PREMIER

The big story was the abandonment of the Greenleys Kings v Leighton Buzzard Van Hire match at Great Brickhill Parish hall. With the score standing at 3-3 the participants decided that the condensation on the floor had become too dangerous for play to continue.  The outcome of the match remains unresolved.  Such unfortunate incidents are few and far between though as t he last one of this nature, as I recall, was at Hoechst canteen in the 1970s. So, with a 7 team division, there were only 2 matches played this week.

MK Spinners now head the table after another impressive win, 8-2 against Greenleys Warriors, from their unchanged defensive trio of Alan Cherry, Tim Cheek and Jecu Aurilian. ‘Though shall not pass’ is their motto and if Spinners persist with this line-up then future opponents have some late late nights ahead of them. Much credit therefore goes to Ricky Taiwo for taking Alan to 11-7 in the 5th and then picking up wins against the other two. But then Ricky loves a battle of attrition himself and his fitness levels are fantastic too. Also, he did beat Jecu in an Inter-League match (MK v High Wycombe) last time they met. Ollie Horswell and Darren Ward also played for Warriors in an unchanged side from last time.

After sitting out last week, Greenleys Monarchs got their season underway with a 7-3 win at MK Sasaki. Hat-tricks here for Martin Hall and new boy Ameya Phatak and a single from Dave Beddall completed the Monarch’s scoring.  For Sasaki, Nicolas Wong and William Kit Llang picked up a win each and combined for a doubles success. Michael Wilkins completed the Sasaki line-up.

Player of the week : Martin Hall     

DIV 1
RODRIGUES TO THE RESCUE

Good to see that after a fortnight of matches the biggest win in this Division is still only 6-4.  Long may it continue.

12 points are enough to give MK Powers the slenderest lead after another win over a promoted team, Chackmore Hasbeens. Powers have always liked to operate with a big pool of players and gave a debut here to their latest signing, former Pumas stalwart Keith Carrington. Keith duly chipped in with wins against Charlie and Chris Whitehead in support of a Jit Pitamber hat-trick. Skipper Pete Tillotson completed this week’s Powers’ line-up and notched a vital win over Chris. Bub Burman was the main man as usual for Hasbeens with a singles brace and a doubles win with Andy.

Open University Primes and MK Topspin, who meet next week, share second spot just a point behind. Primes made two changes this time with Charity Wong and James Zeng coming in to join Patrick Wong to force a draw at Leighton Buzzard Avengers, whose Bernie Raffe and Alex Du Noyer grabbed all their points between them. Patrick lost to Alex and Charity to Bernie, but both won the other two with James beating Christinel Halpan to complete Primes scoring.

My Topspin team also forced an away draw, this time against Greenleys Glory at their emergency temporary venue of Great Brickhill. I came away with a hat-trick with Russell Penn and Mervyn Kelly one each.  Jacob Midson and John Stamp took the 5 Glory sets between them with Christine Scaysbrook completing their side.

MK Hit ‘n’ Run lost 6-4 again to another MK team, this time Phoenix, who called upon the services of Division 2 man Derick Rodrigues to augment their side. And what an inspired selection this turned out to be as Derick rattled off a fine treble to ensure the Phoenix victory. Support came from Alan Bolding (2) and Terry Lau (1). The match was nip and tuck all the way through to the penultimate set as the contest finished in a rather one-sided manner. Alan thumping Andy Frearson, conceding only 5 points, followed by the conclusion of Derick’s hat-trick in similar emphatic style, just 11 points conceded to Paul Tompkins. Ivor Howard was the other Hit ‘n’ Run man.

Player of the week : Derick Rodrigues