaby and Whetstone draw 5-5 with Winstanley Wizards II when all six players won at least one and no-one unbeaten. Two each for Blaby’s Alan Willson and Tom Phipps, Jack Angrave supplying the other. For the Wizards Elly Bajarias took two, Ben Cooke and Kalan Bhakta, the latter playing up, one apiece before Bajarias and Cooke grabbed the important doubles.
In Division Three Knighton Park V lost a chance to maintain parity with their own club-mates when drawing 5-5 with Electricity V despite an excellent maximum by Ruben Dehnen while Steve Adams and Eddie Kwok both supplied one. For the Sparks Andy Wright and Dan Woolman took two each and also combined for a win in the doubles.
Meanwhile the Park’s seventh team consolidated their position at the top by defeating Electricity’s fourth team 8-2. In this case leading player, Amardeep Gudela, recorded his usual maximum as did Simon Aldis while Martin Pember took one.
Another draw in this division saw Goons II fight it out with Unicorn III. Paul Hinson and John Jacques both notched a couple for Goons and the doubles while, for Unicorn, Jacob Sharp and Xi-Long Huang each won two and the other important singles was supplied by Jordan Tweed.
A Tony Fox maximum saw Holwell Sports home against Electricity III in Division Two with good support from Dave Roche and Mike James both winning two, the latter just going down deuce in the fifth to Steve White while Russell Pettitt also took one, the latter combining with John Winsper to win the doubles to grab a point. It’s a great tussle for second position in this division and Holwell are now very much in the mix.
Desford Village firsts remain top by a fair margin but needed the doubles for a 6-4 victory over Knighton Park IV. Malcolm Truman won a maxi for the winners while Jess Birbeck notched two. For KP Osman Bawa won two. Although losing the Park did not lose ground because of other results.
Desford’s second team had a great chance to go second on their own but went down to another team in the mix, Abbots Road, who came good in a cracking match by 6-4 with a great team effort when Vishal Parmar, Geoff Hancock and Chetan Tailor all won two. Kevin Parker won two for the losers and just failed to get three when going down 11-9 in the fifth against Tailor. Matt Briggs scored one and went down 11-9 to Hancock in the fifth.
Alex Mason was man of the match for Great Glen when they defeated Goons 7-3, Kevin Trueman offering two in support and Kelvin Herbert one. Two for Anton Thomas for the losers.