For the second year running, a team from the New Milton Table Tennis Club had reached the final of the Annual Times & Directory Handicap Plate competition. Last year it was won by their D team (Terry Jenvey, Chris Pusey & Kai Major), and this season it was the G team (Eddie Tompkins, Graham Underwood & Lewis Reading) seeking to keep the Plate within the club.

The Gees had already seen off their own B team in the semi-final, and their opponents Merton H (Simon King, Rob Searle & Christine Renaut) had done likewise to their own club mates in the Merton D team. The New Milton side usually ply their trade in Div 4 of the Bournemouth and District league whereas Merton play in Div 3, both teams ending up mid-table.

The handicapping reflected the league differential with Simon King giving a +5 start, Rob Searle conceding 6 and Christine Renault giving the less generous +3 start to the Milton players.

Milton went 2-0 up with Reading beating King 21-19, 21-14 and Underwood seeing off Rob Searle 21-19, 13-21, 21-10. It looked like Milton were going to go 3-0 up as Eddie Tompkins took the first end off Christine Renaut, but Renaut tantalisingly edged the next two 21-20, 21-19 to peg one back for Merton. Next up was Rob Searle who breezed past Reading 21-17, 21-16 to level things off at 2-2.

All eyes were on Tompkins who just edged his match against King 21-20, 21-19, then Underwood beat Renaut in a very tight sixth match 20-21, 21-19, 21-16 to put Milton 4-2 up.

Merton needed to win the next match to stay in the final, and Searle duly obliged by just getting the better of Tompkins 21-16, 17-21, 21-19. Milton started to get the jitters as Renaut saw off Reading in two straight ends 21-19, 21-19 to level things off at 4-4. The decider was between Underwood who was looking for his hat-trick and King who had lost both his matches, but Milton weren’t counting their chickens as King had only just lost out to Tompkins. Underwood starting off +5 quickly pulled away in the first end to take it comfortably 21-9 and won the second 21-14 to secure the Plate for New Milton.  The victorious G team are pictured below (l-r Eddie Tompkins, Graham Underwood & Lewis Reading):-

One of the semi-finals of the Bournemouth & District Annual Times & Directory Handicap Plate competition was a local derby between two teams of the New Milton Table Tennis Club, which meant that there would be one Milton team in the final.

The Premier’s B team (John Hook, John Millward & Shaun Newcomb) took on their G team (Graham Underwood, Lewis Reading & Eddie Tompkins) who play in Division 4 of the league, and the handicaps reflected that differential. It was a big ask for the Premier side as Hook had to give his very experienced oppos a +14 start; Millward and Newcomb with deficits of 8 and 12 respectively, in a 21-up format.

Underwood got the ball rolling for the Gees by beating Millward 21-13, 21-13 but Reading lost over three sets to Hook which levelled things up. Tompkins beat Newcomb fairly comfortably 21-14, 21-14, and then Underwood just nicked the fourth match against Hook by 21-20 in the third set to make it 3-1 to the Gees.

Tompkins won the fifth match against Millward to make it 4-1, leaving Newcomb needing to beat Reading to stay in the match. Newcomb’s unorthodox style messed Reading up to take the first set 21-18, but Reading got used to Newcomb’s pimples and fiddling to take the second 21-17. Reading pulled away in the decider to win it 21-14 to take his G team through to the final.

The G team are hoping to succeed in the Plate final where their F team failed in the Cup final. They face Merton H who are one division above them in Div 3, and the final takes place at the Dorset Table Tennis Centre, the Grange School, Somerford on Wednesday 4^th May.

Six players from the New Milton Table Tennis Club were involved in five of the finals of the Bournemouth & District Annual Tournaments last week, three of them between members of the club. Club Chairman Steve Hemmings took part in three of finals but unfortunately went home empty handed.

In his first match, Hemmings took on Premier team-mate Doug Gerrish in the Vets 50+ final and it was a classic case of defence versus attack. Hemmings defended stubbornly to win the first set 11-6, narrowly lost the second at deuce 10-12, but went ahead again in the third 11-7. Gerrish started to move Hemmings around a bit in the fourth to take it 11-8 but went behind 3-7 in the decider for Hemmings to sniff victory. However, Gerrish’s forehand proved superior to Hemming’s usually dogged defence to overhaul his team-mate to win the title at 11-9.

Next up for Hemmings was the Vets 40+ final where he took on Tournament Organiser, Merton’s Mark Butler who also plays in the Premier. Hemmings only narrowly lost against Butler when they last faced each other in the league, but Butler overpowered his opponent from the start to win the title in three straight sets 11-2, 11-6, 11-8.

Hemming’s last hurrah was the Bournemouth Handicap final where he took on another team-mate in the form of 15 year old Matthew Daish. Hemmings was given a +4 start which proved no major obstacle to Daish as the teenager won in two straight sets 21-16, 21-20. Pictured below is Matt (left) with Steve just before their title match.

The club’s other internecine match was the Division 4 final between Steve Cheesman and Ian Linney, both from New Milton F who ran away with the Division 4 title in the league. Cheesman lost to Linney in the group stage but won the first two sets in their final 11-6, 12-10, only for Linney to take the third 11-8. Cheesman re-established control in the fourth set to win it 11-7 to take the title.

In the Division 1 final, Milton’s Gerard Redman took on Ringwood’s Martin Jerome, a former New Milton player and ex team-mate of Redman. Redman won the first set 8-11 with some powerful forehand and backhand loops which temporarily seemed to stun his former club-mate. However, Jerome just shaded the second set 13-11, and then progressively took control to take the next two 11-6 & 11-3 for the title.

Congratulations to Doug Gerrish, Steve Cheesman and Matthew Daish, and commiserations to Steve Hemmings, Ian Linney and Gerard Redman.

The trophies will be presented at the league’s annual Presentation Evening at the Ocean View Hotel, Bournemouth on Friday 20^th May.

The Times and Directory Handicap Cup Final featured two teams who had won their respective divisions in the Bournemouth & District Table Tennis League by a country mile. The New Milton F team (Ian Linney, Steve Cheesman & Mike Roberts) who were Division 4 champions without dropping a match faced the youngsters of Bournemouth Sports F (Ali Malloch, Jacob Blackburn & Luke Goodall) who won the Division 2 title, only losing one match in the process.

The Bourne stormed into an early two match lead at the Grange as Linney playing off +9 lost to Malloch, and Cheesman (+7) was beaten by Blackburn. It could so easily have been 1-1 at this stage but Cheesman fault-served at 19-19 in the third and final set to go on to lose 19-21. Roberts (+7) stopped the rot by getting the better of Goodall to make it 1-2, but Cheesman (+7) then lost to Malloch making it 1-3. Linney made good use of his +9 start and wiped the floor with Goodall, then Roberts (+7) beat Blackburn to level things off at 3-3.

Cheesman (+7) had no trouble at all against a dispirited Goodall to give Milton the lead by 4-3, but Roberts (+7) also fell victim to man of the match Malloch which left things delicately poised at 4-4 for the decider.

Linney was the hero of Milton’s semi-final against Winton YMCA D as he won the final match to put his F team through to the Cup Final, and it all came down to him again. Linney had a +9 start but it proved too little against a rampant Blackburn, who overhauled the handicap very early doors in both sets to win it 21-16, 21-15 and secure the Cup. A shell-shocked Linney was gracious enough to say “he hit me off the table” in tribute to Blackburn, and that just about summed it up.  The full squad of players are pictured below: l-r Malcolm Nash (Captain), Ian Linney, Sylvia Smith, Mike Roberts & Steve Cheesman.

There will definitely be a New Milton team in the “Plate” final, as the Premier’s B team takes on the G team from Div 4 in the semi-final at Mudeford Wood on Monday 18th April.  The winners’ opponents in the final will be Div 3’s Merton H who saw off their own D team in their semi-final.

In the final week of the Bournemouth and District Table Tennis League, the New Milton A team secured runners-up spot in the Premier thanks to an 8-2 maximum points win over Bournemouth Sports B. Teenager Matt Daish (pictured below) scored his fifth Premier hat-trick and Doug Gerrish and Brian Vibert bagged a brace apiece. The last time Milton took second place was back in 2010/2011; this season the squad benefited from excellent new signing Gerrish and the homecoming of Russell Wilson.

Milton’s B team rubbed it in to their A team’s closest rivals, a depleted Merton A team, by beating them 8-2, although by then the A team had already landed second spot by their own devices.

Going into the final week, the F team had already clinched the Division 4 title, but hammered home their credentials by beating second-placed Bournemouth Sports K 7-3, having only drawn against them in the first round. Steve Cheesman and Mike Roberts rounded off an excellent season with a treble apiece.

Also in Division 4, the H team did likewise to Nimrod B, their own 7-3 victory pipping their victims at the post to take third place. Paul Iliffe did his bit by scoring his ninth hat-trick out of eleven matches in his maiden season.

Division 5 saw the J team gifted a point and three games as close rivals Nimrod C turned up a player short at their own venue. Captain Malcolm Douglas and Mike Gent added to the advantage by beating Chris Courage and Mike Melaniphy, both ex-Milton players, and Richard Brockbank also took Courage. Full results details appear below:- Read the rest of this entry →

Fresh on the heels of winning the Division 4 title in the Bournemouth & District league, the New Milton F team (Ian Linney, Steve Cheesman & Mike Roberts) had a right royal battle on their hands in a nail-biting semi-final of the Annual Times & Directory Handicap Cup against the runaway winners of Division 5, Winton YMCA D (Rob Ryan, Matt Ryan & Keith Law).  The full squad of 5 players are pictured below: l-r Malcolm Nash (Captain), Ian Linney, Sylvia Smith, Mike Roberts & Steve Cheesman.

All Milton’s players gave starts to the Winton players reflecting the difference in the divisions. Milton went 2-0 ahead as Linney beat Rob Ryan (+4), and Cheesman got the better of Rob’s son Matt (+5). Winton’s Lamb benefited from a +7 start and disposed of Roberts in two sets as did Rob Ryan to Cheesman to level off the tie at 2-2. Linney then lost to Lamb (+5) in two sets but Roberts levelled things off at 3-3 by beating Matt Ryan (+5). Lamb (+7) got his hat-trick by getting the better of Cheesman in two sets, leaving Roberts needing to beat Rob Ryan to keep Milton in the cup. Roberts kept his nerve to beat Ryan senior (+7) 21-18, 16-21, 21-18 to restore parity at 4-4 to hand the poisoned chalice back to team mate Linney for the decider. Linney made short work of Matt Ryan (+2) in the first set , beating him 21-11, but young Ryan fought back well to take the second 21-15 to set up a nerve-jangling finale for both sides. It was nip and tuck throughout the set, but Ryan was 11-9 up at the changeover to give Winton hope. However, Linney played intelligently, largely reserving his forehand hit for “bankers”, and he didn’t look back after 12-12 to beat the plucky youngster 21-16. Milton will play runaway Div 2 leaders Bournemouth Sports F in the Cup Final.

Milton’s two teams left in the “Plate” did well to book their places in the semi-finals. The G team (Les Smith, Eddie Tompkins & Graham Underwood) who normally ply their trade in Div 4, saw off Div 1 high-flyers Ringwood A 5-0 down at Mudeford Wood on the same night as their F team’s cup victory.

The Premier’s B team (Shaun Newcomb, John Hook & John Millward) travelled away to Chapel Gate to face Div 4’s second-placed Bournemouth Sports K and came way with a 5-1 win. The B and G teams have been drawn against each other in the semi-finals so Milton are guaranteed a place in the “Plate” Final as well as the “Cup” Final.

In the penultimate week of the Bournemouth & District Table Tennis league programme, the New Milton F team won the Div 4 title in style by beating Shamrock B 9-1 for the second time this season. Sylvia Smith came up with her third hat-trick of the campaign, Steve Cheesman logged his tenth treble, only having lost two games so far in his first season, and captain Malcolm Nash bagged a brace.  The full squad of 5 players are pictured below: l-r Malcolm Nash (Captain), Ian Linney, Sylvia Smith, Mike Roberts & Steve Cheesman.

The bottom-placed D team (pictured below) were celebrating their first win in Div 1 this season as they reversed a 4-6 first-round defeat by fellow strugglers Ringwood B by beating them 6-4 in their own backyard at Greyfriars. Malcolm Floyd is returning to form after injury and bagged a brace as did Bob Fagan and captain Terry Jenvey.

Div 2 saw the E team do the double over Bmth Sports E with an improved 8-2 win down at Mudeford Wood thanks to hat-tricks from Peter Daish and Simon Golding and a brace from Clive Pitts.

Div 4 proved a happy hunting ground once more for Milton as in addition to the title-clincher by the F team, the G team reprised their 10-0 whitewash of Winton YMCA C, and the H team did the double over bottom-placed Bmth Sports L with a 6-4 win at Chapel Gate. Not only did Paul Iliffe win yet another hat-trick for his H team, but he won Milton’s only two matches when he played all the way up in Div 1 for the C team who lost 2-8 to the high-flying Lynwood A.

In Div 5, the J team were gifted four points and ten games as Bmth Sports M failed to show at the Grange. The K team were gifted a point and three games as second-placed Merton L turned up at the Grange a player short. John Parkhouse was the only Milton player able to add to the advantage to make it a 4-6 defeat.  Full results are detailed below:- Read the rest of this entry →