AW Wolvey got on to the winning trail in Division One with a 7-3 success over Electricity when Nigel Metcalf, playing his first match in Leicester, won a good looking maximum that augers well, while he received excellent support from both Gareth Edmunds and Mark Rose, each taking two.
For the Sparks, Andy LeButt and David Grundy both grabbed one and won the doubles in five for a useful point.
Thringstone are certainly looking up for it if their first stab this season is anything to go by, beating Syston Casuals 9-1 and that one a doubles given away. Maurice Newman, David Arrowsmith and Trevor Kerry were all on form to emerge undefeated.
Three teams are vying for supremacy at this early stage in Division Two, in one case despite a superb individual performance from Anton Thomas who won a top class maximum for Goons against Holwell Sports who are on eight points. Thomas is graded at 166 yet gained the three scalps of Tony Fox (201), Mike James (192) and Dave Roche (192) in a 7-3 defeat for Goons.
Desford Village also have eight points after defeating Abbots Road 9-1 when Malc Trueman and Arun Joshi both gained maximums while Phil Pagett lost only to Vishal Parmar who prevented the clean sweep.
The third team on the same points at the top are Knighton Park IV who beat Electricity III 7-3, skipper Zia Malik coming up with three with support from John Underwood (2) while Andy Searle won one. The three Electricity players, John Winsper, Russ Pettitt and Steve White, all scored one.
Knighton Park, with three teams in each of divisions one, three and five, had three local Derby’s
In the top division their first team, not surprisingly, beat the newly promoted thirds 8-2 but Oscar Bentley and Dan Andrews both showed their potential by grabbing a victory against Becca George. Steadfast, however, for the firsts was the father / son combination of Chris and Jack Rogers who each took three straight maximums as well as the doubles.
Another pair of the club’s teams to face each other came in division three when rising star, 11-year-old Jacob Cadman for the sixth team, won all three against experienced fifth team campaigners in Steve Adams, Dave Mountain and Eddie Kwok in a 5-5 draw. Cadman has just been selected for the English Hopes and Aspire national squad which is designed to take the younger element around the Cadet age bracket up to the junior squad with special training.
The third local derby came in Division Five and was typical of players who know their opponents inside out and this one also finished at 5-5 mainly thanks to a very good, fighting maximum by Mike Smith for the tenth team against the ninth. Supporting with one apiece were Tony Scarborough and Bill Walmsley. Abe Lam took two for the ninth team, Paul Ducksbury and Alec Downes one each so that all six players came away with something. Lam and Ducksbury snaffled the doubles for the deserved share.
Back to division three where Goons II got off to a good start by beating Electricity IV 7-3 and having Paul Hinson in the side, fresh from division two last season, will do their chances a lot of good. Hinson won three and was well supported by Kevin Edwards and Steve Harrison each taking two. Sheriff Makhani did well to win two for the Sparks who also captured the doubles for a point.
Electricity’s other team, their fifth, did rather better by beating Holwell Sports III without their number one, Andy Wright. Dan Woolman stepped forward and won all three with Bryan Moylan and Preetpal Sangha supplying a brace each. Electricity also took the doubles to prevent Holwell gaining a point.
Knighton Park’s other team in this division, their seventh, are top at the moment having racked up their second success by way of an 8-2 victory over Nomads when newcomer, Amardeep Gudela, won three as did Simon Aldis.
Abbots Road III scored their second 9-1 success in a row when defeating Winstanley Wizards II in Division Four, Eiz Eddin Al Kartrib and Ketan Patel both emerging undefeated while Shabnam Ahmed won two.
A different result for Nomads III and Lutterworth who fought out a 5-5 draw with no-one able to win all three, four players gaining two. Terry Highton and Dave Weston notched two for Nomads, Rob Sanders the other singles. For Lutterworth Mike Eastell and Kevin Jones both won two and then gained a three straight win in the doubles for the share.
As well as in the division above an Abbots Road team, this time their fourth, gained a 9-1 victory in Division Five over Desford Village IV to reside at the top of the chart. Kishen Mistry and Steve Sullivan both took maximums while Zakaria Yusuf won two, losing only to Lee Berrill who supplied the lone ranger to prevent the full house.
The two Fleckney teams played each other with the thirds beating the fourth 7-3 but the losers appear to have picked up a useful addition as Steve Reeve won all three in his first match. For the thirds Pete Wilson, Mike Miles and John Woodward all won two.