Chesterwell all-but seal the title

The long-time leaders did their damage in typical fashion as they whitewashed WDHA Knightriders 10-0 to ensure they now need just one more point to be crowned champions.

Wanderers E moved two points clear of Stanwick, who have a game in hand, in the race for second place as they beat Higham Harriers C 7-3.

David May, Derek Shears and Steve Hoole all hit braces with Oli Hicks taking a point from Hoole and Matt Hicks with the remaining two points, taking wins against Shears and May in four ends. Wanderers added the final doubles point in three ends.

Hubert Malenda scored his fifth hat-trick of the season and along with Ansh Shah, scoring his second, they steered WDHA Challengers to a 9-1 win over lowly Chesterwell E.

Gordon Campbell scored the only point with a three-end victory over Daniel Bain, and had a number of close ends against his other opponents.

Challengers scored the final point in the doubles by taking it 12-10 in the third end.

The all-Westfield clash saw the D side seal a 9-1 success over their E team club-mates.

Stuart Rae won the only point for the home side in a five-end match against Asish Nandi (7-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-9, 11-7) with Stuart Holroyd and Amrat Mistry scoring hat-tricks for the D side.

Results: WDHA Challengers 9 (Hubert Malenda 3, Daniel Bain 2, Ansh Shah 3, doubles Malenda/Shah) Chesterwell E 1 (Gordon Campbell), WDHA Knightriders 0 (Kavish Dodhia), Chesterwell D 10 (Johnathan Driscoll 3, Duncan Wright 3, Daniel Mann 3, doubles Wright/Mann), Westfield E 1 (Stuart Rae) Westfield D 9 (Stuart Holroyd 3, Asish Nandi 2, Amrat Mistry 3, doubles Holroyd/Nandi), Wanderers E 7 (David May 2, Derek Shears 2, Steve Hoole 2, doubles May/Shears) Higham Harriers C 3. (Oliver Hicks, Matt Hicks 2).

WDHA Royals picked up two wins in Division One.

They sent Wanderers A to a second defeat in a row with a 6-4 success.

Wanderers’ John Stamp beat Abin Islam, Andy Law beat Virat Patel and Jon Taylor-Burt beat Shyam Bavalia which were all clear-cut victories.

A fourth point for the hosts was gained in a hard-fought doubles when Stamp and Law won out 5-11, 11-5, 12-14, 15-13, 11-6 over Islam and Patel.

Royals then fielded arguably their strongest side and beat Chesterwell B 9-1 to put them level at the top of the table with 97 points.

Graham Ellson, not at his best, failed to gain a leg and although Carlton Ellwood took both Ethan Ali and Patel to five, it was left to Luke Hughes to avoid the clean sweep by gaining his ninth single in 13 outings, winning out 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9 over Islam.

Wanderers A bounced back from the loss to Royals with a 10-0 win at Old Grammarians A, who were without star performer Steve Kendall.

Mick Ball and reserve Roger Fleming failed to gain a leg and the only resistance was in game five where Phil Laurence battled gamely before going down 11-9, 7-11, 7.11, 11-8, 8-11 to Jon Taylor-Burt.

With relegation seemingly certain, Wanderers B’s only remaining league interest is in avoiding the bottom slot, being currently four points adrift after an 8-2 loss to St John A.

Bob Hickson, who prior to this season had always turned up some shock results nearly reverted to type, in a terrific battle with the much higher-ranked Grant Timms, before bowing out 11-8, 23-21, 9-11, 8-11, 13-15.

However, he had the satisfaction of reaching double figures for the season when winning out 11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6 over Jon Perkins, who also went down 14-16, 8-11, 8-11 to Paul Goodman.

Pete Boustred gained his second treble of the season to leave the visitors comfortably placed in mid-table.

Results: Wanderers A 4 (John Stamp, Andy Law, Jon Taylor-Burt, doubles Stamp/Law) WDHA Royals 6 (Abin Islam 2, Shyam Bavalia 2, Virat Patel 2), Old Grammarians A 0 Wanderers 10 (John Stamp 3, Andy Law 3, Jon Taylor-Burt 3, doubles Stamp/Law), WDHA Royals 9 (Ethan Ali 3, Abin Islam 2, Virat Patel 3, doubles Ali/Patel) Chesterwell B 1 (Luke Hughes) , Wanderers B 2 (Paul Goodman, Bob Hickson) St John A 8 (Jon Perkins, Pete Boustred 3, Grant Timms 3, doubles Perkins/Boustred).

A crushing 10-0 victory for Division Two leaders Westfield B over Wanderers D saw them extend their lead at the top o to 13 points and it now looks like their battle with St John B for the title will go down to the wire.

Charlie Clements, Leigh Clements and Mark Thomas all scored straightforward trebles for the victors with only one of the 10 games needing a fourth end.

David May, playing up from Division Three, managed to take an end off Charlie Clements but that was as good as it got for the visitors.

Another solid performance from Chesterwell C against the league’s bottom club saw them maintain fourth place in the league as they beat Old Grammarians B 8-2.

Once again Maxine Shears led the way with her customary treble.

Clare Coles and John Henderson gave good support with two wins apiece and before Coles and Shears took the doubles in three straight ends.

Colin Lord and Roger Fleming scored a point each for the visitors to keep the scoreline respectable.

Two of the division’s top five teams contested a very close affair with WDHA Superkings finally taking a 6-4 victory in the doubles against Wanderers C.

A fine treble from Manav Pandya and a good double from Milan Pandya comprised the home team’s singles points while all of the Wanderers players made a contribution with two wins from James Findlay and singles for Tony Wallis and Carl Singh.

The two Pandya boys took the doubles in four ends against Singh and Findlay.

Another keenly contested match between two teams lying next to each other in the league table saw Higham Band A win 6-4 at Westfield C.

Nigel Magee led his team to victory with a great maximum and was well supported with two wins from Pete Martin and a single from Keith Stockley.

Steve Fuller replied for the home team with a good double and Mark Ramsden added a single and finally the two of them combined to take a well-earned victory in the doubles, keeping the scoreline close.

Results: Chesterwell C 8 (John Henderson 2, Clare Coles 2, Maxine Shears 3, doubles Shears/Coles) Old Grammarians B 2 (Colin Lord, Roger Fleming), WDHA Superkings 6 (Milan Pandya 2, Manav Pandya 3, doubles Pandya/Pandya) Wanderers C 4 (James Findlay 2, Tony Wallis, Carl Singh), Westfield C 4 (Steve Fuller 2, Mark Ramsden, doubles Fuller/Ramsden) Higham Band A 6 (Nigel Magee 3, Keith Stockley, Pete Martin 2), Westfield B 10 (Charlie Clements 3, Mark Thomas 3, Leigh Clements 3, doubles Clements/Thomas) Wanderers D 0.

The final round of the TTE National Junior League Division Two, which was held at Weavers Leisure Centre in Wellingborough, saw the WDHA Juniors wrap up the championship with a 100 per cent record.

Virat Patel was their leading player and unbeaten, winning all 10 sets while being ably supported by team-mates Ethan Ali, winning nine out of 10, and Abin Islam who took six out of 10.

This was the club’s first national success under the guidance of their coach Graeme McKim - a former county champion of 50 titles.