Magical performance as Knighton Park thrash Wizards

THREE teams are battling it out at the top of Division Five this season, writes John Bowness.

Knighton Park IX are leading the way, their latest result a 9-1 victory over Winstanley Wizards III when Paul Ducksbury, who is top of the averages on 90 per cent, Ayman Gabbar (85 per cent) and Fares Gabbar (67 per cent) won all the singles.

They also have Abe Lam (86) in their team of four. Ras Kotardia and Steve Burrage won the doubles for the Wizards to avoid the full house.

Knighton Park’s eleventh team were not so lucky against secondplaced Abbots Road IV, who are one point adrift of the leaders. They had Kishen Mistry (85 per cent), Zakaria Yusuf (81 per cent) and

Sameer Shaikh (78 per cent) all in good form maintaining pressure near the top.

In third place and six points behind but with a match in hand are the Park’s tenth team, who defeated Desford Village IV by 8-2.

Tony Scarborough (78 per cent) and Bill Walmsley (62 per cent) both won three and Phil Wood (78 per cent) one, with Mike Smith (86 per cent) sitting this one out.

Notable was a win for Gemma Hargrave who is graded at 63, over Wood, graded 108, while Gillian Wisdish did the same.

Lutterworth have been sweeping all before them in Division Four but received a shock this week when third-placed team, Abbots Road III, beat them 9-1 with Bradley Lapworth and Eiz Eddin Al Katrib both unbeaten and beating players graded above them.

Ketan Paten supported with a couple with only Mike Eastell able to pick one up for the leaders who are still ahead by six points despite this setback.

Blaby and Whetstone drew 5-5 with Winstanley Wizards II with all six players winning at least one and no-one unbeaten.

Two each for Blaby’s Alan Willson and Tom Phipps, Jack Angrave supplying the other. For the Wizards Elly Bajarias took two, Ben Cooke and Kalan Bhakta, the latter playing up, one apiece before Bajarias and

Cooke grabbed the important doubles.

In Division Three, Knighton Park V lost a chance to maintain parity with their own clubmates by drawing 5-5 with Electricity V despite an excellent maximum by Ruben Dehnen, while Steve Adams and Eddie Kwok both supplied one.

For the Sparks, Andy Wright and Dan Woolman took two each and also combined for a win in the doubles.

Meanwhile the Park’s seventh team consolidated their position at the top by defeating Electricity’s fourth team 8-2. Leading player, Amardeep Gudela, recorded his usual maximum as did Simon Aldis while Martin Pember took one.

Another draw in this division saw

Goons II fight it out with Unicorn III. Paul Hinson and John Jacques both notched a couple for Goons and the doubles while, for Unicorn, Jacob Sharp and Xi-Long Huang each won two and the other important singles was supplied by Jordan Tweed.

A Tony Fox maximum saw Holwell Sports home against Electricity III in Division Two with good support from Dave Roche and Mike James both winning two.

Holwell are in the mix for second but Desford Village firsts remain top by a fair margin after a 6-4 victory over Knighton Park IV.

Desford’s second team had a great chance to go second but went down to another team in the mix, Abbots Road, who came good in a cracking match by 6-4.