Report For 25/2/09

Division One
Cavaliers Win Derby
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'B' played Cirencester 'B' in a match that saw a fairly surprising draw. Darren Griffin of Cirencester was untroubled in winning his maximum and was supported by Graham Slack who contributed with two. Cirencester's third player Jack Collins was unlucky in losing all of his singles. Cheltenham's Nick Smale won two games that included an excellent straight games victory over Graham Slack and Jack Collins. Nick was supported by team mates Simon Pratten and Russell Hayward who both had a victory over Jack Collins. Cheltenham's Nick and Simon then combined in the doubles to record a good win over Darren Griffin and Jack Collins to secure the draw.

Guy Greening
Division One Secretary

Division Two
Cheltenham C Do The Treble
Due to a recent holiday at half term, scorecards have been piling in without anyone to compile them or write about them. I’m afraid the following report has to be, by necessity, very brief.

Cheltenham C claimed an excellent 6-4 win over Lakeside B thanks largely to a maximum from Anand Keshav and a tight five-set win in the doubles, Keshav combining with Dave Green to defeat Andy East and Ken Smith 11-9 in the fifth set. East won twice for Lakeside B.

Cheltenham C continued their fine run of recent form with an 8-2 win over CCS A. Anand Keshav picked up another maximum to move himself to the top of the averages, whilst Dave Green and Martin Smith won twice each. Dave Hart won twice for CCS A.

Winchcombe Warriors and Tewkesbury B played out a 5-5 draw. Graham Fisher was the best player on the night, claiming a maximum for the Warriors, although he was hard pushed to come back against the improving John Goodchild. Goodchild and Michael Maxwell claimed braces for Tewkesbury B whilst John Teare chipped in with one win. Tewkesbury B almost claimed a memorable victory, but were denied in the fifth set in the doubles.

Lakeside B overcame club rivals Lakeside C 8-2. Maximums for Andy East and Andy Richards were the main contributions, although East had to work extremely hard to overcome Paul Singh 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-13, 12-10. Singh and Barrie Pope won once each for Lakeside C.

Cheltenham C completed an 8-2 win over Cheltenham D. Anand Keshav picked up another three wins, whilst Dave Green and Martin Smith won twice each. Cheltenham D’s points came via Matt Mulcahy and Alan Harvey, who won once each. Harvey picked up a very impressive straight sets win over Green, but then lost emphatically in a similar fashion to Smith.

Winchcombe Wizards extended their lead at the top of the table with a super 8-2 win over Lakeside B. A maximum for Chris Lane and braces for Keith Ferguson and Stewart Ratcliffe did the damage. Andy East was the pick of the players for Lakeside B, winning twice. He was unlucky to lose out on a maximum, going down to the impressive Lane in five sets, but equally, he was pushed all the way in an 11-9 fifth-set win over Ferguson.

Lakeside C overcame Winchcombe Warriors by a scoreline of 6-4. However, it was the Warriors’ Charlie Loh who emerged with the maximum. Described as ‘a class above’ by Chris White, his open hitting game is a pleasure to watch and play against. Barrie Pope and White won twice each for Lakeside C whilst Paul Singh chipped in with one win. Graham Fisher enjoyed a fine five-set win over Singh to claim the Warriors’ other point.

CCS A and Tewkesbury A played out an entertaining 5-5 draw. Rob Amphlett continued his fine run of form, claiming a maximum for Tewkesbury A, whilst Mike Tyrrell picked up two wins. He was unlucky not to win a third; Dave Hart coming back from 2-0 down to win 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7. Hart won twice for CCS A and combined with Jon Nixon to win the match-saving doubles.

Cleeve Saracens A stormed to a 9-1 win over a recently-resurgent Tewkesbury B. Mike Dodwell and Dennis Wadley claimed maximums, whilst Terry Sims won twice. Michael Maxwell earned Tewkesbury B’s solitary point with a five-set win over Sims.

Lakeside D overcame Cleeve Saracens B by a scoreline of 6-4, thanks in the main to a maximum from Chris Ball and a brace from Mike Gleeson. Julie Taylor was unlucky to come away without a win having played very well. Mark Nally won twice for Cleeve Saracens B, whilst Neil Penny and Jim Tyrrell won once each.

Simon Lockley
Division Two Secretary

Division Three
Understrength CCS Battle To Win
Cheltenham E’s fine run of form was halted by Cleeve Eagles who ran out  6-4 winners. Eagle’s Tiffany Hopton won all three of her sets, supported by Derek Brown and Dan Crook who won two and one respectively.

Eagles then went down by the same score to Old Saracens, although Eagle’s Tiffany Hopton continued her current run of form by notching up another maximum.

Despite being a player short, Civil Service B made the best of the situation with a 7-3 win over Cheltenham H. However, Alan Thomas had to work hard to overcome Richard Comley, eventually winning 11-8 in the fifth game.

Three wins each for Mike Brook and Andy Sutherland gave Cheltenham F an 8-2 win over Cheltenham H, although the latter achieved their first doubles success of the season thanks to Richard Comley and Rob Starling.

Cheltenham E were unable to block Tirley Tiger’s path to the title, losing 1-9. Pete Humble and Elaine Evans each won all three of their sets for Tirley, Cheltenham’s only success coming from James Bird.

Mike Brook has not made too many appearances for Cheltenham F this season, but his presence against Cheltenham G earned him three wins. He was supported by Andy Sutherland and Zac France who each won two in an 8-2 win. Despite the scoreline, there were a number of close matches, typified by that in which Zac overcame Jon Laramy 11-5,13-11, 8-11,8-11,11-8.

Cheltenham G fared better when they played Civil Service B, this time being on the right end of an 8-2 scoreline, with Jon Laramy and Ryan Godwin picking up maximums..

Derek Brown
Division Three Secretary