Following the very successful results of the previous event we had teams in Divisions 5, 4, 3 and 1. Unfortunately we were without some key players as Calum and Iwan chose to go ski-ing instead of playng badminton (how dare they!). This meant that Team Manager, Cliff, had to play up some players and enabled him to give others a chance.

Division 5 saw the D Team (Scott Davies, Calum Artell and Sara Jones) minus a player lose to Llanferres B and also to Deeside B.  Charlotte Ince stood in as the missing player just to give the others a game but her points didn’t count.

The C Team (Charlotte, Ann-Louise Barron, Calum Beck and Jamie Cooper) in Division 4, tried hard and managed to draw with Castell Alun C but lost on points, 63 to 70 – hard luck!. They then lost to Llanferres A who were much tougher opposition.

Then the B Team (Jaegan Fuller, Daniel Cooper, Luke Williams and Gareth Ellis) played Mold C and Castell Alun B in Division 3. This was much stiffer competition and they lost both matches though with some close scores against the Mold side.

Finally it was the turn of the A Team (Matthew Jones, Eithan Johnson, Cerys Brackenbury and Jack Southall) who with two of their regular members away faced a formidable task in Division 1 being drawn against Mold B and Mold A. They played incredibly well and although winning only 1 game (the Doubles game by Matthew and Eithan against Mold B) this was enough to give them the edge over the other team in the Division (Castell Alun A) and meant they stay up for the next event. So very well done them!!

Considering everyone had to play in a higher position than they normally would they should all be congratulated for their efforts and well deserved Cliff’s lollipops.

The next match is on Saturday, 5 February at Flint Leisure Centre – see you there!

Gill
Junior Match Secretary

MAN OF THE MATCH – Cerys Brackenbury

Saturday, 8 January saw the 4^th match of the season played at Castell Alun Leisure Centre in Hope.  We fielded 4 teams who played in Divisions 5, 4 and 2.

Unluckily our D & C teams both started in Division 5 but luckily they weren’t drawn against one another.  The D Team (Calum B, Jamie Cooper, Calum Artell & Sarah Jones) played Prestatyn and Llanferres B.   They beat Prestatyn but lost to Llanferres with some good performances from Calum Artell & Sarah.  They will stay in this Division for the next match.

The C Team (Charlotte Ince, Ann-Louise Barron, Gareth Ellis & Luke Williams) played Llanferres B & Prestatyn B and with good wins against both these sides will go up to Division 4 next time – well done to all of them.

Our B Team (James Hinchcliffe, Jack Southall, Cerys Brackenbury & Daniel Cooper) drew Castell Alun C & Llanferres A.  They too won both games, playing particularly well against Castell Alun, and will go up to Division 3 next time.

The A Team (Calum Sant, Iwan Pullen, Matthew Jones & Eithan Johnson) were drawn against Connahs Quay A & Deeside A in Division 2 – this is where things start to get difficult!  However they all played really well and drew against Deeside and beat Connahs Quay 5-1.  Although only drawing against Deeside they gained more actual points in their individual games than Mold, the other team in the group who also drew one and won one so our A Team will be playing in Division 1 next time!  Very well done to them and good luck – they’ll need it.

The next round will be held at Mold Leisure Centre this Saturday, 22 January hosted by Llanferres.  From now on the matches are every fortnight with the venues of Flint (twice) and Kelsterten still to come.

Until next time,

Gill

(Junior Match Secretary)

Man of the Match – Calum Sant

MOLD LEISURE CENTRE

Well here we are at Mold for the first match of the new season.  Five divisions of four teams from across the county, all nervously waiting to take to the courts and size up the opposition.  Some will win, some will lose but hopefully all will have fun!

Buckley has four teams again this year, A B C & D.  Unfortunately this year the C & D Teams are both starting in Division 5 so could be drawn against each other.  The B Team starts in Division 4 and the A Team in Division 2 (that’s a tough legacy from our A Team of last year!)

Who were in the teams?

A Team:

• Calum Sant
• Ewan Pullen
• Matthew Jones
• James Hinchcliffe

B Team:

• Jaegan Fuller
• Cerys Brackenbury
• Jack Southwell
• Charlotte Ince

C Team:

• Milly Harmes
• Ann-Louise Barron
• Zack Arrowsmith
• Luke Griffiths

D Team

• Sarah Jones
• Calum Artell
• Gareth Ellis
• Anna Huber

Cliff Price, Team Manager, had some last minute decisions to make due to some players being unable to play, i.e. regular A Team player Ethan Johnson was injured, which gave James the chance to make his A Team debut and consequently moved up several other players.  Charlotte moved into the B Team and as Daniel Cooper was unavailable new-comer Ann-Louise played in the C Team.  Because of other unavailabilties Anna Huber bravely agreed to fill the final D Team place just a few hours before the start!

As always Division 5 started the proceedings and we were drawn against Castell Alun and Prestatyn.  Although the D Team lost both their games the new team played well and I’m sure gained a lot of experience.  Anna in fact won 2 games so well done her!  Luckily the C Team wasn’t drawn against the D Team and went on to win one game and draw the other which they actually won on points – so very well done them!

We then had an hour’s wait before the B Team went into action and lost both their games – sorry can’t remember who they played.  Then the A Team took to the courts and drew both games against some fierce opposition – again sorry I didn’t note who they played against.  I have to say in mitigation that it was my first time taking down the scores and filling in the sheets for our Buckley teams and especially with two teams in Division 5 things got a bit hectic at times – I promise to do better next time.

We won’t know whether any of the teams have moved up or down the divisions until just before the next match on Saturday, 6 November at Buckley but they all played well.

Until next time,

Gill

(Junior Match Secretary)

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