InterTown

February
2010: All four January matches were postponed, owing to the heavy snowfall. February saw two heavy defeats, for the Juniors at home to Leamington (0-10) and for Vets A the first reverse in four years, a resounding 2-8 at Coventry A. Tom Marrs has been playing well and almost averted the Junior whitewash, as he blew away several match points in his last singles. One singles for Karl Bushell and a doubles win for Karl and Andy Misseldine was all that Vets A could harvest from their encounter with the Coventry trio of Andy Woodcock, Jas Singh and Ron Vose, a result which throws Vets Div 1 wide open. Meanwhile Vets B continue unbeaten with 4 wins/4 in Div 3, the latest being a 10-0 demolition of Nuneaton C. This was really one-way traffic to the point of embarrassment, with Mike Wilkins, Mark Scott and Nigel Taylor being a class above their opponents. But we have yet to play the two top teams, Telford and Stafford B and these matches will decide the division.

ML Player of the Month: Nigel Taylor, ever-present in Vets B with 9/12.

March

March 14th saw a double-header at Exeter Close and both Vets sides steamed to victory. The A team’s 6-4 over Northampton owed much to Jeff Rigby, who won his three singles and combined with Karl Bushell to take the doubles from two games down. We led 5-1, but were almost pegged back, as Gary Webb hit form for the visitors. The B side brought in Glen Freeman for the top of the table clash with Telford and he gave us a great start, beating Mark Dixon 11-8 in the 5th. Malcolm Langford took 3 for Telford, but Glen, Neil Hurford and Mike Wilkins won all the rest in a 7-3 victory, which puts us in pole position at the top of Div 3. As often, the doubles (played 5th) is important, and here Neil and Glen have a wealth of experience in playing together. For the following weekend a Men’s triangular had been arranged, but RAF conceded both matches, leaving our new line-up of Jingyu Sun, Craige Campbell and Andrew Flint to do battle just with title-chasing Leamington: Mark Jackson inspired the visitors to a 7-3 victory, although all our players took him to five. This was a high quality match in the best ML tradition and good to see Jingyu, Craige and Andrew all getting one win at this level. Vets A put out a weakened side at Leamington and lost 4-6 with two wins from Karl and one each from Neil and Glen.

ML Player of the Month: Jeff Rigby (unfortunately now out of action with a torn calf muscle!)

April

Six matches to go, including three for the juniors, but the main interest lay with the Veterans B team (newly formed this year), who have carried all before them in Division 3 and continued to do so in their last fixture (April 11th) at Stafford B with a 9-1 victory, thus clean-sweeping the division with a match tally of 57-13. Neil Hurford, Mike Wilkins, Mark Scott and Tony Stead lost only a handful of matches between them, and Glen Freeman and Nigel Taylor were not far behind, which reflects the depth of talent we have in Vets. On this occasion Glen was in fact lent out to the Men’s team, also making her long trip to Stafford; he won 2 singles, as did Craige Campbell, in a 4-6 reverse. The juniors were strengthened by the inclusion of David Smart and gave their best performance to date in beating Coventry 8-2 at Exeter Close; not only David, but also Anthony Howgego and Tom Marrs were in cracking form. The junior squad is looking a little brighter, with three talented 12 year olds waiting in the wings.

ML Player of the Month: Anthony Howgego

John Birkin (Inter-League Secretary)

OXFORD ML RESULTS 2009/10
Men

              Roel Dullens, Rob Williams, Jeremy Flint,
              Gareth Hayward, Jingyu Sun, Craige Campbell,
              Andrew Flint, Neil Hurford, Mike Wilkins, Glen Freeman

Leicester A     LOST    3-7
Walsall    H     LOST    0-10
Birmingham H     w.o.   10-0
Leamington H     LOST    3-7
RAF        H     w.o.   10-0
Stafford   A     LOST    4-6

Veterans A

              Karl Bushell, Jeff Rigby, Andy Misseldine,
              Mike Wilkins, Neil Hurford,
              Mark Scott, Glen Freeman

Nuneaton A    H     WON   10-0
Nottingham A A     DREW   5-5
Coventry A    A     LOST   2-8
Northampton   H     WON    6-4
Leamington A A     LOST   4-6
Birmingham A A

WINNERS! Veterans B WINNERS!

              Nigel Taylor, Glen Freeman, Neil Hurford,
              Mark Scott, Mike Wilkins, Tony Stead

Leamington B A    WON    6-4
Tamworth     A    WON    7-3
Rugby        H    WON    9-1
Nuneaton C   H    WON   10-0
Coventry B   A    WON    9-1
Telford      H    WON    7-3
Stafford B   A    WON    9-1

Juniors

              Anthony Howgego, Tom Marrs, Joe McGivern,
              Ryan Gibbons, Jonah Stott, David Smart

Hinckley   A      WON     8-2
Rugby      A      LOST    2-8
Gloucester H      LOST    3-7
Leamington H      LOST    0-10
Birmingham H      WON     8-2
Nuneaton   A
Coventry   H