W/c 11^th April 2011                 Bury and District Table Tennis League

Sponsored by Hands On Computer Solutions Ltd

 

CUP FINALS and FINALS NIGHT

 

Sponsors Cup

This Cup is for the first round losers in the Dwyer Cup to ensure that teams don’t have too many blank weeks in their fixtures. Through to the final was ELPM B who finished in the runners up spot in division three plus they were in the Pressman Cup final and Prestwich E, this years Poytress Cup winners. Prestwich started the match with a twenty six point deficit which was halved by the time Ken Crimes of Prestwich took on Paul Carter. In a tight first game just going to Paul the next three also went his way and for the first time in the match ELPM went into the lead by four points. Rod Hughes for Prestwich faced Mark Willmore who had too much fire power for the Prestwich player taking the set by forty four points to fourteen to put ELPM in a commanding thirty four point lead. Barrie Fleet tied points with Paul Carter in the next set to keep ELPM’s advantage the same. Steve Greaves for ELPM edged Rod Hughes by four points to give Ken Crimes an uphill task in the last set of the night against Mark Willmore. The first two games were shared but Mark edged ahead in the last two games to take the match and Sponsors Cup with a winning score of 544 to Prestwich 499.

 

MacDonald Cup

The last of the cup finals was played on Wednesday 13^th April at Prestwich TTC between Seedfield A and Little Lever who had to concede a start of 122 points. Last holders of the cup in 1989 Little Lever found the margin too big to recover and the match finished with Seedfield on 545 points to Little Levers 490. The first three sets were very close in points which enabled Little Lever to reduce their deficit to eighty three. Phil Riley of Little Lever made good headway to that margin when he beat Rob Carter by twenty four points before David Poytress got the better of Steve McNicholas to keep their healthy advantage. Ronnie Durose for Little Lever got the better of Peter Mears by seventeen points and they won the doubles by thirteen. So with three sets to play Seedfield still led by seventy two points. Rob Carter for Seedfield beat Steve McNicholas by five points so their lead stretched to seventy seven. Phil Riley bettered Peter Mears of Seedfield by eighteen points and with one set to play Seedfield still led by fifty nine points; too big a margin for Ronnie Durose to get from David Poytress and only managed to gain four points and the Macdonald Cup was taken by a Seedfield team for the first time in the history of the competition which first started in 1938.

 

Finals Night

JUNIOR FINAL

The junior final was between Nick Kroll and Callum Stott both of Ramsbottom TT Academy and it was losing finalist last year Callum who got into his game better on the night by winning the title this year 11-7, 11-2, 11-8. There were some quality rallies during the match but Callum seemed to have the upper hand and a few untimely mistakes from Nick made the difference.

 

DIVISION ONE TOP TEN PLAY OFF

Because there was a tie for the top ten this year the rules state that there will be a play off to decide the outright winner. The match was between eight times previous winner Mick Moir and Andy Jackson both of Ramsbottom Town TTC. Both had only lost two sets all season but it was Mick who got into the match quickest and soon established a two games advantage taking them eleven nine and eleven three. Well down all the way through the third game Mick Moir slowly clawed back to level the points at nine each only for Andy to win the next two to secure the third game. In an equally close forth game with some tremendous hitting as you would expect from two of the best players in Bury Mick was able to keep his nose in front and secure the forth game and the match eleven points to eight and his ninth top ten win.

 

DIVISION ONE HANDICAP FINAL

Mandy Winskill of Ramsbottom Town started with a one point advantage over David Poytress of Seedfield Methodists and it was Mandy who showed the best consistency and maintained a consistently high standard in some very long rallies. Mandy took the first game eleven four but lost a very close second ten points to David’s twelve. The third game mirrored the first in standard and the score line being the same and it was a thirteen point advantage that Mandy had going into the last game which David took eleven points to nine but not a big enough margin to close the deficit and Mandy took the title by forty two points to thirty one.

 

DIVISION TWO HANDICAP FINAL

Joe Redikin of Prestwich TTC faced his club mate vs. Andy Evans with a four point advantage. In a very evenly matched opening game Andy just took it eleven points to nine and opened his game up in the second to take it eleven six to put the points tally at twenty two each. The third game was close again with Andy edging that out at twelve points to ten to be two ahead. Joe just missed one or two shots in the last game to lose that eight eleven to give the title to Andy by forty five points to forty.     

 

OPEN DOUBLES - FINAL

The holders of the title Tony Bates & Tony Smith from BAE were in no mood to relinquish their title when they took on Graham Jeffries from Radcliffe CC and Steve McNicholas from Little Lever. The left handed Tony Smith and defending style of Tony Bates proved to be a lethal combination and they had few problems in retaining their trophy winning in three straight games 11-7, 11-4,114.

Vs.

OVER 60’s – SINGLES FINAL

Reigning champion Tommy Ryan of Adelphi took on Derek Watmough of St.Philips which was a repeat of last years final where Tommy prevailed. Tommy was in his usual attacking mode from the start and despite some missed forehand shots he found the target enough times to beat Derek and took the first game eleven eight. Tommy’s consistent hitting was too good in the second game which he took by the more comfortable margin of eleven points to five. In a very tight third game which Derek was leading for most of the way only for Tommy to come back and take the game and match twelve points to ten to retain his title.

 

OVER 40’s - SINGLES FINAL

Losing in the semi final of the Men’s Singles Graham Jeffries of Radcliffe CC was hoping to make amends when he took on Andy Jackson of Ramsbottom Town TTC. The first game couldn’t be closer and it was Andy who just edged it by twelve points to ten. Graham hit back, literally and took the second game eleven points to four and seemed to be getting into his game. Not to be out done Andy played a very controlled next game and took that eleven points to eight. Needing just one more game for the title Andy could not quite keep up with Graham who took the game eleven seven to set up a final game show down. Andy had a good start to the game and was able to keep his nose ahead and took the game and the title by eleven points to seven.

 

OPEN SINGLES - FINAL (Best of seven games)

Mark Ramsbottom of Ramsbottom Town lost in the quarter final of the over 40’s this year in a title that he took last season so was looking to make amends when he took on Wayne Renton of Radcliffe CC. Wayne took this title in 1996 beating Andy Jackson.  In a bizarre  start to the match Wayne went for a very short ball after only two points to hit his thumb badly which required a ‘time out’ to get it attended to. With some willing first aiders in the spectators Wayne restarted the match with some discomfort. This was only to be the start of a very thrilling final and one of the best matches of the night. Understandably Mark had the edge in the first game but only managed to take it twelve points to ten. Wayne had settle down with his injury and showed no sign of it when he took the second game eleven points to five. There was no separating either player in the third game which Mark managed to take fourteen points to twelve. The tables turned in the next game when Wayne hit back literally and took it eleven points to nine and the next was taken by Andy with the same score. Ned only one more game for the title Mark couldn’t quite get his nose in front and Wayne took it eleven points to nine. One final game to play and the title was up for grabs and Mark had a slender lead which he didn’t relinquish to take it eleven eight and the title that he last took in 2003.

 

Presenting the prizes was Katy Parker the North West Coach for the English Table Tennis Association.