October Week 1
The new badminton season commenced last week with some interesting new team line-ups following on from a number of player transfers over the summer. Cannons and Newbury A have seen the most changes but Newbury seemed to benefit most, posting their first 9-0 victory for quite some time when the two teams met in Mixed Division 1.
Not to be outdone, St Mary's A won by the same margin against their own newly promoted B team, but not before Glinos and Norman had scared Jones and Mason into raising their game. Shaw's A and B teams also faced each other but it was a fairly straightforward 8-1 win for the top team, with Pembroke and Wooldridge picking up the only rubber for the B team.In Mixed Division 3 it was a much
closer affair when Kennet's B and C teams battled out a very hard-fought
match. With the C-team leading 4-2 going into the last 3 rubbers, it
looked as though an upset was on the cards (and a major headache for the
team selection committee) but the B-team rallied back to take all 3
remaining rubbers and the match.
Men's Division 1 saw St
Mary's A out-gunning their Cannons A opponents in a 9-0 mauling. The
Cannons team were suffering the effects of losing several players to
Newbury, but Newbury themselves could only manage to pick up 2 rubbers
again Shaw A, although 5 rubbers went to 3 ends. It was the same
result at Downlands when they hosted Cannons B in Men's Division 2. The
home pair of Parsons and Jeshtadi were on fire as they ensured a 7-2
victory. Elsewhere in Division 2 Firefly's all-round strength was
too much for the Bucklebury Villagers and although Ainsley and Holloway
took all 3 of their rubbers for the visitors, it wasn't enough to steal
the victory. Firefly ended the evening 5-4 up. In Division 3,
Newbury's B and C teams met, resulting in an unsurprising 7-2 win in the
B-team's favour.
The Ladies 6 league got off to a very close
start as St Mary's entertained Shaw. Despite an impressive
performance by the fiery Fisher and Mason, and a good league debut by 14
year old Rachel Elms, the Shaw team were just too strong and emerged as
4-5 winners.
In the Ladies 4 league, Division 1 got
underway with Downlands visiting Cannons. A dire start to the season for
the home club continued as they lost their 4th match of the opening weeks,
this time the margin was 2-4.
October Week 3
The early season of the Newbury District Badminton league saw a superb display by 13 year old Rachel Elms, who despite her young age and against a tough opposition, came away with her first win in the League. Her sprightly performance for St.Mary’s, however, was not enough to hold off the experienced Kintbury team led by Mel Pennington, who took the tie 4-2. In the Ladies 4 league Newbury turned up to Bucklebury and thumped them in quick succession winning 9-0 with Sheila Moore and Julia Eatwell clearly not in the giving mood.
In Mens Division 3, Newbury B recorded a tricky 6-3 away win at Hurst B, with 5 out of the 9 rubbers going the distance. In the same division Kennet C won a see saw battle at Aldermaston with the tie not being decided until the last rubber. Richard Hayed and Phil McGoun bravely came back from a game down to take the deciding rubber and give themselves a happy drive home.
In Mens Division 2, another close thought match was witnessed as Shaw C held off Firefly, which again saw the tie decided on the last rubber. This time Keith Simms and Ian Lawrence held their nerve and won the victory for Shaw. Elsewhere, Bucklebury travelled to Cannons B and came away with a 6-3 win, thanks mainly to the solid form of John Holloway and Tim Witcomb, who won all three of their rubbers. Bucklebury next travelled to St.Mary’s B, but alas their form did not follow them as they went down 7-2 to the Saints inspired by the Goldberg/ Nicholls combination. The only other game in the division took place at Firefly as they hosted a strong Downlands side, who were led by veterans Keith Parsons and Ananya Jeshtadi, and the scoreline went the way of experience with Downlands recording a 7-2 win.
The only game to take place in Mens Division 1 saw the premier new boys Hurst A travel to Wantage. Despite Hurst’s best efforts, especially Mark Payne and David Ord, they went down 6-3 to a rugged Wantage side, who have in James Berkely and Adrian Brown one of the best pairs in the league.
The Mixed 3 league saw an almighty tussle between league newbies BH Pegasus and Kennet B, with 7 of the 9 games going to a decider! Despite this the end scoreline did not reflect this with Pegasus triumphing with an 8-1 win.
Mixed Division 2 saw Bucklebury in action twice, first away to Downlands and then at home to St.Marys C. The first encounter for the Bucks was the tie that no team enjoys, away to Downlands. The Downs used their home court advantage to the maximum as they trounced the luckless Buckaneers. However Bucklebury’s luck was to change when there next tie saw them record a 6-3 win against the Saints, with Margaret Neville and David Haines showing the rest how it is done.