PREMIER DIVISION
Greenleys Kings lead has been cut to 16 points after beating MK Spinners 6-4 , so their coronation is put on hold for another week. Star man Matt Haynes, a member of last season’s winning MK Sasaki team, was imperious in taking his usual maximum and shepherding skipper to their regular doubles win. Nick and Guy Sparrow did the rest by beating Neil Massa. Alan Cherry and Tim Cheek took 2 each for Spinners. Alan staged a terrific comeback against Nick, winning from 2 games down and 5-9 down in the 3rd. Tim maintaining his great recent form in a match where 4 sets went the distance in a late night finish.
2nd placed Greenleys Monarchs hosted MK Topspin in a match that saw 4 lower division players given an outing, two for each side. The only team regulars were the opposing skippers, Ian Johnston and Russell Penn, but there was to be no repeat of Russell’s miracle win over Ian from their December encounter. In fact Russell went to the other extreme this time and lost to Gary Viner, from the lower reaches of div 4. A great win for a happy Gary of course, possibly his best ever. Monarchs won the one-sided match 8-2 with Topspin’s own reserves, Julie Snowdon (div 1) and Adebola Odetayo (div 3) beating Gary. Monarch’s other player was div 1’s Iain Lindsay, who became the first lower division player since me in 2016 to score a Premier hat-trick. Pick of his sets and by far the best of the night was Iain’s 11-9 in the 5th encounter with Odetayo, which was almost an identical re-run of their League Championships encounter the day before.
MK Powers turned out just 2 players for the 7th time this season and were thumped 10-0 by clubmates Kingpins. Maximums here for Peter Bannister, Dave Allison & Mark Purcell with no sets going beyond 4 games. Pete Tillotson and Clare Styles were the Powers’ pair.
We don’t get many ‘no shows’ in the Premier but that was the case at club MK on Monday night when a frustrated Phoenix side waited in vain for Greenleys Warriors to appear. Apparently all the Warriors’ men had the match down for Tuesday! Phoenix have no interest in re-arranging the match so a 7-0 result in their favour seems a formality as per League rules. This would not only scupper any chance Warriors had of finishing 3rd but also jeopardise Ricky Taiwo and Ollie Horswell’s own hopes of reaching the end of season Top 8 tournament, as they are marginal qualifiers at present and both would have expected good returns from the Phoenix match.
Player of the week is Tim Cheek
DIVISION 1
LINDSAY IN DREAMLAND
What a week it’s been for Greenleys Eagles’ Iain Lindsay. On Sunday he beat 3 Premier players in the annual League Individual championships. On Monday he was promoted to the club’s Premier side Monarchs where he took a maximum. Then on Tuesday he turned out for his regular Eagles side and duly reeled off another hat-trick, this time against leaders St. Christopher Van Hire in a 5-5 draw. Fabrice Spelta took Iain to 14-12 in the 5th and Paul Haigh also forced him to a decider, so it was tough going, but his sky high confidence saw him through. Geoff Callaway picked up a win over Fabrice 13-11 in the 5th and together they won the doubles set. Dave Plumb remained winless for Eagles and David Broome was the other Van Hire man.
With the leaders only drawing, 2nd placed MK Pumas narrowed the gap to 8 points after a 6-4 win at Chackmore Hasbeens. Andy Smith got his usual hat-trick, Chris Belton a brace and together they won the doubles. Bub Burman got 2 for Hasbeens with Andy Whitehead and Sam Willett one a-piece. Keith Carrington was the other Puma.
Woburn Sands Data, in 3rd spot, saw off Newport Pagnell Vantage 8-2, but not before the rock bottom side had won yet another doubles against supposedly better opposition. I’ve long eulogised about the achievements of the Tony Ardis/Sue Lewis pairing, but they are well worth the column inches as the move on to an 8th doubles win for the season (with only 3 defeats). Sue picked up the other Vantage point by beating James Molloy while Tony and Mike Howard remained winless. Darren Ward and James McPheat hit Data maximums.
Greenleys Glory and Open University Primes played out a draw in the remaining match. Jacob Midson & Scott Dixon grabbed 2 each for the home side and Christine Scaysbrook one. Patrick Wong hit a brace for Primes with Andy Tan & Martin Lok one each and Martin teaming up with Patrick for the doubles success.
Player of the week is Iain Lindsay
DIVISION 2
TORNADOES TRIUMPH
(courtesy of Martin Johnson)
The penultimate week of League fixtures in Division 2 has seen the top two and bottom two teams confirmed, with the one remaining week of League matches still to decide all of the final positions.
Leaders, Milton Keynes Tornadoes, made in 10 wins on the trot, recording their second 10-0 victory of the season, beating ninth placed Milton Keynes Cavaliers. Trebles here for Nicolas Wong, Tanmay Tijare and Matthew Curley were rarely in any doubt, with only John Bradley managing to take one single game off each of Tanmay and Matthew, thus preventing a whitewash. Nicolas / Tanmay also extended their doubles record to 10 wins out of 13 in beating John / Chris Welch, with Chris Paddon the third Cavaliers player on the night. Tornadoes’ win takes them 12 points clear of second place, meaning they have secured the Division 2 title. Meanwhile, any slim hopes that Cavaliers had of avoiding relegation were thus also dashed, with this result making it 10 matches without a win, and leaves them 17 points adrift of safety with only one match remaining.
Second placed Milton Keynes Hit ‘n’ Hope also had a successful week, albeit not as comfortable as Tornadoes, but won 7-3 in a competitive match against fifth placed Mursley Hawks. Despite the win, it was not quite enough to leave them any chance of catching the leaders, but it was good enough to secure the runners-up spot. Paul Tompkins and Andy Frearson each won their three singles sets, although both needed five games to beat Graham Butcher, whilst Marco Hahn added one further for Hit ‘n’ Hope, with a win over Martin Johnson. For Hawks, Frank Beck and Graham each won once in singles, with Frank / Martin also taking the doubles against Paul / Marco over five games.
Third placed Milton Keynes Classics were involved in an odd match against bottom team, Milton Keynes Blades, as each team was a player short, meaning only five sets could be played. On the night, Classics won the reduced match 3-2, as Barbara Peters won both her singles, with also one win for Nick Markham, but Barbara / Nick were beaten in the doubles by Brian Evans / Tony Coomber. The other point for Blades came when Brian defeated Nick in five games. Blades already knew they would be relegated, prior to this match, but this result leaves them eight points behind Cavaliers, and with only Tornadoes left to play, they now seem certain to finish the season bottom of the table.
Newport Pagnell Lagondas improved their fourth position with their 7-3 win over sixth placed St. Christopher Spitfires, so moving within four points of third spot. Chris Horn collected a maximum for Lagondas, although both Jock Wallace and Andy King pushed him close in five games. Lagondas also had two wins from Glen Davison and one for Roy Read, with Glen / Chris also winning in the doubles against Graham Silversides / Andy King. Spitfires took their points through two wins for Andy, plus one win for Graham.
The final match of the week saw eighth place take on seventh place, as Milton Keynes Shambles hosted Woburn Sands Mosquitoes. As might have been expected, a close match ensued, with the final score a 5-5 draw. More surprisingly, it was a fifth consecutive draw for Mosquitoes! Player of the night was Andy Jenkins of Mosquitoes, who won his three singles, albeit it needed 11-8 in the deciding leg against Paddy Patel. Paddy also lost out in another very close one, going down 11-9 in the fifth to Glenn Barcham, who won two of his singles for Mosquitoes. For Shambles, Jim Robinson picked up two wins, plus the doubles with Simon Green against Andy / Paul Hamer, with the other wins for Shambles coming one each from Paddy and Simon. Combined with other results, it also ensured that both teams will remain clear of the relegation zone.
Player of the Week : Andy Frearson
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