WHITCHURCH are surprise leaders in the Basingstoke and District Badminton League Open Division Two after a 6-3 home win over Phoenix A, writes PETER ASKEW.

Three rubbers came from Kevin Scarpe and Mark Loader underpinned a consistent team performance from the home side.

Following a titanic tussle Aldermaston secured a 5-4 away win over BH Pegasus B with six of the nine rubbers going the distance.

The triple from Julie Ward and William Belfield anchored the Aldermaston victory. Whilst the four points scored by BH Pegasus B were not enough to move them off the bottom of the table.

Hurst B are the new leaders in Open Division Three overtaking Beechdown B after a 6-3 win over Phoenix B.

A clean sheet from Keith Lawrence and Chris Puxley guided Hurst B home, whilst the result leaves Phoenix B in mid table.

BH Pegasus C recorded their second win with a 6-3 victory over Alresford and are now up to third place, James Blackman and Karin Themsen were in fine form for BH Pegasus C and ended the evening unbeaten.

Beechdown B remain rooted to the bottom of the Ladies 4 League following their third 6-0 reverse, this time to Waverley A.

Waverley represented by Davinity Powis, Sarah Fenton, Rachel Richards and Hannah Scott, are now comfortably in mid table following this victory.

Phoenix A moved four points clear in Mixed Division Two with a 6-3 over third placed Viking B.

All three Phoenix A pairs won two rubbers and all Viking B points were won by Simon Williamson and Julie MacAskill who recorded a hat-trick.

Aldermaston moved to fourth after beating Beechdown C 7-2 with clean sheets from Colin Dangerfield/Gemma Kirby and David Ord/Liz Drysdale. Later in the week, Beechdown B regained top spot with a 9-0 win over bottom side Phoenix B.

Clean sheets from Mark Baylis/Sandra Smith, Chris Meakin/Nikki Acton and Chris Ball/Alex Nagle secured maximum points.

Graham Woodrow/Joanne Crome and Nithinarasu Veeraarasu/Ellen Dennett helped Andover Sports B to a 7-2 victory over Beechdown D.

This enabled them to overtake both Viking B and Aldermaston and moved them up to third place in the division.