Table tennis locals help County seconds finish in second spot

Lee Dorning and Monika Tomaszek of Lillington Free Church were joined by Rugby’s Ryan Lines and Matt Outhwaite and Stratford’s Debs Barrow to play for Warwickshire seconds.

Their first opponents were Leicestershire 2 who included Free Church’s James Berry in their team. Barrow and Tomaszek were key for Warwickshire, both beating Amelia Chan and Jess Birbeck. Dorning defeated Adam Pettit and Lines accounted for Jack Rogers to see their team home 6-4. Berry got the scalps of Lines and Outhwaite to ensure a close result.

Next up were Berkshire 2 who were beaten 8-2. Dorning beat Parvin Baishkiyar and Ian Cole, Lines beat Cole and Pranav Ghanta, Outhwaite beat Baishkiyar and Ghanta and Barrow and Tomaszek overcame Pallavi Drankar. Norfolk were swept aside 10-0 before the Bears came down to earth with a 2-8 defeat to Cambridgeshire with the victors ceding two by virtue of fielding only one woman player. Overall Warwickshire finished second.

Leicestershire fared less well, finishing 5th but Berry was pleased with a return of 7 victories from his 10 singles.

WCC Bats went third in Division 1 after beating Rugby A 6-4. Ryan Lines’ maximum for Rugby included two wins in 5 sets against Simon Griew and Martyn Todd. Matt Outhwaite added the other point. Bats secured the win with braces from Griew and Todd, a single from Nilton Green and a Griew /Todd doubles success. St Georges B stayed top edging Colebridge A 6-4. Mark Jackson was a hat-trick performer, Damon Fenton and Earl Sweeney nabbed singles and Jackson and Fenton got home in 5 in the doubles. Mike Rinnhofer (2), Rizwan Akbar (1) and Omar Khan (1) replied.

Lillington Free Church C had their second win of the season, 6-4 against St Georges A. Josh Yarrow recorded a treble. Owain Jones bagged two tight wins, 12-10 in the 5th against Danny Ricks and 11-9 in the 5th against Mark Rose. Chris Blowey beat Rose more comfortably. Harrison Allwood won two, being taken to 5 by Jones, Ricks won one and Ricks and Rose took the doubles 3-0.

In Division 2 WCC A are totally dominant. They have earned 59 points from a possible 60 and this week took all 10 against second placed Eathorpe A. Taran Dhillon, Niall Herbert and Chris Maiden must be eyeing up the title already.

Darren Hadley showed most resistance taking Herbert and Maiden to 5. Third placed WCC Bears overcame Free Church E who are 11th, 6-4. John Price was unbeaten and Chris Hughes won 2 losing to rapidly improving junior Sam Groom. The duo then won the doubles.

Church, who have played most of the top teams, bounced back through Groom (2), Radu Draghici (1) and Morgan Page (1). They will hope to improve their position as they play the teams around them. Flavels are level with Bears on points but lost 4-6 to WCC Coots.

Arun Jogi won his three, two of them in 5, for Council , Steve Proctor won two and Cliff Jackson one. Shivam Kapur (2) and Trevor Bradley (1) responded, winning the doubles as well. Mid- table Rugby C had a welcome 6-4 verdict against Colebridge B. Marina Ndumengo and Peter Ratcliffe won two apiece plus the doubles and Jo Outhwaite chipped in with one.

None could master Dean Hicks who won his three and Andrew Rowland supported with a single. Free Church D romped to a 9-1 success over Rugby D. Dan Shaw and Anthony Smith won their singles and Chris Jones added two, losing to Dave Cox but helping Shaw to the doubles.

Free Church F lead Division 3 and toppled Moreton Morrell 6-4 despite losing all three of their singles against Kannan Nithi who maintained his 100% average. Nithi also partnered Pablo Smith to the doubles. Nick Darwen, Cherry Matthews and Mark Singleton all won two for Church. Ashorne B defeated WCC Dinos 6-4 with Martin Hamer and William Little unbeaten.

Jason Grey, Doug Lowe and Carl Morgan all recorded a single and Grey and Morgan dominated the doubles to win in straight sets. Nomads Codgers overcame Nomads Dragons 6-4 with Richard Miles confirming his recent good form with a hat-trick. John Taylor won two and the pair pocketed a close doubles in 5. Jill Weaving (2), Jon Waters (1) and Mike Weaving (1) replied.

Eathorpe D march on at the top of Division A, eclipsing Rugby E 5-0 through Darren Hadley and Toby John. Whitnash B beat Radford B 4-1 with a double from Dennis Woodhead and a single from Cristian Balta, the pair landing the doubles. Diosdado Alferez got the consolation.