Evesham and District League

DEFENDING Division Two champions Wyre Barbedwyre started the new season with a narrow 6-4 win against their neighbours Wyre Coils.

Mike Vick of the Barbedwyre won all his three games, Mike Moore won two of his games including a five set victory over David Fisher. Ray Griffiths also won two games for the Coils beating Joan Parfitt in three sets and beating Mike Moore, who lost this time in five sets.

Barbedwyre led 5-4 going into the doubles and sealed their victory over Coils with the two Mikes beating Ray Griffiths and David Fisher.

In their second match of the season they recorded another narrow 6-4 victory, this time against Littleton Diamonds. The pick of the matches were Mike Vick defeating Alex Gretton in a tight five-setter and Derek Close of the Diamonds beating Joan Parfitt in another five-setter. Close and Gretton won the doubles.

Bengeworth Sapphires have started the season well with two easy victories as they beat Bengeworth Green and Bengeworth 49ers 8-2. Paul Gearey won all three of his games against Bengeworth Green.

Bill Roberts and Chris McLean won two for the Sapphires with both of them coming through five-set matches against Geoff Clark.

Gearey and McLean beat Dan Wood and Bryan Kirkman in the doubles to record an impressive victory. In their match against the 49ers they dominated the match but made a bad start thanks to Brian Gregory beating Paul Gearey in five sets but the Sapphires won the next seven games with Gregory stopping the sequence of wins by beating Bill Roberts in three sets. Gearey and Dave Simkins beat Bob Bryant and Gregory in the doubles in five.

Littleton Diamonds and Bengeworth 49ers shared the spoils with three of the games going to five sets. Stan Owen of the 49ers won his three matches but in the doubles Diamonds were able to get a share of the points with Alex Gretton and Derek Close gaining victory over Stan Owen and Sandra Wheeler.

The Coils' next match was against the Green beating them 7-3 but six of the 10 games went to five sets, with four going in the favour of the Coils. Green continued a bad start to the season with yet another defeat against Bengeworth Lions. David Hudson-Wood and Chris Pearce picked up three wins and the doubles to condemn Green to their third defeat of the season.

The top two teams expected to challenge for the Division Two title, Sapphires and Barbedwyre, this season squared off against one another and ended up settling for a 5-5 draw. Mike Vick recorded three wins for the Barbedwyre, Mike Moore getting two but Dave Simkins won two himself and with Chris McLean and Bill Roberts each winning one, it set up for a crucial doubles match. Simkins and McLean beat the two Mikes to earn themselves a share of the spoils.