Cranford B celebrate winning Mens Division 3A
14 March, 2014 Andy Rowe
The Cranford B squad of Mark Anderson, Paul Samme, Tim Ellis, Barrie Smethurst Bernard Langlois, Jack Langlois, Paul Furler, Patrick Williams and Jamie Feasey have cracked open the champagne to celebrate winning Division 3A. They ended unbeaten after a 9-0 win over Honiton, a 7-2 win over St Leonards C and a 6-3 win over Otter Vale. Cranfords long serving player, Barrie Smethurst said “We are a resilient team with most of us playing through the pain barrier with one injury or another, so we are really glad to have crossed the finishing line in 1st place”
The St Leonards C team of Allister Brimble, Pierre Aumjaud, Martin Matthews, Ali Rehemi, Lee Clatworthy and Mark Stanley were 5-4 victors in a marathon match against the Otter Vale team of Dan Clark, Ray Puttick, Nic Williamson, Ed Bugler, Brian Deem and Mark Brown. 8 of the 9 rubbers went to a 3
rd game, with 7 of those going to at least 21-17 in the third game. Otter Vales Deem/Brown won the only rubber to be decided in straight games, fighting back from 19-11 down in the first game to win 21-19, 21-10!
Exeter A are the champions of Division 1. The Exeter A team of Sam Lees, Geoff Littler, Ryan Parker-Bowker, Sam Owens, Jamie Samuels and Gareth Pearse dispatched 2 pair Sidmouth A 9-0. The match was notable for the Exeter rising stars Ryan Parker-Bowker and Sam Owens holding their nerve to beat Sidmouth’s Devon O40’s stars Chris Bird and John Carter 21-12, 17-21, 30-28.
Queens A picked up their 3rd win of the campaign – a battling 5-4 win over Exeter B. Nick Masson and Nick Halliwell led the charge with 3 wins and were well supported by Tim Goode and Ben Herbert (2). Gary Bourner and Ryan Parker-Bowker impressed for Exeter with 2 wins.
Ringswell A have extended their grip on Division 2 with a 6-3 win over Queens B. It was 2 wins apiece for the Ringswell pairs of Nigel Osborne/Steve Rice, Callum Owens/Ian Walsh and Paul Owens/Guy Rollinson. Nathan Scase and Andy Hawkins came away for 3 wins for Queens.
University beat Exeter C 7-2 to jump to second place. The student pairing of Toby Hong and Alex Banks starred with 3 wins, with the scoring completed by Andrew Wing/Luke Blades (2) and Steven Ford/Spencer Teng (2). Dave Harland and Alistair Banks salvaged 2 points for Exeter C.
The Hong/Banks pairing continued their winning ways with 3 wins against St Leonards B to steer University to a 6-3 win.
In Division 3B, back to back wins by Sidmouth B have propelled them to the top spot. Sidmouth’s Paul Merchant/Graham Baker (3), Steve Smith/Paul Carter (3) and David Bromage/Alan Soper (2) eased to an 8-1 win over Clyst Vale. Dan Cordey and John Edwards rescued a point for Clyst Vale.
An unchanged Sidmouth B team then beat title rivals St Leonards D 5-4, thanks to another unbeaten performance from the Carter/Smith pair and a brace of wins from the Merchant/Baker pair.