Jamie Westwater retained his 100% average in Division 4 this week when Brandon Crusaders hosted Backspin B. Westwater won his 3 matches but it was teammate Jamie Collins who took Player of the Match as he also won 3 but lost fewer points overall. Alan Perry was their third player but he was unable to beat Adam Butler, John Cook or Alex Nicholl who all won only one match each. Butler and Nicholl did however combine to win a scintillating victory in the doubles, scraping by with the narrowest of margins 16-14 in the deciding fifth end.
It was a similar story for Redby as they travelled to Lanchester. The away team’s Istvan Franko and Istvan Soos both won hat-tricks, Soos taking Player of the Match, but Andrea Frankone wasn’t able to pick up any wins. This time however Redby also won the doubles leading to a 7-3 victory over Lanchester’s Reuben Emery, John Rayner and Neil Forster.
In the division’s last fixture of the week, Cramlington Jaguars’ line-up of Mick Sursham, Aubrey Drapkin and Daniel Mcmanus faced an Ouston B team consisting of Duncan Hindmarsh, Jamie Milroy and David Nichols. New player Daniel Mcmanus did well to beat Milroy and Nichols but Ouston’s Duncan Hindmarsh was too strong, winning his three and taking Player of the Match. Sursham beat Nichols but Drapkin was unable to grab a win resulting in a 7-3 loss for the home team.
Division 5’s bottom team Brandon Energy had an uncomfortable encounter with the top team Cramlington Falcons when they lost 10-0 at home. Brandon’s Keith Mckenzie, Jack Huntley and Paul Dunn were unable to win any ends in the singles matches but did nearly win the doubles, eventually losing 11-5 in the fifth end. This keeps the Brandon side rock bottom of the division but with no fear of relegation the community hopes that these new players will persevere and continue to enjoy the game.
Cramlington’s rising star Oliver Ho played twice this week against the same team when he turned out for both Cramlington Knights and Cramlington Magpies against club rivals Cramlington Lions. In his first match for the Knights, he played well to comfortably beat both Rohan Rawat and Tony Roskilly in three straight ends. In his second encounter Rawat was much more competitive and won 3-1 with two very tight deuce ends but Ho also managed to beat Ojas Aggarwal. In both games Ho had phenomenal encounters with another youngster, Alan Roskilly. Both matches went to five full ends and unfortunately for Ho he lost by just 2 points in both. In the first match Ho lost the fourth and fifth end 12-10 and in the second match he lost the fifth 11-9. Both matches were excellent to watch with long attacking topspin rallies, lobs and drop-shots. Unfortunately for Oliver his teams weren’t able to support him as they lost both matches 8-2 overall.
In the other two Division 5 matches, Backspin C beat Brandon Fire 7-3 with the home team’s Debbie Irwin winning her hat-trick and Player of the Match, supported by 2 wins from Lyndsey Beacham and 1 from Martyn Parry. Brandon’s Bill Maclennan won 2 and Abbey Maddison won 1 but Paul Henderson was unable to grab a victory. Cramlington Knights hosted East Boldon B and the Knights’ John Hogg won three with teammates Patrick Easton and Joel Harris winning one each. This gave them a drew as Boldon’s Ethan Brown won 2 and both William Walton and Bruce Davison won one each plus the doubles.
