Title-chasing St Georges B held to draw

Church’s James Berry inflicted a rare defeat on Mark Jackson in his three wins. Greg Swan and Monika Tomaszek added singles, Tomaszek’s victory being an 11-8 in the 5th over John O’Donnell. Jackson (2) Mark Rose (2) combined to take the doubles in their reply.

Bottom side Oxhill also bagged a draw against WCC Bats. Tony West led the way with three and Anthony Gorman supplied two. Nilton Green (2) Martin Hunter (1) and Martyn Todd (1) scored for Bats with Green and Todd winning the doubles.

Wellesbourne visited WCC A and came away with a 7-3 win. Pete Barrow notched a treble, Steve Cull’s two included a 13-11 in the 5th win over Niall Herbert., and Gary Stewart beat Chris Madden. Barrow and Cull took the doubles. Taran Dhillon won a brace for Council and Herbert chipped in with one.

First played second in Division 2 but it turned out to be a one-sided scoreline as Nomads Aces defeated WCC Coots 9-1. Andy Davies and Simon Nolan were unbeaten,

WCC Bears overcame Whitnash 8-2 with Paul Calloway and Chris Hughes accounting for 7 of the points. Phil Paine notched the eighth when pipping Andy Coonan 11-8 in the 5th. Richard Smith and Dennis Woodhead shared Whitnash’s points.

Free Church E collared Eathorpe A 7-3 with Stefan Birca recording a hat-trick. Chris Jones won two and pocketed the doubles with Dan Shaw who won one. All three of the villagers’ team posted singles, Marius Morariu, Kieran Podbury and Walter Warburton.

Rugby C also won 7-3 against Eathorpe B and moved into 4th. Marina Ndumengo was unbeaten in singles and doubles with Daryl Burgess who won two. Jo Outhwaite took their other point. Mark Bastick was Eathorpe’s strongest player with two and Ben James added one.

Free Church D are just behind Rugby and edged Flavels 6-4 despite an excellent treble from Shivam Kapur. Trevor Bradley contributed a single but Church took command with braces from Jeff Harris and Owain Jones and a single from Ollie Endersby. Harris and Jones won the crucial doubles.

Rugby D head Division 3 and cruised to a 10-0 win over Eathorpe D, courtesy of Dave Cox, Martyn Lilley and Chris Maddox.

Whitnash B won 7-3 at Moreton Morrell Tennis Court Club though all of their side had to give second best to Kannan Nithi who preserved his 100% record. Len Coonan, Tamas Nemeth and Paras Tejani all won twice and Coonan and Tejani bagged the doubles.

Another triple winner on the losing side was Kim Wong whose Nomads Codgers team lost 4-6 to Free Church G. Les Hoggins added the other point. Radu Draghici (2) Michael Khovanov (2) and Bethan Jones (1) plus a Draghici/ Khovanov doubles saw Church home.

Free Church H were also victors , 7-3 over Ashorne A. Deva Bakthisaran (3), Johnson Wong (2) and Alexandre Diallo (1), making his debut at this level, got to 6 and then Diallo joined Bakthisaran to win the doubles. Martin Hamer starred for Ashorne with two and Jim Goodwin chipped in with one.

Making it a good week for the Free Church club, their F side overcame Nomads Dragons 7-3. Nick Darwen and Susie Swan swooped to take 6 singles and Mark Singleton beat Catherine McAuley. Janice Rowan and Mike Weaving replied and McAuley showed what a strong doubles player she is by guiding Rowan to success.

WCC Flounders pipped Eathorpe C 6-4 thanks to a strong performance from the unbeaten Steve Proctor. He was supported by Simon Chalker (1) and Jeremy Sampson (1) and, with Sampson as his partner, edged the doubles in 5. Darren Hadley (2) was Eathorpe’s mainstay and John Ablett (1) and Dan Hadley (1) took the match to the wire.

Flounders were not so fortunate in Division A losing 1-4 to Eathorpe F. Chris Atkins won his two, Jim Levack won one and the pair won the doubles. Andy Caine prevented the whitewash.

Free Church I cannot be caught in Division B after seeing off their M team 5-0. Alex Bosworth and Sam Groom have won all 9 matches.

Radford A should finish second after dispatching rivals Rugby G 4-1. Gary Edwards showed his pedigree winning twice and ensured a doubles win with Ian Ogden who beat Bernie Burke. Katsuko Nagata got the consolation.

Elsewhere, Lillington Free Church table-tennis Club sent its senior team to play matches 9 and 10 in Senior British League Division 3C. The club won all of its previous 8 matches so went into Saturday’s matches with confidence. Lee Dorning, Jack Green and junior Rex Wong were joined by another junior in Chris Ho, making his seasonal debut.

First up were Kidlington Forum, the nearest challengers to Church. Two wins from Dorning over Antonio Bellinva and Jack Shardlow, another pair from Wong over Shardlow and Edward Lush set Lillington on course. Green beat Bellinva and Ho defeated Lush 3-0. Despite losing the doubles 10-12 in the 5th, the 6-3 scoreline was sufficient to stave off any challenge.

Next up were Westfield of Wellingborough who were sunk 8-1. Dorning accounted for Kevin Bird and Dan Smalley, Wong beat Smalley and Matt Horrocks, Green beat Bhavika Mistry and Bird and Ho saw off Mistry. Dorning and Lee pocketed the doubles.

With 4 matches to play in April and one promotion spot available ,Lillington sit top, 6 points clear of second.