Northants 2nd team got off to a strong start in division 3 - winning 3-2 against Cripps 3.

Both team captains didn't trouble the scorer too much ! - Peter Rhodes easily overcame Paul Grayson at 2 - Andy Reuthe lost 3-0 to Angus Molyneaux at 5 -leaving the match delicately balanced at 1-1.

Andy Fraser (4) put MH ahead 2-1 - beating Dave Featherstone, coming through 9-2 in the 5th game of a tight match which swung both ways.

MH number 1 Ian Shirley then went down to Sean Doyle 1-3, meaning the deciding rubber came down to the number 2s. Tim Arthur and Cliff Armstrong were locked 2-2 at this point and the final game didn't disappoint - from 4-6 down, Tim then managed to pull ahead 8-6 - the serve then changed 9 times before Cliff made it 8-8 - Calling Set-2, Tim then had 3 further match points before Cliff levelled at 9-9. A further 7 hand-outs then followed with Tim eventually coming out the winner 10-9.

However the best performance of the night came from Sandy, with the Sausage Casserole going down very well with both sides (many thanks !)

Next week - away to Daventry 5s