Sonning Common & Peppard B finally got their Division 1 campaign under way, but only Ed Lush could provide any real resistance to second placed Our Lady of Peace A with a fine victory over Ian Cole and pushing Steve Murgatroyd all the way before losing 6-11 11-9 11-7 6-11 10-12. OLOP’s
Mo Cook was again in fine form to secure the 9-1 win for OLOP. Division leaders Kingfisher A went one better with a routine 10-0 victory over Tilehurst RBL A.
Kingfisher D’s Ryan Chung’s 100% record remains intact as they overcame Reading FC 8-2, expertly backed up by Ethan Zeng and Cath Venning. Slightly worrying at this early stage of the season for Reading FC is that all of their points so far have come from the bat of Mike Childs, who again picked up two victories.
It was the same 8-2 score line at Sonning Common & Peppard A vs Tidmarsh A. Player of the match Neil Hurford won all his games comfortably and Jamie Barlow also won all three, his closest match being with Duncan Groves 12-10 11-7 8-11 11-13 11-7.
Duncan also contributed to both of Tidmarsh’s points by beating Jason Roberts and teaming up with Simon Barter to win the doubles.
The points were shared 5-5 when Kingfishers C & B met midweek, but without C-team’s Prayit Ahluwalia it would have been a different story as he picked up a maximum plus the doubles alongside Dan McTiernan.
Their other victory came from Emma Blachford with an impressive win over B team captain Phil Mead, who along with Alan Cummings and Theo Kniep all contributed to the draw.
In division 2 Sonning Common & Peppard D maintained their position at the top of the table with an 8-2 win over Kingfisher G in a match which featured six sets going to five.
There were maximums for both Danny Dockree and Mark Jones and there were many very close sets, the pick of which was Danny Dockree just managing to beat Abhay Gore 12-10 in the fifth. Tidmarsh B won 7-3 at Kingfisher E with Dale Ballard recording a good maximum and Clive Gold having two good wins for Kingfisher. Tidmarsh’s Chris Webb lost the first two sets to Nilanjan Chakraborty but came back well to beat him 12-10 in the fifth.
Tilehurst RBL B and Sonning Common & Peppard C drew 5-5 with Nigel Maltby recording a great maximum for Sonning Common with the highlight being his epic encounter against Kate Maksimenko which he won 5-11 11-6 12-10 7-11 11-9.
The match between Tilehurst Methodists A and Our Lady of Peace C produced another draw with skipper Eric Van Looy getting an impressive maximum for Tilehurst. Pradeep Desh was the star player for OLOP winning two very close sets in five against both Phil Jones and Bill Stamatiou.
In Division 3, there were 4 games on the schedule. The first game was at Tidmarsh D vs Tilehurst Methodist B. Tidmarsh was the better team of the evening, and they won 8-2. Chris Webb was the player of the match with his treble.
Dave Edwards and Ray Webb joined him with their two wins each, so it was a good result for Tidmarsh D in the end.
The second match of the week was at OLOP D against Springfield A. OLOP D won the match with a 7-3 win against a strong opponent that is a great contender for the title.
It was the substitutes who made all the difference, as both teams had a player each playing up for the night.
Harry Bullock’s great treble not only made him the player of the match, but he also helped his team with 3 important points at night.
Springfield A was hampered by having to play a Divison 4 player but the highlight of the match was the battle between Rob Wilkie and Harry Bullock that could have ended with either one of them winning. Harry Bullock won the battle in 5 sets: 14-12, 11-5, 6-11, 9-11, and 11-8.
The same night Pangbourne WMC hosted Kingfisher H. Kingfisher H had their heaviest defeat in 2 years and lost the match 9-1. Clive Taylor continued his 100% record and John Simmonds joined him with another treble which gave them a great lead against the Kingfisher side. Eyup Odemis’s only win rescued them from a whitewash.
The highlight of the match was the comeback from Pangbourne WMC in the doubles from 0-2 down to win 8-11 10-12 11-3 11-7 11-3. The last game of the week was between Sonning Sports B and OLOP E where OLOP E won 9-1. Harry Bullock had another treble in the same with another OLOP team.
Qing Wu joined Harry Bullock with his treble and Louise’s double saw OLOP E a great win in an away game. However, the score line did not represent the games if you see how close how many of the matches were on the night.
The Doubles match was one of the closest games in which Sonning Sports B lost in the fifth game 11-8. In another close match, Dave Chard lost against Louise in the fifth game 11-9.
Tilehurst RBL C moved to the top of the division 4 table by beating Kingfisher I 7-3 with Geoff Johnson hitting a good treble that included a thrilling opening win against Emrah Bulut 7-11 9-11 11-9 12-10 11-9.
He was backed up by Jim Brent who won twice, while for Kingfisher each of their players picked up a win, including Mick Mitcham who beat Paul Treadgold 5-11 12-10 10-12 11-9 11-8 in the final set of the night.
Hat tricks from Andy Stone and Lewis Oke helped Tilehurst Methodists C beat Our Lady of Peace G 9-1, Fitzroy Licorish picking up the OLOP teams win with victory over Arek Ziolkowski, while Sonning Common & Peppard E also won 9-1 as they beat Kingfisher J, Anthony Reeve and Jim Warren were the treble men, for Jim they were all three straight.
