It's the penultimate week of a hard fought 2023-2024 D3 campaign...
First of the biggest result was achieved by this week's team in absentia, as JAN's promotion to D2 (subject, as all promotions and relegations are every year, to rearrangement) was formally confirmed. It would have taken an unlikely turn of events for it not to happen this week and a freakish one next. However Eclectics 43-36 In The Lion of Fire, the result of a battle between JAN's two closest promotion rivals that transpired at The Trinity Tuesday night, was not of either category. Indeed it went one step the other way in confirming Will Howells' excellent side as not only promoted but champions of the division. And a win for the home side always looked more likely than not from the off as they took the first 5 rounds to go into R6 9 points clear. Two one point wins and a draw for ItLoF in the final three innings were not enough to make a serious dent in things. With this win and four points, Eclectics leapfrogged ItLoF to put promotion into their own hands, leading the latter as they are now by one point. It was more a game of consistent solidity than outstanding individual performances; the home team's Kesheva Guha 15(4) was the highest personal scorer with 15(4), although four other players across the field scored the same number of 2s. ItLoF captain Rob Cumming was in that number, his 11(4) the best individual offering for the home side.
So that's, after Grapefruit's long past relegation, the second settled matter so far this season. The only other major finality that could come about this week was that of Sublime Objects joining the 'fruit in D4 next season (subject to etc etc). Or would Greengage and/or Barb be left hanging on for another week? Well, Greengage entertained the aforementioned basement club at The Duke of Sussex, knowing that two points would be sufficient to see them through. This they did not look like they would achieve in the early knockings, as the visitors stormed the first round 4-8 and held that margin of lead up to the break. However, the hosts kicked up a gear in the second half to take Rs 5-7 and turn a 20-24 deficit into a 39-37 lead. It stayed tight as that all through the last round, with the result tilting on how well visiting captain Gavin Tillman knew Shirley Conran's work. No more than your humble narrator (who'd have guessed that her output would not be in 50-something blokes' wheelhouses) as it turned out, and a 44-43 win for, and the safety of, the home team was ensured on that question. Nevertheless, Gavin's final personal total of 15(5) was enough to secure him PotM at The Duke. Luke Smolinski ran him close for the home team, is 12(5) their best personal offering. Greengage maintained 6th place with this win, Grapefruit's CB nice to see, in the highest aggregate scoring game this week by some way, but no more than academic. Three players in this week's TotW was perhaps at least an equal achievement for the long relegated visiting side
With Caroline Latham's side thus out of the relegation picture, that left the matter of who would suffer the drop between the two teams who met at The King and Queen, where Sublime Objects entertained Barb. For the Sublimes, thanks to their starting the evening eight points behind Barb and with more bonus points to their total, nothing less than two wins, one starred, to finish the season off could possibly save them at the latter's expense. Well, they got the win, but apart from getting 3 2s in R2, never really got close to that all important roundhouse bonus, and with that and the fact that their guests did achieve a bonus point through a close loss, their fate was sealed this week. They led from the off, and although Barb edged it on matchplay 4 rounds to 3, the hosts scorching 9-1 triumph in said R2 ensured that they were never quite caught. 40-37 was how it ended in Fitzrovia, and, as it was a few stops down The Northern Line at The Trinity, this was not a tale of exceptional individuality. Home cap Charlie Bowen's PotM winning 15(4) was matched in terms of 2(s) by three other players, one of them being Stanley Wang, the away side's - as he so frequently is - top individual scorer.
Our final port of call this week was to another Waterloo venue, The King's Arms, where Park Exiles hosted Pilgrims. This was a battle of the dark horses, where the winner would just about stay in the promotion race but the loser would drop out, and where a draw, even a double-starred one, would have seen the end of both teams' hopes. Well, this game did not yield this season's fifth D3 draw, so whose slender hopes of joining JAN in the leap to D2 remain intact at this point? It had to be Park Exiles surely, as they failed to lose any of the opening six rounds and led into the final quarter by that many points. It would surely require...
and that is indeed what happened as the visitors took the final two rounds 3-7, 2-7 to secure a huge turnaround and a 37-40 triumph. Whereas Barb's being on the end of an identical close defeat secured their safety going into next season, for the Exiles that close bonus would have been the merest consolation. They were out of the relegation picture at the start of the evening and by the end of it had left the promotion conversation too. No further consolation in terms of PotM fell their way either. That belonged to the top scorer throughout D3 that night, the visitors' Gareth Kingston with an excellent 16(5); incorporating a 5(1) in the final round which saw home the win. At least for the home team Kim Humphreys' 11(5) matched Gareth for 2s.
TotW:
Andrew Smithies, Stuart Nathan, Jonathan Warschauer and Gareth Kingston
vs
Luke Smolinski, Kim Humphreys, Keshava Guha and Nick Hutchings
So, the table....for a division that saw all sorts of leaps up and plummets down earlier this season, things have solidified considerably over the last two weeks, with matches going largely to form. There were no positional changes last week, and just one this; as mentioned above Eclectics pushed ItLoF out of the second promotion spot. With that then congratulations to the superb JAN for their securing promotion and top spot, and to Barb and Greengage for securing safety. Commiserations to Sublime Objects, who must be disappointed to be returning to D4 after just one season in a D3 which they stormed in the early stages. A wry wave to Park Exiles too, whose faint promotion prospects were extinguished the evening of 20 Feb.
So, what can happen next week. Well, JAN, Park Exiles, Sublime Objects and Grapefruit will finish 1st, 5th, 8th and 9th respectively. Positions 2, 3 and 4 are currently occupied by Eclectics, ItLoF and Pilgrims in that order, although any of the six possible permutations of that order could be the result of the final table. Lower down, a win for Barb would see them steal 6th from its current occupants Greengage and drop them into 7th, the latter's business done for this season. Although 5 points behind Park Exiles, a RHB win for Mr Warschaeur's side will not be enough to haul them into 5th, thanks to the primacy of close bonuses over RHBs.
And how and where will what come about this Tuesday? Well, a plain win for the Eclectics will render them uncatchable thanks to their 4-5 favour in bonuses over ItLoF. That is easier said than done however; an away tie to the champions at The Sutton Arms lies in wait. Maybe ItLoF, facing Barb as they do at the DoS on the 27th, will fancy their chances of a win more than do the team above them. However they do it though, Julia Hobbs team need to score two more points than Chris Dyson's side to finish above them. Meanwhile at The Bell, Pilgrims can keep their outside chances of promotion alive. They must however, against Sublime Objects, secure a win with a RHB to stand any chance of promotion, and even then it will need Eclectics to leave The Sutton Arms with no more than one bonus point and ItLoF to depart The Duke with no more than two points total, for Neil Colman's team to sneak second place. I hope you're paying attention, there will be questions at the end...finally the only dead rubber this season will ever see will take place at The King's Arms between Park Exiles and Grapefruit, nothing more than pride to play for there. Grapefruit will be hoping to sign off with only their third win and their only double in '23-'24
Don't you dare be anywhere else next week
Martyn 'can I have my Maths A-Level now please' S