13 March, 2020 Andy Rowe
Congratulations to Honiton who are Division 3A champions . They won their Division in style, being the only unbeaten team across the whole Mens League.
The Team of Peter Bolt, Roger Tucker, Kevin Greenwell, Ben Taylor, Shane Bowering and Mark Russell cruised to a 7-2 win over 2 pair Exeter D and then ended their season with a crushing 8-1 win over St Leonards D.
Exeter D did themselves no favours by playing an unregistered player in the match against Otter Vale B. Exeter D won 8-1 on the night with Hamish Munro and his partner Paul Harris leading the way with 3 wins. The result was in no doubt when Otter Vale’s Gordon Hutchings picked up an injury and had to concede rubbers. However due to the unregistered player, the final result had to be changed to a 5-4 win in Exeter’s favour.
Exeter D and Otter Vale B played out a close match, won 5-4 by Exeter. Exeter’s Carlos and Anton Torres paved the way with 3 wins, with Luke Mason and Hamish Munro picking up the 5th point when beating Otter Vale pair of Simon Witts and Andy O’Brien 16-21, 21-18, 21-19.
St Leonards B are Division 2 champions for the first time in their history, winning the Division with a match to spare.
They had back to back wins over Exeter C. First up was a 6-3 win, with all Saints pairs chipping in with 2 wins, followed by a more comprehensive 8-1 win. In that match the Saints pairs of Adrian Midmer/Andy Rowe and Malc Travis/Ian Jameson bagged 3 wins each, with a brace of wins for Adrian Wijay (first match back after a broken rib) and Sam Maltby.
In the match between the top 2 teams the St Leonards B team of Ian Jameson, Malc Travis, Sam Maltby, Adrian Wijay, Adrian Midmer and Andy Rowe were made to battle all the way to a 7-2 win over Exeter B, with 6 of the 9 rubbers going to a decisive third game. Not for the first time this season, Exeter had Matt Whyman and Chris Bradley to thank for their points.
St Leonards C picked up a vital 7-2 win over Otter Vale C to keep their hopes of avoiding relegation alive. The result also means that Otter Vale C have been dragged into the relegation battle. David Meakin and Tim Wardale starred for the Saints with 3 wins, with Ant Towl /Chris Wardale and Allister Brimble/Olly Chalk contributing with 2 wins. Ed Bugler and Tom Bennett picked up the 2 points for Otter Vale.
Otter Vale were plunged further into a relegation fight after a 5-4 loss to Chulmleigh B. Matt Adcock and Nick Jones impressed for Chulmleigh with 3 wins. The win has now moved Chumleigh off the foot of the table.
Division 1 leaders St Leonards A are on the cusp of winning the Division 1 title.
They avenged their early season defeat to Sidmouth by beating them 6-3 with Dan Carson/Tony Clarke and Tom Phillips/James Clarkes winning all the Saints points.
It looked like they stumbled badly by losing on the night 5-4 to nearest rivals Queens. However Queens played with 2 unregistered players which turned the result on its head, with St Leonards fortuitously ending up with a 6-3 win. Simon Brassington and Nathan Scase were the star performers winning all 3 for Queens. Tim Wardale made a welcome return to the Saints A team after an absence of a few years.
Queens stumbled in the match against Sidmouth, with both teams only fielding 2 pairs. The Sidmouth players of Callum Owens, Paul Owens, Sam Owens and John Carter came away with a 5 -3 win.
Queens eased to a 7-2 win over Chulmleigh A. Chulmleigh had 4 Matts in their team but lacked gloss on the night (sorry!) Queen’s Ian Kirby partnered Simon Brassington to 3 wins, with Nathan Scase/Ben Jordan and Ben Hussey/Ben Herbert bagging a brace of wins.
Chulmleigh A’s tenure in Division 1 is hanging by a thread after a 9-0 loss to the Ringswell team of Nigel Osbourne, Ian Walsh, Steve Ford, Adrian Freeman, Andy Taylor and Kieran Tsang
Barry Harriss replaced Ian in Ringswell’s 6-3 win over Exeter A, which has pushed the team up to 3rd place. Steve Ford and Adrian Freeman were unbeaten for Ringswell, with Exeter’s top pair of Dave Spencer and Sam Lees winning 2.