Bishops maintained their unbeaten record in the Elbow Tankard, the summer competition organised by the Leicester League, and moved to the top of Group A thanks to an impressive 14-6 victory over KP4 England.
The latter got off to a good start when Eddie Kwok beat Geoff Hancock in the first game of the night but Hancock, giving six points away in every game of the match, got into his stride to win his other five which was well supported with four from six by Raju Rahul.
The star of the night as far as singles were concerned was Chetan Tailor who won all four although found KP in decent doubles form when they won three out of four. Kwok won two singles while Chris Parmar-Saville supplied the other one for the losers.
A win in the same group for Blaby and Whetstone who won 12-8 against Nomads II. Phil Hinson took five from six for the winners, Jack Angrave three, while Paul Hinson featured in three successes in the doubles. Most successful player for Nomads was Phil Tomlin with four while Tony Burns grabbed two.
In Group B, the two Knighton Park teams maintained undefeated tags with Park Keepers just creeping home 11-9 against Nomads first team. It was pretty even all round with the significant return by George McClurkin shading home the winners as he won four from six for the Park despite giving double figures away all round.
KP Nutters also won their match against Vicars, this time 14-6 when Steve Bessant showed some excellent form in winning all four singles as well as emerging unbeaten from the four doubles. The three Vicars, Ketan Patel, Ross Adams and Bhulesh Rathod, each won two while John Bowness recorded five from six for KP.
It looks very much although it may be status quo in the Leicester and District League in the coming season as 59 teams finished last term with at least 57 teams already catered for, plus the likelihood of another couple. One more would bring up the magic 60 for five divisions of 12.
With a thriving junior league featuring well over 100 under-18s as well as a new initiative to bring people into the sport from the 20 to 50 age group, including several sessions for ladies, things are looking positive on the local scene for the future of the sport. This is in addition to leagues in both Hinckley and Loughborough.
John Bowness (publicity officer)
July 13, 2015