14 February, 2020 Andy Rowe
Division 1 leaders St Leonards A are flying at the top and managing to carry that weight of never having won the Division in the Club’s history, an achievement I didn’t think I would see in my life
The Sidmouth boys have come together and whilst they are not having the success of yesterday, they are searchin’ for mid table security. Exeter A were glad its all over after a sound 7-2 loss to Sidmouth A. Owen Waters/Harry Williams and Paul and Callum Owens were undefeated for the seasiders.
It had looked that Chris Bird had flown, but returned to the Sidmouth team for their match against Ringswell. Sidmouth continued their improved form with a 6-3 win, boosted by 3 wins from father and son combo Paul and Sam Owens.
Queens remain St Leonards A only real rivals. Their star pairs of Ian Kirby/Simon Brassington and Ben Jordan/Nathan Scase had something extra in their match against Exeter A winning all their rubbers to secure a 6-3 win.
In Division 2 St Leonards B remain on course to win the Division for the first time. With a little help from their friends Sam Maltby and Adrian Wijay, who won all 3, they heaped misery on their closest challengers Exeter B with a 6-3 win.
Chulmleigh B used their day tripper pass to travel the long and winding road to Exeter for their match against St Leonards B. They pulled off a shock 5-4 win which was fully deserving. Matt Adcock/Nick Jones and Ashley Marshall/Joe Court won 2 apiece as did the Saints pair of Andy Rowe/Adrian Midmer. Saints rested their injured pair of Sam Maltby and Adrian Wijay, but Saints Captain Ian Jameson said “Based on our last few results I thought we had a free ticket to ride up into the 1st Division next season. This result has shaken us from our golden slumbers”
Exeter Mens B are trying to get back on track and beat St Leonards C 6-3 to remain in contention. Chris Bradley and Matt Whyman once again proved their worth with 3 wins, ably assisted by a brace of wins from John Collar and Alastair Banks.
They then travelled across the universe to Chulmleigh. Their magical mystery tour ended with a 7-2 win.
Chris Bowker, the taxman, made a welcome return to Exeter B for their match against Otter Vale A and helped his team to an emphatic 8-1 win.
St Leonards C remain at the foot of the Division despite notching up their second win of the season but every little thing helps. They were glad all over after beating Otter Vale 5-4 with the match decided on the final rubber – Tim Wardale (in his first match for over 3 years) and Ant Towl edged out Otter Vale’s Ed Bugler and Tom Bennett 21-19, 18-21, 21-15.
The Saints C team tried a revolution in the next match by mixing up their pairings and were here, there and everywhere! However Exeter C didn’t need their help and dished out a 7-2 loss to the Saints. Prakash Kripakaran and Ed Choi played brilliantly to win all 3 for Exeter C.
Oh Boy, Exeter C and Otter Vale had a hard days night in a marathon match, which Exeter narrowly won 5-4. 7 of the 9 rubbers went to a deciding game. After the match the unbeaten Exeter pair of Tom Laver and Tim Howard were quoted as saying that they would love to play matches like that 8 days a week.
Honiton are getting ready to come and get it….the Division 3A title that is. It would be a fool on a hill to bet against them as they have a mammoth 25 point advantage and a match in hand. Otter Vale C fell 7-2 to them and then Otter Vale B lost 6-3. Peter Bolt and Roger Tucker were top performers for Honiton in both matches, taking all 3. When 5 – 0 down Otter Vale B could have simply let it be, but took 3 from the last 4, Simon Witts & Chris Smith beating the other 2 Honiton pairs.
St Leonards D jumped from the foot of the table to second after a massive 9-0 win over 2 pair Otter Vale C. It wasn’t a good night for no-one in the Otter Vale C team but the Saints believed their Captain when he said “we can work it out” Dan Cordey continues to recover well from injury and told his medical team after that match “I feel Fine”