West Norfolk players feature as Wisbech league launches Parker Shield

This week, the Wisbech League saw the first round of the Parker Shield, a team Handicap competition played on a group basis, writes Steve Barrett.

Nine singles matches are played with each player handicapped and the individual totals are added to the overall points scored by the team, the theory being that the matches should be very close.

In the Premier Division, Nets and Edges just got home 393 points to 390 against Exiles, whilst their second team of Finlay Hewson, Thomas Archer and James Longstaff took full advantage of their significant handicap by comfortably beating champions Wizards, who included former English Veteran International Jimmy Brewster in their side.

Thomas, a very promising young player, was playing a rare game in the league, having returned home from the University of East Anglia where he is studying Mathematics..

Over in Norwich, Serafim Melo was the only one to show any resistance in his team's 9-1 defeat to top side Wensum Goats, who had the ninth-ranked English woman Lauren Spink on their side.

The Foxwood B team of Wayne Mason, Paul Rich and David Lemmon suffered the same fate, losing 9-1 to Wensum A, with Wayne picking up the sole win.

Wensum A included Neil Charles, who reached the semi-final of the World Veteran Doubles Championship in 2016.