New bat coverings have yet to spin their magic in city

DESPITE the introduction of four extra colours for bat coverings last month, no-one in Leicester has been seen with one yet, writes John Bowness.

But if the introduction of a variety of bat coverings over the last 50 odd years is anything to go by, it will not be long before they become the rage.

The four new colours in addition to the existing red are blue, pink, violet and green and, at the moment, they are expected to have the same qualities as the old rubbers, bearing in mind black still has to be used on the other side to distinguish how each side performs.

Division One of the current competition in the Leicester and District League has been a little slow to get going, but Ajax Wolvey have been very busy, having played all three of their matches, with mixed results.

They have signed Dave Gannon and he is undefeated after his two matches.

He won all three in a 7-3 victory over Syston, helped by a maximum from Gareth Edmunds, and these two were also undefeated, along with Mick Allsopp, in a resounding 9-1 success over Desford Village.

Ajax had a different team against Knighton Park II, for whom Karen Smith won three, and went down 7-3.

Electricity beat a depleted Arnesby 7-3 with Andy LeButt winning both of his singles including a nail-biting victory over top man Abraham Conteh 15-13, 18-16, 13-11.

A few very good maximums in Division Two including all three for

Mike James for Holwell Sports against Desford Village in a 6-4 defeat.

Also winning three was newcomer to the league Virgil Birch-Abban in Knighton Park 4th’s 5-5 draw against Unicorn.

In a local derby clash between Knighton Park teams in Division Three, Sergiu Cordos, another new league player, took a splendid maximum for their seventh team against the fifth, the latter winning 7-3 thanks to two apiece from Dave Mountain, Simon Aldis and Chris Parmar-Saville.

Bryan Moylan, who spent a number of years at Electricity, has moved to Desford Village and won all three for his new team in Division Four against Nomads II, as did Luke Blair in a strong looking team which also has Alan Oxbrough, the latter winning two in a 9-1 success.

Laszlo Kocsis has started well for Nomads, taking a maximum against Knighton Park VIII, while Terry Wale did the same. Kocsis then won all three in a top-of-the-table clash against Fleckney in a 7-3 victory, with Mark Clay winning two.