MATCH REPORT 7 NOVEMBER 2012

WHITE-WASHES GALORE AND BREAKAWAY ‘B ‘BEATEN FOR FIRST TIME

DIVISION ONE

Tower A 5, Foxdale A 5

Tower drew their fourth match this season thanks to a Tim Baker hat-trick following a nail biting decider with Becky Bayley which ended 11/9, 9/11, 10/12, 11/4, 13/11. Will Bayley was out of luck for Foxdale but Becky and Marc Townsend won the doubles 15/13 in the final set and both beat John and Paul Callow to secure their third draw.

Copy Shop A 9, Strathallan A 1

Brian Crellin and Ronan McDonnell maintained their 100% averages with services and reactions which almost defied belief. Jane Kneale was made to struggle for second placed Copy Shop, eventually beating Andy Patterson and Julian Briercliffe 13/11 and 11/8 respectively. Andy Horne armed with his new super-spinney bat dug out Strathy’s only point in three quick sets over a flagging Kneale.     

Arbory 10, Travellers A 0

Mikhail Tamarov, John Magnall and Liam Chan dropped just six sets between them against bottom placed Travellers. Paul Nelson came closest, losing 14/12 in four sets against Magnall and then 11/7 in the final set against Tamarov. Neither Chris Reynolds nor Gary Shilling could get any change out of third placed Arbory.

Copy Shop B 0, Breakaway A 10

Top of the table Breakaway white-washed fourth placed Copy Shop. Dario Mazzotta did everything but win in a classic top-spinning match against Darren Smethurst which ended 15/17. Similarly, Sean Drewry succumbed to Smethurst 12/14. Whilst Danny Hamill had a 14/16 leg against Paul Corran, and a 10/12 heart-breaker against Mason McLarney, he never really recovered from his early defeat at the hands of “Smasher Smethurst”.

DIVISION TWO

Travellers B 0, Foxdale B 10

Foxdale’s Neil Quane, Ken Mitchell and Mike Bayley maintained their two point lead over second placed Tower B with an impressive white-wash over Travellers B who dropped to fourth after Steve Ellis-Pearson, Stu Mason and David Stevenson found themselves on the wrong end of some exceedingly close results.    

Travellers C 0, Tower B 10

Tower’s Graham McFarlane eventually out-hit Alan Harding and was pushed hard by Jackie Gill but he maintained his unbeaten run in the division by beating Maurice Campbell who found it particularly galling to lose 4/11, 14/16, 10/12 to the attacking Dave Parsons and in four sets against the defensive, but consistent, Steve Curtis.

Salmon River Spinners 9, Peel B 1

Matty Evans gave Peel the perfect start winning 11/9, 16/14, 7/11, 11/6 against Colin Barron. However, the Spinners soon revved into gear with Nigel Beattie and Tommy Cowin being too wily for Evans, Ashley Reid and Will Cross. Barron won his other matches and left Beattie and Cowin to complete the job 11/3, 13/11, 15/13 in the doubles.

Peel A 9, Tower C 1

Peel A remained fifth but closed the gap on Travellers B to just three points with this solid win over bottom placed Tower C.  Dave Callow spared Tower’s blushes with an early 11/9, 11/6, 3/11, 12/10 victory over Marion Forrest. Unfortunately for Tower, Callow, Mike Chapman and Heather Kennett could not deny Maggie Mulhern and Malc Lewis their hat-tricks and doubles triumph.

DIVISION THREE

Copy Shop C 7, Breakaway B 3

Top placed Breakaway turned up one player short but second placed Copy Shop were in determined mood with Malcolm Lambert ending Chris Kewley’s unbeaten run. Rob Sim stymied Ben Christian but came unstuck against Kewley. Pedro Cordosa had success when he narrowly beat his Copy Shop comrade Henry Hyde who participated as a non-scoring substitute for Breakaway who also lost the doubles to Lambert and Sim 10/12, 11/7, 9/11, 11/4, 9/11.    

IOM Junior Development One 1 Copy Shop D 9

Harry Walters exceeded expectations to take the scalp of Ollie Cain 11/9, 9/11, 12/10, 11/9 for Development’s only point. Third placed Copy Shop’s Chris Aspden and George Melvin completed their hat-tricks and Cain polished off the keen but inexperienced Daniel Howard and Oliver Ashe. Kevin Drewry partnered Melvin to victory in the doubles against Walters and Ashe.

Travellers D 4, Peel C 6

Travellers could only field two players so Peel were 3-0 up before they started. Fraser Dorling added two more with fine wins over both Alex and David Buck. Vishal Patel was involved in the game of the night to beat Alex having earlier lost to David. Travellers dovetailed well to take the doubles and the young Bucks also won their matches against Nathan Evans who never-the-less scored the vital point by being present.

IOM Junior Development Two 0, Fortress Management Services 10

Oscar Corkhill, Ben Harris and Anton Lushin from Junior Development found Mahmoud Hassan, Karen Hassan and Pat Halliwell just too experienced to take anything other than the odd leg but, by all accounts, they enjoyed their venture into the senior’s league

MALCOLM LAMBERT