The improvement of Walton B in Division One has been one of the features of the season and they can now lay claim to be the best of the three Walton top-flight teams.

This week, they inflicted a 9-1 defeat on club-mates Walton C, the two Marks, Gale and Ratcliffe, both recording hat-tricks. Paul Meikle took a couple, including an 11-7 in the fifth success over Clive Allenby, but he went down in four to the ‘C’ team’s John Marshall who picked up a welcome win.

Pictured above: Mark Ratcliffe (photo by Roger Hance).

Adam Wilkin was Nomads Lions’ best player in his side’s 8-2 win over Walton A, but the match was far closer than the score-line suggests, the Lions taking all four matches which went the distance. Ethan Lloyd defeated Derek Willis, in his first match back from injury, 11-9 in the fifth and then Gavin Price 11-5 in the fifth, whilst Jason Lloyd defeated Kevin James 12-10 in the fifth and the unlucky Willis 11-7 in the fifth. This latter match was a 40-minute marathon, which very nearly went to expedite, one of the rallies including over 150 shots!

Kevin Gowlett’s hat-trick for Brotherhood A against Windsor Eagles included a fine win over Gary Cattermole but it could not prevent his team going down 6-4. There were two each for Windsor’s Cattermole and John Pattrick, and one for Phil Smith. The only five-setter of the evening was an 11-7 in the decider win for Brotherhood’s Russell Hillier over Smith.

In Division Two, hat-tricks for Mark Boyland and John Gallager, and a 12-10 in the fifth win for Mark Beckham over Rodney Betts, saw Brotherhood C home 7-3 against Brotherhood E. Fred Gallone and Kevin Pryor enjoyed an excellent doubles win for the ‘E’ team against Boyland and Gallagher.

Peter Aumord was on-song for Windsor Kestrels, taking a treble in his team’s 6-4 victory over Brotherhood G. Debra Found won two, as did Gary Simpson for Brotherhood.

Windsor Harriers squeezed a 6-4 win against Nomads Jaguars, thanks to Barry Allen’s final match 11-9 in the fifth win over Tom Wilkin. But none of the Windsor players could get the better of Nomads’ Chris Petrou who remained unbeaten on the night.

Windsor Magpies were forced to field two guest players against Windsor Penguins and, unsurprisingly, went down 8-2. Paul Woolnough stayed undefeated, with Sharon Gowlett and Paul Stanton each winning two. Alan Rutledge, the Magpies’ only regular player on show, enjoyed his best night of the season, notching up two wins, 11-4 in the decider against Gowlett and 11-8 in the decider against Stanton.

In Division Three, leaders Brotherhood F defeated Nomads Leopards 9-1 for a second time this season, Tom Bryden and Joe Sherwin staying unbeaten. Lily Liu took the Leopards’ sole point with a surprise win over Ruby Gallagher.

Brotherhood H were also 9-1 winners, this over a Holland Lancasters’ side fielding a guest player. The closest match of the evening was Owen Woollard’s 11-6 in the fifth victory over Lancasters’ captain Dave Wright. Wright took his team’s sole point with a win over Harindu De Silva.

Kelvin Olano-Harper maintained his season’s unbeaten record in Windsor Falcons’ match with Nomads Bobcats, but the Bobcats ran out 6-4 victors to keep them in the hunt for the runners-up spot.

Bottom-team Holland Mosquitos earned praise from their opponents for their much-improved performance, but Holland Hurricanes were still too strong, Gerry Widnell, John Smith-Daye and Gary Stallwood of the Hurricanes taking the match 10-0. The closest encounter was Smith-Daye’s 11-8 in the decider win over Pam Blakeley. 

* The draw for the semi-finals of the Handicap Cup sees Nomads Lions, the only Division One side left in the competition, paired with Third Division Windsor Falcons. The second semi-final is an all-Division Three affair with Brotherhood F facing Nomads Bobcats, a repeat of a Group stage tie which the Brotherhood youngsters won 5-2.

Members of the League will be saddened to learn of the sudden and unexpected death of Zein Shafat. Zein had only recently joined the League and was currently in his second season with Nomads Tigers in Division Two. He was settling in well to the rigours of League play and, with an average of just under 50%, was developing into a determined and competitive player. Zein was only 49 years old and his death at such an early age has come as a shock to us all, and we send our sincere condolences to his family and friends at this extremely sad time.

RESULTS
Division 1
Walton A 2 Nomads Lions 8
Walton B 9 Walton C 1
Windsor Eagles 6 Brotherhood A 4
Division 2
Windsor Kestrels 6 Brotherhood G 4
Windsor Penguins 8 Windsor Magpies 2
Brotherhood C 7 Brotherhood E 3
Nomads Jaguars 4 Windsor Harriers 6
Division 3
Nomads Bobcats 6 Windsor Falcons 4
Brotherhood H 9 Holland Lancasters 1
Holland Hurricanes 10 Holland Mosquitoes 0
Brotherhood F 9 Nomads Leopards 1