This week's action was dominated by matches in the lower divisions of the Men's league. Saint Mary's B team made a particularly fine start to the New Year, with a couple of impressive home victories to maintain their 100% record in division 3. First to be put to the sword were Newbury's B team. Mike Nicholls and Ilya Goldberg gained 3 points with relative ease, including a 21-17,21-15 victory over Newbury's strongest pair Bryan Eastwood and Will Alexander. Probably the performance of the evening was given by Clive Evans and Chi Yeung though, who came back from losing the first set to claim victory twice. The final score was 8-1 to The Saints.

The same 6 Saints players welcomed Shaw's C team a few days later, and again they ran out 8-1 victors, though this score-line was a little harsh on Shaw. Things might have been different if Shaw's Andy Nicholson and Keith Simms had managed to win an epic first rubber, but Goldberg and Nicholls battled to a 21-18, 15-21, 21-17 victory. The next two rubbers were also closely fought, but on each occasion the home team won the crucial points and took the spoils. Nicholson and Simms gave Shaw some hope by taking the fourth rubber to make the score 3-1, but when Nicholls and Goldberg won the sixth rubber with a comfortable 21-11, 21-16 victory over Alan Wooldridge and Ian Lawrence, St Mary's were home and dry. Matt Benyons and Nick Gerrard enjoyed a fine evening and completed their personal clean sweep with a 21-16, 21-17 win in the seventh rubber.

Shaw still hold second place though, thanks to an earlier hard-fought victory at Aldermaston. On this occasion the Simms and Nicholson partnership were not to be denied, as they won all three rubbers with ease. Perhaps the crucial rubber of the evening was the third, when Ian Lawrence and Alan Wooldridge won out 16-21, 11-21 against Aldermaston's Ben Coapes and Gerard Blackaller, with Shaw running out to a 3-6 victory.

Aldermaston were also the hosts to Downland's B team, in a match that had 5 three-set rubbers. The visitors proved to be made of the sterner stuff, as they managed to win 4 of these 5 rubbers, with old-head Keith Parsons claiming two of these victories with partner Campbell Hardie. Probably key amongst these was a 21-17, 18-21, 17-21 victory in rubber three over Nick Jasper and Gerard Blackaller to edge the visitors into a 1-2 lead. Another key moment came in rubber 5, as again a three-setter went Downland's way, with a 23-25, 21-18, 17-21 victory for Paul Curson and Owen Prentice over the unfortunate Jasper and Blackaller. That victory gave the visitors a 2-3 lead, and two rubbers later the match was won as they stretched to a 2-5 scoreline. The final score was 3-6.

Up in division 2, Firefly enjoyed a fine victory over Newbury, though the visitors didn't help their cause by only fielding two pairs. Ever-reliable Andy Moore teamed up with Craig Beamson to win 2 rubbers for Newbury, including a nail-biting 17-21, 21-13, 20-22 victory over Firefly's Steve Webb and Chris Nunne. The hosts were not to be denied though, as Mick Turrell and David Ord won both their rubbers to lead them to a comfortable 7-2 win.

The only action in the Mixed leagues involved a fine tussle between Whitchurch and Bucklebury in Division 3. It was visitors Bucklebury who took the spoils with a 5-4 victory, thanks largely to a fine display by David Haines and Linda Cross, who won all 3 of their rubbers. The turning point in this game may well have been the very first rubber. The hosts' Viv Hazell and Stuart Gorden strolled to a 21-7 first set win over Haines and Cross, only to lose the next 2 sets (13-21, 14-21) to give the Bucks the early momentum in the match.

January Week 4

In the Ladies '4' division 2 Kintbury's team looked like they'd been too influenced by Channel 4's "Kill it, Cook it, Eat it".  They were led like lambs to the slaughter to Compton where the Downlands team, lead by Hannah Welltanned took them apart 6-0 with not a single end conceded. Although starting as the underdogs, Downlands were rarely troubled although Walker and Larsen were unlucky not to get at least one end from Welltanned and Miller.
 
In the Mens leagues, division 1 is continuing to be a very tight war.  Kennet "A" are pushing Shaw "A" all the way and are currently lying top with only 1 game separating the two. At the other end of the table, Cannons "A" and Downlands "A" teams are both suffering from post-Christmas blues. Only two pairs from each team played and all the games went Cannons' way giving them a vital 2 more points to clear the relegation zone for now.
Division 2 saw Kennet "B" at Firefly and although each of the home team pairs managed to take at least one of their opposing pairs to 3 ends, Kennet triumphed overall 9-0.
 
Mens division 3 saw St Mary's "B" take on Greenacres.  The visitors must have wondered if it was worth the journey as the Saints romped home 9-0 winners. Downlands "B" took travelled to Shaw "C" with only two pairs, giving them a disadvantage that they could ill afford, leaving the Shaw team as victors by 7-2.

One of the tightest matches this week was in the Mixed Division 1 which saw Aldermaston away to Kennet "A". Apsey and Ward took all three of their games including the only success of the night against Meakin and Penance. With the match finely poised at 4 rubbers each going into the last game, Hitchcock and Adlington won the deciding 3rd end tie-break with a classy shot which struck the net tape and rolled over, ending the hopes of Sutton and Ward Jnr.

At the other end of the scale, St Mary's "A" hosted Cannons "A". The Saints were back to almost full strength with Braithwaite working hard to compensate for the slow return of Fisher from injury, and emerged clear 9-0 winners to keep the pressure on Shaw at the top of the table.  The Saints "B" team edged out Newbury "B" in Mixed Division 2 by one rubber, with the old stalwarts Glinos and Norman keeping a clean sheet. Kintbury picked up valuable points agains Shaw "C" in a game which saw the return to form of Pennington & Heath who took no prisoners in their 7-2 victory.