In an early repeat of the opening week’s fixtures leaders Greenleys Kings had a surprisingly tough match with 5th placed MK Kingpins, winning by 7-3. They had polished them off 9-1 first time round but met with greater resistance this week, both sides making changes that proved significant. Kings gave a seasonal debut to Gary Deakin who lost to both Dave Allison and Mark Purcell. Gary’s solo win came at the expense of Peter Bannister, who secured Kingpins third point himself with a terrific straight games victory over Nick Howard. It could, perhaps should, have been an even better night for Kingpins as skipper Dave let slip a 9-5 lead in the decider against his opposite number. A rare malfunction here from the usually consistent ‘Mackem’ machine. Meanwhile Matt Haynes, a latecomer to the match, extended his unbeaten run to 36.
Second placed MK Spinners lost on their last trip to Greenleys Monarchs, and did so again this time, though only by a 6-4 margin. Man of the match for Monarchs was Ian Johnston with the prize scalp of Alan Cherry included in his hat-trick. Martin Hall continued his good form with a brace and Tomek Nowakowski won one to complete the Monarchs scoring. This was Alan’s first defeat of the season and Gary Jones first blank. Spinners took the doubles 11-9 in the 5th and Tim Cheek’s one win (over Tomek) was just as close, at deuce in their decider.
A great win for my MK Topspin side, our very first ever in the Premier, over fellow promotees MK Phoenix. We triumphed 6-4, taking the final 2 sets of the evening. I enjoyed a straight games maximum, Russell Penn & Mervyn Kelly a win a-piece and the crucial doubles went our way for a change. Mervyn Phillips got a couple for Phoenix with Alan Bolding and Ioan Constantin one each.
MK Powers turned out a 2-player team for the second time this season, but only lost 8-2 to Greenleys Warriors thanks to a fine brace from Sarah Hudson. The Luton champion beat Cazacu Valentin and Ricky Taiwo, but went down to Ollie Horswell. Peter Tillotson was the other Powers player and his team slipped to 7th. However, only 4 points now separate the bottom 3 teams, who were all promoted from last season.
Player of the week is Ian Johnston
Division 1
DANNY BOY TRIUMPHS AGAIN
Young Danny Sedgwick shot to local League fame last year when he beat Michael Wilkins from Championship side MK Sasaki in a Premier match for Greenleys Warriors. Prior to that sensational victory Danny’s last appearance in the League had been in Division 6, so quite a leap for him. A star in the making maybe and if so then he took another stride this week with a straight games maximum at Woburn Sands Data. After dispatching Dave McGarragh and Darren Ward comfortably, he conceded only 8 points in his 3 games with Rob McPheat. Danny’s fireworks help set up an 8-2 win for Greenleys Glory, with 2 wins each coming from the bats of Ian Brown and Jacob Midson. Consolation successes for Data were logged by Dave and Darren. With the talent at their disposal it’s surprising to see Glory in 5th place but expect a top half finish this term.
It was top v bottom when leaders MK Pumas took on Newport Pagnell Vantage and a one-sided match duly ensued. The score was 9-1 with Chris Horn, playing up from Div 2, surprising Chris Belton for the Vantage win, taking it 11-6 in the 5th. Maximums for Andy Smith and Julie Snowdon. Mike Howard and Sue Lewis played for Vantage.
Greenleys Eagles stuck to that well known sporting philosophy about not changing a winning team and it paid rich dividends with a 10-0 win against Open University Primes, which propels them into 2nd spot in the table. Usual maximums for Iain Lindsay and son Joe but a Dave Plumb hat-trick was his first of the season. James Zeng, Martin Lok and Andy Tan appeared for Primes.
A 2-man Chackmore Hasbeens restricted high flying St. Christopher Van Hire to a 6-4 win. Bub Burman grabbed 2 for Hasbeens, Andy Whitehead one and they took the doubles set between them. For Van Hire. Biao Wang was unbeaten, David Broome won one but Paul Haigh remained winless.
Player of the week is Danny Sedgwick
Division 2
For the third consecutive week, Milton Keynes Hit ‘n’ Hope had the biggest win, with a 9-1 victory against Milton Keynes Cavaliers, which extends their lead at the top of the division to four points. Ivor Howard and Paul Tompkins both recorded maximums, including the doubles against Chris Paddon and Derick Rodrigues, whilst the one set that got away was when Chris defeated Marco Hahn in four games. Cavaliers reserve, Derick, also went close against Marco, but lost out 11-9 in the decider, and also pushed both Ivor and Paul close over four games, but the defeat leaves Cavaliers joint bottom of the table with Blades, who they play next week.
Milton Keynes Tornadoes remain in second place, gaining a fifth victory in six matches, winning 7-3 against Milton Keynes Shambles, despite the absence of the regular pairing of Nicholas Wong and Tanmay Tijare. Kareem Omar played up, and grabbed a maximum, although it needed 14-12 in the decider against Steve Jordan, and 11-9 in the fifth with Samuel Davis in the doubles, against Steve and Jim Robinson. Samuel also picked up two singles wins, whilst Matthew Curley gained his first win of the season, just edging out Jim at 14-12 in the deciding leg. For Shambles, Steve bounced back from his narrow defeats in the first singles and the doubles, to win twice, to add to one win for Simon Green, to take them into eighth place, a point ahead of Cavaliers and Blades.
Woburn Sands Mosquitoes, whose match last week with St. Christopher Spitfires was postponed, had their run of 18 League wins ended, as they just went down 6-4 to Milton Keynes Classics. For Classics, two early wins each for Masoud Nassor and Dylan Cox, plus the doubles for Masoud and Barbara Peters against Glen Barcham and Andy Jenkins, had seen them race into a 5-2 lead, but Mosquitoes fought back as Paul Hamer defeated Dylan in a close five gamer, then Glen beat Barbara. However, in the final set, Masoud just edged out Andy in another tight five gamer, to seal his maximum, and the win for Classics, who have moved into third position in the table. Mosquitoes are back in sixth place, but they do have the one match in hand.
Newport Pagnell Lagondas visited Mursley Hawks, with a one point lead over them in the League, so a close match was on the cards. Furthermore, Hawks had recorded four 6-4 (or 4-6) scorelines in their five matches, with the other being 5-5, whilst Lagondas have had two 5-5 draws, followed by two 4-6 results in their last four matches. Unsurprisingly, then, it was a 6-4 result, with Hawks just taking it, to leapfrog a point ahead of Lagondas, to leave the teams in fourth and fifth places in the table. On the night, it was Frank Beck and Martin Johnson of Hawks who did the damage, each winning their three singles, whilst Glen Davison, Chris Horn and reserve, Jim Brogan, each won one against Hawks’ reserve, Dan Walters, although Dan took both Chris and Jim to five. Lagondas other point came as Chris / Glen comfortably won the doubles against Frank / Martin. The final result essentially hinged on the two singles following the doubles, which both went the distance, but both went Hawks’ way, as they saw Frank edge past Glen at 11-9 in the decider, then Martin sneak by Chris at 11-8 in the final game, although Jim nearly snatched the draw for Lagondas in set 10, as he pushed Martin to five games, with his devastating forehand kills, but Martin just held on for the Hawks win.
Another closely fought match saw St. Christopher Spitfires grab a 6-4 win over Milton Keynes Blades. Five of the ten sets went the distance, and there were five comebacks from two legs down, three of them to win! In set 2, Andy King was 2-0 down to Mark Thomas, yet Andy battled back to take it in five. In set 3, Bill Tyler went 2-0 up versus Graham Silversides, only for Graham to battle back and take it the distance, however Bill held on in leg five, for the win. Set 4, the doubles, and Andy/Graham went 2-0 up against Brian Evans/Mark, but (you’ve guessed it?) Brian/Mark went on to win it in five! Things ‘calmed down’ a bit until set 8, when they were at it again, as Andy went 2-0 up versus Bill Tyler, only to see Bill take three 12-10 legs, to complete the third comeback win of the night. Set 10 saw yet another 2-0 lead disappear, as Brian levelled against Bernie Raffe, however, Bernie held on in the deciding leg, to give Spitfires the 6-4 win, and also give Bernie a full set of singles wins on the night, to add to the two for Graham and one for Andy, whilst for Blades, Bill won two, Brian won one, and Brian/Mark took the doubles. The result leaves Spitfires in seventh spot, although with a match in hand, whilst Blades share ninth spot with Cavaliers.
Players of the Week : Masoud Nassor and Kareem Omar