by Tony Oswick

THERE’S no award in the Clacton and District League for the season’s most improved player but, if there were, Andrew Cawley would be a leading contender.

The Nomads Wildcats player notched up his fifth maximum of the season with a trio of three-straight wins over seasoned campaigners John Bowers, Lionel Goddard and John Houghton, in his side’s 7-3 division three victory over Nomads Pumas.

Paul Dale added a couple by defeating Houghton 11-8 in the fifth and Goddard 11-5 in the fifth but was denied his hat-trick by Bowers 11-7 in the decider.

Brotherhood G beat Windsor Ospreys 7-3 and although Graham Parkes and John Wrigley were undefeated, Wrigley struggled to beat Woody Fitzpatrick 11-6 in the fifth while Parkes edged out Debra Found 12-10 in the decider.

It was also 7-3 for Nomads Bobcats against Windsor Penguins, with the closest encounter seeing Nomads’ Chris Gibbons pip Zoe Strange 12-14, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11.

At the top, leaders Windsor Buzzards breezed past lowly Windsor Kites 10-0 but second-placed Nomads Lynx, forced to field a guest player, lost ground when they went down 6-4 to Nomads Leopards.

In division one, Nomads Panthers’ regular threesome were back in action against Walton B and were good enough to win 8-2, with James Denyer and Gill Locke unbeaten.

Nomads Lions confirmed their good form with a 6-4 win over Windsor Condors, with Sam Hume’s treble including an impressive 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5 victory over Colin Stallwood.

Adam Wilkin also played well to win twice for the Lions.

Windsor Kestrels and Windsor Ravens, who are both relegation-bound, fought out an honourable draw.

John Harvey stayed unbeaten for the Ravens while team-mate Woo Dy defeated Colin Beaumont in four, edged out Graham Bunce 12-10 in the fifth and narrowly lost 16-14 in the decider to Bob Sawyer.

In division two, second-placed Brotherhood D drew with third-placed Nomads Ocelots.

Russell Hillier was the star player on the night, with his hat-trick for Brotherhood including an excellent 11-9 in the decider win over Brian Parish.

Shaun Beckham contributed two for Brotherhood, as did John Hockley for the Ocelots.

Fourth-placed Lawford were 7-3 victors against Brotherhood I.

Richard Spence won his three matches in three-straight but Paul Hewitt made harder work of his two victories, requiring all five sets to overcome Mark Beckham and Jonathan Found.

The mid-table all-Brotherhood clash between the F and H teams ended all-square.

Grant Sharpe, of the F team, took an unbeaten three and shared a doubles win with Rowan Cottee against Barry Allen and Sandie Isaac.

Nomads Tigers are creeping away from the drop-zone and notched up an important 8-2 success against relegation rivals Windsor Magpies.

John Marshall won three while Daryl Lott and Eric Lemke each contributed a couple.