THE Basingstoke and District Badminton League returned with a clutch of inter club matches.

In the Ladies 4 League, last year's runners up Waverley Ladies began with a 5-1 win over Phoenix, with Alison Randall/Carolyn Neale battling their way to a three end win to prevent a whitewash. The other two fixtures resulted in 5-1 wins for Andover A and Beechdown A over their respective B sides.

Viking A beat Andover 9-0 in the Mixed Division One thanks to hat-tricks from Tim Cooper/Julie Shawley, Khem Bahadur-Limbu/Susan Godfrey and Birkharam Purja/Alison Crawford.

Maximums for Neil Atkins/Peter Bevell, Craig Ford/Ian Aherne and Wayne Drake/Adam Hood gave last season's Open Division One champions Waverley A, a 9-0 win over its B side.

A hat-trick from Adam Turner/Nick Reid and doubles from Rob Clayburn/Manohar Challa and Warren Johnson/Ramsay Domloge underpinned a 7-2 victory for BH Pegasus A over their newly promoted B side. A double from Vilas Nair/ Jeremy Hughes earned two points for the B side.

Beechdown A showed their promotion credentials with a 9-0 triumph in their opener over Hurst B in Open Division Two. Trebles came from Peter Leeds/Simon Hughes, Mike De Sousa/Tim Hassall and from Dan Sheppard/Joe Bundy.

Beechdown B took an early lead in Open Division Three with a 7-2 win over their C side, courtesy of a treble from Tom Penn/Matthew Pennefather-Neal, together with doubles from Nick Jones/Nigel Roberts and Sam and Stewart Hayes. Richard Smith/Steve Cordingley secured two points for the C side by winning two rubbers.

Andover B narrowly edging out Alresford 5-4. Peter Sellers/Tom Hicks held their nerve in the seventh rubber to complete their hat-trick to take a 5-2 lead before Alresford hit back.