Sports A Reduce The Gap

12th March
by David Badham
The listing was posted by English Table Tennis Association

The crunch match from last week’s league program was between Sports A and Haddenham A. Steve Buck and Robert Hansell for Sports came prepared for battle with Andy Misseldine, Mark Scott and Darren Palmer and they each took maximums although both were taken to 5 sets, Robert beating Andy 11 – 9 and Steve beating Darren 11 – 3 in their fifth sets. Chris Haines tried to give support to his Sports colleagues but couldn’t withstand the competitive play of the Haddenham trio. This result puts Haddenham still 3 points ahead of Sports with 5 matches to play.

Elsewhere Bellingdon kept up a good season with the defeat of Sports B. Lee Rogerson had a maximum with Stuart Brown winning twice as did Tim Cheek for Sports. Nobby Tennison and Andrew Eggleton were Sports’ other winners. Bierton maintained the pressure on the top two with a 9 – 1 win against Haddenham B. Alan Cherry and Neil Massa were unbeaten with Alex Pratt taking a double, but Pete Hargreaves managed a win for Haddenham. Bucks CC A won 7 – 3 against Tring A courtesy of a maximum for Wilf Crompton, a double for Dawn Pearce and one win for Tim Wooster. Les Ferguy won twice for Tring with Graham Smith their other winner.

Last week’s 7 – 3 win against Tring C for Haddenham C in Division One was notable for a thrilling 5 set victory for Lee Mallick against John Richardson and a good victory for Lee and Cynthia Kunschke in the doubles. However they failed to capitalize this week when they lost 7 – 3 to Bucks CC B. Lee could not maintain form and lost to Mark Binder in 5 hard fought sets and Nick Tyler in 3 sets. Mark and Nick were unbeaten with Graham Butcher winning once. This win puts Bucks 4 points behind favorites Quainton B who have a match in hand.

Quainton won away to Risborough A 6 – 4 with Matt Axford winning twice for Risborough and making David Styles work hard over 5 sets to record a maximum. Mark Spragg won a close fought game with Jim Styles.    

Of the other matches, most notable was the match between Bucks CC E and Tring C. After 4 games Bucks E were losing 3 – 1 but came back to win the next 6 games to win 7 – 3. Ken Hill found some good form and won a double plus the doubles with David Shapter. Nobody was unbeaten on the night with John Richardson for Tring and David Bradbury and David Shapter for Bucks also winning twice.

Sports F maintained their position at the top of Division Two winning 7 - 3 at third place Brill despite a maximum from the home team's John Fitsell. Bucks CC F consolidated the runner up spot beating lowly Sports H 8 - 2. Sports' Ken Walton caused a surprise when he beat Anna Wharrier. Meanwhile Bucks CC G continued to draft down the table when they visited fifth place Tring D and lost 3 - 7 finding Tring's Mark Luscombe and Bill Chapman too strong. Sports G continue to share fifth place after beating Tring E 7 - 3 thanks to Lianne Fisher's treble. Quainton C powered to victory at Haddenham E. Ali and Matt Ginger and Paul Unwin only conceded the doubles

Premier Division

Tring A 4 Bierton 6(D Brookes)

Sports D 2 Ridgeway 8 (Doyle)

Bucks CC A 7 (W Crompton) Tring A 3

Bierton 9 (Cherry, Massa) Haddenham B 1

Bellingdon 6 (Rogerson) Sports B 4

Sports A 7 (R Hansell, Buck) Haddenham A 3

 

Division One

Haddenham C 7 (Mallick) Tring C 3

Quainton 7 (D Styles) Tring B 3

Bucks CC B 7 (M Binder, N Tyler) Haddenham C 3

Haddenham D 6 Bucks CC C 4

Rivets 3 Bucks CC D 7 (J Willcocks)

Risborough A 4 Quainton B 6 (D Styles)

Bucks CC E 7 Tring C 3

 

Division Two

Tring E 5 (Bramwell) Brill 5

Bucks CC F 8 (G Saunders) Sports H 2

Brill 3 (Fitsell) Sports F 7

Sports G 7 (L Fisher) Tring E 3

Premier Division