HURST A leapfrogged Waverley A to top of the Basingstoke and District Badminton League Open Division One despite losing 6-3 to BH Pegasus A, writes Peter Askew.

Three rubbers from Rob Clayburn/Nick Choi, two rubbers from Nick Reid/Martin Davey and a single from Warren Johnson/Ramsay Domloge earned the six points which took BH Pegasus A to third.

Later in the week, Waverley A re-took the lead with an 9-0 victory over a two pair Andover Sports A. Despite each of the Waverley A pairs being taken to three ends, the away side were able to complete a clean sweep.

Defending champions Viking A remain second to bottom, albeit on games won, following a hard fought 5-4 win over Beechdown A with four rubbers going the distance.

Andover Sports A moved four points clear in Mixed Division One with a 9-0 away over previous leaders BH Pegasus.

Viking B moved up to third in Mixed Division Two with an 8-1 win over bottom side Phoenix B.

Hat-tricks from Simon Williamson/Jo Berry and Chris Powell/Ruth Cairns plus a brace from Horace Mitchell/Deborah Vincent secured the points, with only a single from Doug Greener/Caroline Stevens preventing a Viking clean sweep.

Phoenix A are now second, two points behind leaders Beechdown B after beating Aldermaston 6-3. Trebles came from Greg Sudell/Alison Rendall and Matt Hawkins/Melissa Wolfe were the points scorers for Phoenix A, whilst each of the Aldermaston pairs won a rubber.

Beechdown A stretched their lead over Viking A by a further two points with a 4-2 victory over Andover in the Ladies 4 League.

The home side of Sandra Smith, Nikki Acton, Sally Thompson and Sam Hamilton completed a hard-fought win to continue their winning run but will be looking over their shoulders back to unbeaten Viking A who have two games in hand.

Elsewhere it was honours even as Phoenix Ladies represented by Alison Randall, Carolyn Neale, Liz Firth and Pim Bogaerts drew 3-3 with Andover Sports Ladies represented by Kay Carrington-Fisher, Sheena Eves, Liz Roberts and Sara Greenland.

This result sees both teams remain in the calm waters of mid table despite neither side having secured a win this season.