Cranleigh A eased into the final of the Handicap Cup beating Ash D 5-4. Cranleigh were never ahead until the ninth and deciding set won by Peter Coventry. His two colleagues Mark Lockyer and Angela Coventry had each won twice but the star of the evening was David Mackinnon with a trio for Ash.
Godalming G, in the Third Division, has secured promotion. After dominating the division all season an 8-2 victory over Godalming H pushed them over the line. Paul Rumble and Geraud Moussaire were unbeaten for the G team. Woking LTC C retain second spot after a narrow, 6-4, victory over Cody B. No player was unbeaten, or indeed lost all three, with braces for Mike Glen and Andrew Bramwell for Woking and Stuart Stone for Cody. College Hill D could not take advantage of playing a depleted Challoner C team only managing a draw. Tom Taylor-Woodward stayed unbeaten for Challoner.
In the second division Merrow E took a massive step to promotion after thrashing fellow promotion contenders, Godalming F, 8-2. Ce Guo and Paul Farrant each picked up maximums. Burymead D, in the relegation zone, remain in serious trouble after just losing out to Godalming E 6-4. Jason Minoo bagged a full house for Godalming with Carsten Horne chipping in with a duo as did Jack Harrington for Burymead
A rare defeat for Challoner B in the First Division, to Ash A, 6-4, means the celebrations are delayed for a week. Ash A had Rod Kay and the ever-improving Eliot Tilley to thank for pairs but none of the Ash team could get the better of Maria Taylor-Woodward. At the other end of the table College Hill B kept their hopes of avoiding the drop alive after a 6-4 defeat of Woking LTC A. Adrian Sharp secured a hattrick for College Hill whilst Martin Sharp weighed in with a couple which was matched by Brian Hartles for Woking.
After a spate of big wins in the Fourth Division two of the promotion contenders, Bramley E and Godalming K, shared the spoils. Tim Boxall demonstrated again that he is probably the best regular player in the division with a full house and couples from Gary Nicholson and David Barraclough for Bramley may well not be enough for them this season.
In the Premier Division Godalming C picked up an important win, 6-4, over a two-man Challoner A outfit. Shaun Robertson was unbeaten for Challoner. This has placed College Hill A in the bottom two after an 8-2 defeat at the hands of Merrow C. Andy Mudie picked up his inevitable full house with Steve French and Robin Pretty both only losing out to Phil Harrison. Godalming A and Merrow A shared the points in a high quality encounter. John Robinson, for Merrow, was the outstanding performer for Merrow with a full house which included the scalps of Adam Laws and Alain Choo-Choy who each won twice for Godalming.
This weekend sees the annual closed tournament taking place at Christ’s College on Saturday and Sunday. There will be many high class performers in action and a report will be in next week’s paper.