BADMINTON: Phoenix ladies suffered their second defeat in the Castlegate Investments-sponsored badminton league when they went down 9-0 at home to Andover Sports, writes Trevor Shanks.

Pauline Prior and Carrie Neale, Carol Wylde and Liz Wells, and Liz Austin and Val Raper were their three winning combinations.

BH Pegasus had a narrow 5-4 away victory against Viking with Amanda Marsden and Pauline Davis winning their three rubbers for the visitors supported by one each from Kim Newman and Ann Murthy, and Vanessa Thrower and Fiona Tebbutt.

Both Juliet Macaskill and Sheila Harris, and Ruth Cairns and Jane Halls won one rubber for Viking while Heather Prior and Diane Cooper got two.

Madge Cummings and Ruth Ferguson, Julie Halford and Claire Cremins, and Sandra Smith and Katie Marlow were the three Beechdown pairings in a 9-0 win over a two-pair Waverley team.

In the new Ladies 4 Division A, Andover Sports, Helen Marston, Carol Wylde, Sandra McDonald and Liz Jones accounted for Waynflete, Sarah Impey, Claire Beckett, Helen Davies and Jane Bone 4-2.

In a Division 4B match, Beechdown and Sherpas played out a 3-3 draw at Winchester Road. Beechdown was represented by Madge Cummings, Clare Taylor, Claire Cremins and Debbie McGreachy.

The visiting team were sisters Cheryl and Stephanie Matthews, Hayley Kopp and Tina Mortimer. The other two teams in this division, BH Pegasus and Loddon, played at the Sports Centre, where the home side came out on top as 5-1 winners.

Shirley Caswell, Jean Deverill, Heather Wilkins and Norma Scott were the BH Pegasus players while Loddon were represented by Wendy Heywood, Lynn White, Lee Timperley and Carol Hayes.

In the men's Division Four, Alresford entertained Waverley, who ended up on the wrong side of a 7-2 scoreline. Richard James and Clive Mountford, and Keith Miles and Ian Turrell won one rubber each for the visitors while Bob Thirwell and Scott Page, and Adrian Tyrell and Marc Page both scored maximams for Alresford, supported by one from Nigel Butcher and John Read.

Elsewhere in the division, Sherpas were at home to Phoenix and emerged 7-2 winners. Brothers Ian and Chris Young, and Mark Iredale and Seth Ball scored maximams for Sherpas with Mark Cella and Dave King contributing one.

Bob Cosgrove and Kevin Caldicott, and Colin Huntley and Paul Verling supplied one each for Phoenix B.

In Division 3, Loddon visited BH Pegasus C at the Sports Centre and came away 6-3 victors.

Phil Hood and Richard Burt won all three of their rubbers with Steve Woodward and Mark Gentry getting two and Mitchell Hockley and Mark Johnson one.

Steve Glover and James Skilton won two rubbers for the home side, supported by one from Alex Groom (ex-Waverley) and Andrew Minting.

Martin Cresswell and Richard Dearman won two rubbers and Stephen Quayle and Mike Taylor won one when a two-pair Basing Cavalier side lost 6-3 at home to Hurst A.

David Ord and Scott Armstead won two rubbers for Hurst, and Adam Jesney and Stephen Hartwell supplied one.

With three rubbers from Tony Ashworth and Sue Lorrain, and two each from Martin Davey and Jean Deverill, and Martin Hill and Amanda Marsden, BH Pegasus B beat Andover Sports C 7-2 at Andover in mixed Division 2.

Chris Clarke and Val Raper scored the home side's two rubbers.

Ian Shoard and Alison Rendall won all their three rubbers for Phoenix A, while Graeme Berry and Carolyn Neale secured theirs in a 5-4 defeat to Loddon at Basingstoke's Cranbourne School.

For the victors, Phil Hood and Lee Timperley, and Richard Burt and Lynn White both won two rubbers, with Mark Gentry and Jean Shanks getting the fifth.

Beechdown C had a narrow 5-4 victory over a two-pair visiting BH Pegasus C in Division 4.

Peter Cooper and Norma Scott (ex-Hurst), and Dale Turpin and Shirley Caswell won two rubbers each for BH Pegasus C, while Daniel Shepperd and Claire Cremins won the two for the home team.

Last weekend the Hampshire County second team travelled to Guernsey to play the home side and came away 10-5 winners. On the same day, the third side went down 12-3 to a strong Gloucester second team at Cheltenham.