Week 1
The new season is again amongst us and the Didcot league has started a week early. As usual there are five divisions but there will be a new format in D3 and 4 with each team playing each other three times.
Division 1 seems dominated now with sides from Marlborough with 4 of them present. The two newly promoted sides Marlborough D and Upton got off to a bad start losing 9-1 and 10-0 to Marlborough A and C respectively. Only Rob F jones took a game in the all Marlborough tie. It appears both of these sides will struggle again this season. The all RAL game also went 10-0 to last season�s runners up RAL A. Charlie Lane took a fine maximum in a losing cause for Moreton against Marlborough C. It looks like Letcombe A may also struggle as despite Richard Taylors maximum they went down 6-4 to Drayton A.
In Division 2 newly promoted Wallingford A also had a hard start going down 7-3 to Drayton C, John Gould taking a maximum to see Drayton home. The return to Drayton from Upton for Dave Hudson and Steve Gardiner did not go well as Drayton B went down 10-0 to Moreton B, although the individual games were closer than perhaps the final score line suggested. A two man Sutton A also managed a fine 7-3 win against Moreton C.
Strangely all the matches in Division 3 were 7-3 with the pick being newly promoted Hanney winning against Wallingford B with Arthur Anstis taking a maximum.
Division 4 saw Marlborough G take a 10-0 win over Letcombe C and a 7-3 win For Drayton F over Drayton E thanks to a maximum for Robbie Greenfield.
In Division 5 a maximum from Phil Neatherway could not prevent Abingdon D losing to Moreton E. Colin Williams maximum helped Sandford B to a 6-4 win over Hanney B.
Results: Div 1: Moreton A 4 (C Lane 3), Marlborough C 6; Marlborough A 9 (N Taylor 3, A Noke 3), Marlborough D 1; Letcombe A 4 (R Taylor 3), Drayton A 6; RAL B 0, RAL A 10 (K Bushell 3, C Lansley 3, C Smith 3); Upton 0, Marlborough B 10 (J Barclay 3, P Haycock 3, J Lovelock 3). Div 2: Moreton B 10 (I Wu 3, T Raby 3, J Goldsby-West 3), Drayton B 0; Moreton C 3, Sutton A 7 (T Elford 3, C Noys 3); Wallingford A 3, Drayton C 7 (J Gould 3). Div 3: Marlborough E 7 (M Kay 3), Grove A 3; Hanney A 7 (A Anstis 3), Wallingford B 3; Letcombe B 7 (D Vale 3), Abingdon C 3. Div 4: Marlborough F 7 (L Sheppard 3), Moreton D 3; Marlborough G 10 (P Sinclair 3, S Cobrin 3, L Johnson 3), Letcombe C 0; Drayton F 7 (R Greenfield 3), Drayton E 3. Div 5: Hanney B 4, Sandford B 6 (C Williams 3); Abingdon D 4 (P Neatherway 3), Moreton E 6. |
by Owen Brazell
10th Oct 2016