Alpha in decisive victory

ALPHA Whitworth A scored a 13-2 win over Balderstone in Open Division 1 of the Oldham and Rochdale Badminton League.

With Alpha back to almost full strength, Balderstone were always going to find it tough. However, Andy Wood and Rod Collins got the visitors off to a great start with a 15-12 win.

The home side then powered ahead, with the young pair of Paul Baker and Jamie Morgan winning all three of their games together as Alpha prevailed.

Dons maintained their unbeaten record with an 11-4 win at Tara.

They established a 5-2 lead with Peter Ramsden and Neil Tuersley prominent before Tara closed the gap thanks to Tony Weston and Colin Dunn, who won 15-8 .

However, fine wins from Dave Fox and Martin Spencer helped to seal victory for Dons.

Lancashire Racquets A travelled to Littleborough and good wins from Mike Winterburn and Ian Shoreman (15-4) and Danny White and Anthony Riddle (15-4) helped them to an early 6-0 lead.

Littleborough tried hard to fight back, with Dave and Mark Golding recording two fine wins 15-12 and 15-11. However, Racquets never lost control of the match and cruised away for an easy 12-3 win.

Racquets followed up with a 14-1 home win over Balderstone, Mike Winterburn and Ian Shoreman starring with three excellent wins.

In Division 2, Saddleworth B visited Lancashire Racquets B, for whom Ian Livesey and Andrew Trevarrow opened an early lead.

John Gardner and Ian Mounsey fought back with a good 15-7 victory, but Racquets took a firm grip of the match, wins from Ian Livesey and Rajeev Balasubramanyam 15-3, 15-3 and 15-4 helping them to a final score of 11-4.

In the team handicap, there were victories for Balderstone, Dons, Alpha B and Lancashire Racquets B and walkovers for Springhill and Lydgate.

The draw for the second round is: Springhill v Dons, Balderstone v Lancashire Racquets B, Lancashire Racquets A v Alpha B and Lydgate v Spotland.

Mixed Division: Lancashire Racquets v Spotland, Shawclough A v Alpha B, Alpha A v Delph and Shawclough B v Shawclough C.