Cat D take honours as top two teams battle it out in league
THE top two sides Market Bosworth 1 and Cat D, both unbeaten, went head to head in Division Two of the Hinckley Table Tennis League.
Market Bosworth who had looked unstoppable before this match found Cat D just too strong.
Chris Sherwin (Cat D) took all three of his games to claim man of the match, whilst Shaun Garrett (MB1) went to four games in all his sets but only managed one win over Cat D‘s Martin Goodman.
In their next match Bosworth struggled against two man G Ward E just running out winners by 6 sets to 4. Meanwhile Cat D romped home against their own Cat F team winning by 10 sets to nil.
In their next match Cat F took a comfortable 7 sets to 3 victory over Cat E. Unusually the man of the match came from the losing team, namely Alec Downes winning the three for Cat E.
Hit’n’Hope A and G Ward E fought out a very tense match when they met. The scores were very close all the way through.
GWE went into a 2 set lead but Hit’n’Hope A came back to 2 all. The match seesawed like that and the two sides were locked in battle at 4 sets apiece but then Dave Richardson (GWE) saw off Bryan Moylen in straight games to put G Ward ahead by 5 sets to 4. But then Richardson and Jack Dennis (GWE) took the doubles to secure a 6 sets to 4 away win.
In another very close match the youngsters of GWF came close to a victory over the more experienced Cat G side. Indeed at one point G Ward F led by 3 sets to 1. The turning point was the fifth set between newcomer Matt Halliday (GWF) and Ben Bennett (Cat G).
Halliday raced into a 2 game lead but Bennett fought back winning the next three to claim the set. Exciting stuff.
Cat G with the experienced Kevin Edwards yet to play two sets, raced away to claim a narrow 6 sets to 4 victory. Cat G came back to earth when they met G Ward C, currently lying third in the league table. The Barwell side won by 6 sets to 4 despite Edwards (Cat G) remaining unbeaten. G Ward C then overcame Market Bosworth 2 by 10 sets to nil. In their next match Market Bos 2 managed to take two sets from Hit’ n ‘Hope B losing by 8 sets to 2.
G Ward F claimed a solid win over Cat E winning by 8 sets to 2. Roger Hill (GWF) claiming three wins.
The league table sees Market Bosworth A top with 42 pts from 6 matches, joint second are Cat D and G Ward C both on 41 pts from five matches.
The preliminary rounds of both the Holt Trophy for first Division clubs and the Dry-Logic Cup for Division Two sides have taken place. In the Holt Trophy the game between G Ward B and Cat H was a very close affair, Cat H shot into a two sets lead but then GWB came back winning the next three to go 3 sets to 2 up, Cat H won the next before GWB powered to two more set wins to claim a 5 sets to 4 victory.
Neal Matthams (GWB) claiming three good wins. Barlestone A overcame G Ward D by 5 sets to 0, in the other match.
In the Dry-Logic Cup another close match between Cat F and G Ward E saw the youngsters from Barwell overcome their more experienced opponents to run out winners by 5 sets to 4 with Dave Richardson (GWE) collecting three good wins. In the other two games there were victories for Hit’n’Hope over Market Bosworth B and Cat D with a 9 sets to nil victory over G Ward F.
The quarter final draw takes place next week.