Ladies Match Report 11/10/04 Sherpas and Beechdown drew 3/3 in the first match in the Ladies 4 Division of the Ian Dewar (Castlegate Investments) sponsored Badminton league.  Cheryl Matthews won all three rubbers in which she took part supported by two from sister Stephanie and one from Liz Firth for visiting Sherpas.  The home side’s rubbers were scored by Sarah Flay (1), Clare Taylor (1) with Lynn Perrini and Sandra Smith getting two each.  In the same division BH Pegasus began their season with a 4/2 away victory over Waverley. Amanda Marsden won a maximum three rubbers with Emmy Davies recording one and Norma Scott and Jenny Skilton two each.  The home side’s Debbie Symes won two rubbers while Heather Mountford  and Sandra Jennings chipped in with one each.

Mens Match Report 11/10/04 All six teams in Mens Division 1 were in action in the first few days of the competitive season.  James Bevis/Richard Whatley, Tom Noel/Mike Fidge and Jonathan Phillips/Carlo Rapacioli were the successful Viking A side which accounted for their B team with an 8/1 scoreline.  Chris Powell and Tony Coombes were the only victorious pairing for the losers.  Andover Sports A’s Daniel Soper-Dyer/Tim Hunt and Shaun McDonald/Emerson Cumberbatch won one rubber each in an 7/2 home defeat at the hands of visiting Beechdown A for whom both Neil Marie/Daniel Harvey and Richard King/Mick Cummings won maxima with Martin Webb/Daniel Sheppard supplying the seventh.  At the Sports Centre, BH Pegasus A, Andy Lang/David Gough, David Burrell/Martin Davy and Tony Ashworth/Jon Brooks, accounted for their B team 9/0. 

Mixed Match Report 11/10/04 Colin Burville and Kirstie Wykes won the solitary visitor’s rubber when Waynflete lost 8/1 to BH Pegasus A in Mixed Division 1.  David Burrell/Ling Tan, David Gough/Sue Lorrain won their three rubbers each for the home side complimented by two from Nick Harvey/Amanda Marsden.  Elsewhere in the division Neil Marie/Andrea Hill won a maximum as did Tim Corke/Madge Cummings when Beechdown A beat Andover Sports A 6/3 at Andover. Each of the home pairings, Daniel Soper-Dyer/Pauline Prior, Shaun McDonald/Liz Roberts and Emerson Cumberbatch/Sandra McDonald, won one rubber. 

In Division 2 Viking B just pipped visiting BH Pegasus B to end up 5/4 winners.  Tony Ashworth/Ling Tan won two rubbers and had a third conceded to them because of injury for the losers while Peter Pfeiffer/Sue Lorrain secured the fourth.  Chris Powell/Jane Halls and Tony Coombes/Ruth Cairns won two rubbers each for Viking B supported by one from Tom Noel/Ruth Seward. 

St Marys made a good start in Division 3 with a 9/0 home defeat over Whitchurch.  Mark Ferguson/Andrea Farmer, Andy King/Frances Rayson and Tony/Lyn Glinos were the winning home combinations.

League withdrawals 11/10/04 Unfortunately due to lack of members Phoenix have been forced to withdraw three teams form the league.  The three are, the Ladies team in the 6 Division and both their Mens A from Division 2 and Mixed A from Division 3.  The League Committee met during the week and reluctantly accepted that to enable Phoenix to continue these withdrawals were unavoidable.  The clubs affected by the withdrawals will be contacted within the next few days. At the same time Andover Sports B has been withdrawn from Mixed Division due to lack of lady members.

Knock-Out Cup 11/10/04 The club handicapping for the Knock-Out Cup has been completed and is as follows:
Andover Sports, Beechdown and Viking all  (-4, owe a hand)
BH Pegasus (-2, owe a hand)
Waynflete  (Scr, owe a hand)
Aldermaston, St Marys (+2)
Whitchurch, Loddon (+8)
Basing Cavaliers, Waverley (+10)

The draw for the first round, which should be completed before 12^th December has BH Pegasus at home to Loddon, Waynflete at home to Aldermaston and Viking entertain Andover Sports.  Each of the nine one game rubbers in a match will start with the club handicap. Clubs will be sent Result Sheets and adjusted handicaps where relevant within the next week.

Veterans Match 11/10/04 On 19^th September the annual Veterans Inter-Town Match was played at the Westgate Centre.  There were four towns represented, Basingstoke, Fleet, Portsmouth and Southampton. Each town fielded a 12 player side split into 2 Ladies, 2 Mens and 2 Mixed pairs with Basingstoke represented by Shaun McDonald, Graham Woodrow (Andover Sports), Keith Fleming, Sue Richardson (Aldermaston),  Andrea Farmer (St Marys) Nick Harvey, David Burrell, Martin Hill, Fiona Tebbutt, Amanda Marsden, Kim Newman and Sue Lorrain (BH Pegasus).    

There was plenty of strong competition with many “rising 40s”.  Fleet emerged the winners taking an impressive 33 games with four of their pairs undefeated all afternoon.  Last year’s winners, Southampton again performed well to take second spot with Portsmouth just pushing Basingstoke into fourth place.

Team captains were Chris Manners (Fleet), Sue Moody (Southampton), Alan Sanders (Portsmouth) and Sue Lorrain (Basingstoke). A total of 46 players took part in the competition which although competitive was played in the best of spirit.  Tony Coombes from the Viking club was the event organiser.  The next Veterans event is a Mixed Doubles Tournament to be held at Westgate on Sunday 10^th October.