LEICESTER LEAGUE ROUNDUP

There was a very well contested match in Division Two when the leaders, Knighton Park 3rds, just came out on top by 6-4 after a titanic struggle. Man of the match was Park’s Reza Kiani with a maximum which was ably supported by two from John Underwood who also went down narrowly in five to Martin Bolton. Bolton won two in the end including an excellent victory over George McClurkin.

Matt Wells returned to top form for Newfoundpool when he won all three against Arnesby 2nds with Mike James supplying two and Alan Mould one. For Arnesby Dave Small took two while Dave Wagstaffe chipped in with one to secure a consolation point with NFP winning the doubles for a 7-3 scoreline.

Arnesby had had enough of Newfoundpool by the end of the week as the latter’s second team also beat them 7-3 thanks to a first maximum of the season from Chandresh Sodha. This was supported by two from Tony Gil and one from Steve Pratt.  This time Nile Lovett won two for Arnesby and Dave Wagstaffe another one.

It is becoming quite a tussle at the top of Division One with reigning champions, Leicester Electricity, having lost one. At the moment Ajax Wolvey are top by virtue of sets average on 22 points, the same as Unicorn with the same number of matches played.  The Sparks have two matches in hand but two victories would bring them only to 21 points.

Ajax beat Knighton Park 2nds 10-0 with`Aidan Walsh, Mick Alsopp and Jon Williams once again in tip top form. Only emerging junior, Aman Rashid, got close, taking Alsopp to five.

Unicorn caught up with their fixtures by beating Thringstone 7-3, Tim Sheppard in scoring a maximum took Maurice Newman’s unbeaten tag away. But the most significant result for Unicorn came against Electricity when they won 6-4 away which was Electricity’s first home loss for six years for this team.

Sheppard won another maximum while Trevor Kerry was also undefeated and these two also won the doubles.  For Electricity Andy LeButt, Steve White and Matt Hobday all won one.

Arnesby beat Thringstone 7-3 when Newman was beaten for the second time. This time it was at the hands of Ian Brown who was unbeaten for the victors. Good support came from Darren Bramhall and Joel Carton who was making a comeback to the league after a three year absence, both taking two.

There have been far too many postponements in Leicester this season so far, not least of all in the top division, and it will be an absolute scramble to get all the matches in before the second half begins which is the deadline.  Only Division Six, the bottom division, is fully up to date.

Top of the individual averages in Division One:
90.5 Maurice Newman (Thring), 88.9 David Grundy (Electricity) and Jon Williams (Ajax), 83.3 Matt Hobday (Electricity), Tim Sheppard (Unicorn) and Trevor Kerry (Unicorn).

John Bowness Publicity Officer. (November 4, 2013)