Chesterwell pull clear after a clean sweep

The visitors’ trio of Stan Galkowski, Mike Pond and Valdy Papiernik were never troubled with no game going to five and the hosts look set for Division Two unless a big upsurge is forthcoming.

Chesterwell hold an 11-point lead at the summit, although second-placed Westfield A have two games in hand.

Wanderers A’s hopes of landing the runners-up spot suffered a setback.

They did claim a 9-1 victory at Thrapston, who avoided the clean sweep when Chris Warliker beat Jon Taylor-Burt 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7.

But Wanderers then suffered a surprise 7-3 loss at Higham Harriers A.

Ian Bird cruised to a comfortable treble while Graham Bird, after going down heavily to Tony Wharton, responded well to edge out Jon Taylor-Burt and John Stamp.

Norman Wooster edged out Stamp 8-11, 12-10, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6 and an excellent victory was confirmed when the two Birds won out 8-11, 12-10, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6 in the doubles over Wharton and Taylor-Burt.

Harriers were unable to follow that up, however, as they lost out 6-4 to WDHA Royals, who are also chasing the runners-up spot.

Ian Bird gained his normal treble in his second match of the week but was taken to the wire by Abin Islam before winning out 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9.

Graham Bird fought hard without success as he was beaten 11-8, 6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11 by Shyam Bavalia but a further point was gained when the Birds’ excellent doubles run continued with a win over Virat Patel and Islam.

Chesterwell B edged out St John A 6-4 and there was a surprise result as Jon Perkins, with only three wins to his name, won a five-set game 7-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 over a below-par Graham Ellson.

Luke Hughes saw off Perkins 14-12, 11-6, 11-13, 11-4 but went down to Richard Wills and Pete Boustred.

Carlton Ellwood cashed in on the absence of Grant Timms for an excellent treble but Ellson disappointed against Wills for the match to depend on the doubles.

Ellwood and Ellson duly obliged with a 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 win over Perkins and Wills to clinch victory.

Results: Thrapston 1 (Chris Warliker) Wanderers A 9 (Tony Wharton 3, Jon Taylor-Burton, Andy Law 3, doubles Wharton/Law), Chesterwell B 6 (Graham Ellson, Luke Hughes, Carlton Ellwood 3, doubles Ellson/Ellwood) St John A 4 (Jon Perkins, Pete Boustred, Richard Wills 2), Wanderers B 0 Chesterwell A 10 (Stan Galkowski 3, Mike Pond 3, Valdy Papiernik, doubles Pond/Galkowski), Higham Harriers A 7 (Graham Bird 2, Ian Bird 3, Norman Wooster, doubles Bid/Bird) Wanderers A 3 (Tony Wharton 2, Jon Taylor-Burt), WDHA Royals 6 (Abin Islam 2, Virat Patel 2, Shyam Bavalia 2) Higham Harriers A 4 (Ian Bird 3, doubles Bird/Bird).

The Higham derby in Division Two went the way of Band A as they beat Harriers B 6-4 by clinching the doubles in a five-set decider.

Pete Martin starred for the victors with the only treble of the night and was well supported with a brace from Keith Stockley. The two of them then combined to take the all important doubles.

Harriers’ points were shared between Phil Inman (two wins) and a single victory apiece from Bob Collyer and Neil Stevens.

Harriers’ second match of the week saw them fare better as they won 7-3 at Old Grammarians B.

The Harriers’ points were shared equally between Anthony Stevens, Neil Stevens and Inman, all scoring two wins each.

For the home team, Colin Lord hobbled his way to a brave double and almost added a third but went down 11-8 in his fifth set against Anthony Stevens.

Roger Fleming added a single win and David Bayes, once again playing with impaired vision, narrowly failed to register despite also taking Anthony Stevens to five sets before going down 11-9.

WDHA Superkings did very well to take four points off league leaders Westfield B and had the ever-improving Dev Patel to thank with a stunning maximum.

Westfield’s three regular first-choice players Charlie Clements, Leigh Clements and Mark Thomas all scored good doubles but none of them could get the better of Patel.

Thomas came closest to beating him in a five-set thriller but finally went down 11-9 in the final set.

Westfield C proved too strong for visitors Wanderers D and once again had Steve Fuller to thank for the 7-3 victory as he sealed another excellent maximum.

Mark Ramsden added a further two wins and Mark Holly finally broke his duck with his first of the season.

Mike Howorth scored a single win for the Wanderers but probably the performance of the night came from David May who normally plays in Division Three for his club’s E team.

He scored two good wins and helped his side avoid a much heavier defeat.

Results: Higham Band A 6 (Keith Stockley 2, Pete Martin 3, doubles Martin/Stockley) Higham Harriers B 4 (Phill Inman 2, Bob Collyer, Neil Stevens), Westfield C 7 (Mark Holly, Mark Ramsden 2, Steve Fuller 3, doubles Ramsden/Fuller) Wanderers D 3 (Mike Howorth, David May 2), WDHA Superkings B 4 (Dev Patel 3, doubles Patel/Jethwa) Westfield B 6 (Charlie Clements 2, Leigh Clements 2, Mark Thomas 2), Old Grammarians B 3 (Colin Lord 2, Roger Fleming) Higham Harriers B 7 (Anthony Stevens 2, Neil Stevens 2, Phill Inman 2, doubles Inman/N Stevens).

Higham Band B prevented a second whitewash of the season at the hands of Division Three leaders Chesterwell D, who had to settle for a 9-1 success.

Stuart Futrill won out 7-11, 11-9, 11-2, 12-10 against Duncan Wright for Band’s point.

Futrill also managed to take an end from both Johnathan Driscoll and Daniel Mann to no avail, but Chesterwell proved too strong for Neil Thompson and John Yeates, who was back in action following his injury.

Higham Harriers C triplets, Oli, Matt and Katie Hicks made sure they secured all the points against lowly Chesterwell E with only two games requiring a fourth end, Peter Atkins’ against Katie and Gordon Campbell’s against Matt.

The young players from WDHA Challengers could well have expected a few more points to add to their single win, which saw Rishan Ganatra defeating Asish Nandi in four ends 4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5.

There were other sets that went to a fifth-end decider but they all went Westfield D’s way, even game seven where Daniel Bain was two legs up against Amrat Mistry but lost the next three as Westfield picked up a 9-1 success.

WDHA Knightriders’ Anish Patel defeated Westfield E’s Nicole King 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 in game two but that was as good as it got as the visitors ran out 9-1 winners.

Westfield were always clearly in command with hat-tricks for Ian and Stuart Rae.

Results: Higham Band B 1 (Stuart Futrill) Chesterwell D 9 (Johnathan Driscoll 3, Duncan Wright 2, Daniel Mann 3, doubles Wright/Mann), Chesterwell E 0 Higham Harriers C 10 (Oli Hicks, Matt Hicks, Katie Hicks, doubles Katie/Oli Hicks), WDHA Challengers C 1 (Rishan Ganatra) Westfield D 9 (Stuart Holroyd 3, Asish Nandi 2, Amrat Mistry 3, doubles Holroyd/Nandi), WDHA Knightriders 1 (Ansh Patel) Westfield E 9 (Iain Rae 3, Nicole King 2, Stuart Rae 3, doubles S Rae/King).