New Milton Table Tennis Club

The New Milton E team (Gerard Redman, Peter Daish & Frank Handy) came a little bit closer to claiming the Div 2 title of the Bournemouth & District league as they did the double over second placed Ringwood B with an 8-2 victory at the Grange. In only his second game of the season, Redman (pictured below) came up with his second hat-trick, with captain Frank Handy and Peter Daish bagging a brace apiece. Redman crowned a brilliant evening by pairing up with his captain to take the doubles and secure the maximum four points.

The G team (Simon Daish, Clive Pitts & Bev Scott-Johns) have already clinched the Div 3 title, but are determined to win it in style as they improved on a first round draw against Bmth Sports H with a 7-3 win down at Mudeford Wood. Daish came up with his eighth hat-trick of the campaign, Pitts won a couple and captain Scott-Johns battled hard to come up with his one win.

The Club’s other win came in Div 5 as the struggling J team (Lynn Willrich, Geoff Biggs & Elliott Storr-Smith) were given a three game start as Winton YMCA E turned up a player short at the Grange. Thirteen year old Elliott Storr-Smith beat both players in attendance and captain Willrich and Biggs chipped in with one win apiece. Willrich & Biggs secured the four points as they took the doubles in three straight sets. Full results are below:- Read the rest of this entry →

The New Milton G team (Simon Golding, Simon Daish & Clive Pitts) did the double over second placed Merton G to put their hands firmly on the Div 3 title trophy of the Bournemouth & District Table Tennis league. The two Simons joined in a treble and breezed through the Merton pairing in the doubles to claim maximum points from their 8-2 win. That brings Milton up to 57 points with Merton remaining on 42 points with only three matches to go, leaving 12 points up for grabs.  Daish (pictured below) was in imperious form as he took his treble without dropping so much as an end.

The Club’s only other win and best result of the week came in Div 2 as the D team (Chris Pusey, Kai Major & Terry Jenvey) did the double over North Bmth with an excellent 9-1 win down at Mudeford Wood. Pusey came up with his first hat-trick of the season, and 14 year old Major continues to score hat-tricks for fun.

Another club player with a maiden hat-trick of the season was Eddie Tompkins whose treble helped his struggling F team to hold Bmth Sports G to a 5-5 draw in Div 3, having lost to them first time around. Tompkins also paired up with captain Malcolm Nash to just nick the doubles 11-9 in the fifth and final set. Full results appear below:- Read the rest of this entry →

Two weeks of the Bournemouth and District Table Tennis Association’s Annual Individual Championships got underway last week and three New Milton Club players have already made it through to four of the finals.

There will definitely be a “matt finish” in the Premier final as 14 year old Milton player Matt Daish will take on Matt Rogers from the Bournemouth Sports Club. This is Daish’s first tilt at the Premier title having lost in the semis last year to the eventual winner Steve Foster (Bournemouth Sports). Daish, who won the group without dropping a match, can take encouragement from the fact that he beat Rogers in three straight sets in the group stage, but anything can happen on Finals Night.

Daish also features in the Under 15s final where he will defend his title against fellow 14 year old club mate Kai Major who plays in Div 2 of the league. Daish beat another Milton player in the semis, Elliott Storr-Smith (Div 5), and Major saw off Ali Malloch from Bournemouth Sports who usually plays in Div 3. Major is out for revenge against Daish who beat him in their semi-final of the Under 15s last year. We are assured of at least one title winner from the club this year! Kai is pictured below receiving his Under 13s Trophy last year but he was “too old” to defend his title this year.

Major’s second title bash is in the Bournemouth Closed Handicap event where he takes on Keith Gillison from the Shamrock club. Gillison usually plays in Div 5 so Major from Div 2 will have to overcome a tough handicap to earn the title. The Milton starlet already overcame a handicap of +7 to beat Christine Renaut (Merton) in their semi, but he will have to give a +10 start to Gillison although Major has the consistency of play to surmount it.

The other New Milton player to make it through to the finals is Club Chairman Steve Hemmings who will face fellow Premier player Norman Swift (Merton) in the prestigious Bournemouth Closed (Scratch) event.

A number of New Milton players will also be entering the second week of tournaments including Vets and Doubles so hopefully there will be some more finalists from the club. 

The Finals Night is on Friday 20th March at the Grange starting at 7 o’clock, so come on down to cheer on your club mates.

The New Milton Table Tennis Club’s teams could only come up with three wins out of nine matches in the Bournemouth and District league last week, but one of them was a huge improvement on a first-round loss by the H team.

First time around the H team were trounced 2-8 by Winton YMCA C down at the YMCA hall, but Milton were clearly missing captain Les Smith who played in the return match at Mudeford Wood. An unsuspecting Winton didn’t know what hit them as they were battered 9-1 thanks to hat-tricks from Smith and Malcolm Douglas (pictured below), only their second full-houses of the season. George Roberts bagged a brace and then watched Smith and Douglas take the doubles fairly comfortably in the end.

In Div 1, the B team (Brian Bickell, John Millward, Zoltan Karip-Barath & Shaun Newcomb) did the double over Breamore with a 7-3 win at Mudeford Wood, courtesy of yet another hat-trick from England veteran Brian Bickell. The club’s only other win came in Div 3 as the G team (Simon Golding, Simon Daish & Bev Scott-Johns) repeated their 7-3 win over Merton H, this time down at Mudeford Wood. This victory, their ninth in a row, pulls them further away at the top of the table as they are now on 53 points against second-placed Merton G’s 38 points. With only four weeks of the playing season left to go, promotion to Div 2 looks assured.

The club’s most disappointing result of the week came in Div 1 as the struggling C team added further to their woes as they were unable to get a full team to Merton on time. Julie Smillie arrived in good time and valiantly won two of her three matches against Merton E which she played straight off. By the time the other two players eventually arrived, Merton E had claimed the match, which went down as a 10-0 defeat under the rules. Just for good measure, Milton were deducted four penalty points, which virtually seals their demotion to Div 2.  Full results details are below:- Read the rest of this entry →

Only three of the New Milton Table Tennis Club’s teams were in action in the Bournemouth and District League last week as their other seven teams all had “byes”.

In Div 1, the B team (Brian Bickell, Shaun Newcomb & John Millward) repeated their first round 8-2 victory over basement boys Merton D, this time away at Southbourne. England veteran Bickell came up with his seventh hat-trick of the campaign but captain Newcomb and Millward had to settle for a brace apiece. Maximum points were secured as Bickell & Newcomb paired clinically to take the doubles.

The Bee’s result came as a great favour to their Div 1 fellows in the C team as it prevented bottom-placed Merton D from gaining any further ground on them as they currently lie third from bottom.

Div 3 saw the table-topping G team (Simon Golding, Simon Daish & Danny Williams) avenge a first-round 4-6 defeat by beating Bmth Sports J 7-3 in their own back yard. Daish came up with his sixth hat-trick of the season, Golding bagged a brace and Williams chipped in with the one win.

The club’s biggest turn-around came in Div 4 as the H team (Les Smith, George Roberts & Malcolm Douglas) overcame a 1-9 demolition by Bmth Sports H at home to hold them to a 5-5 draw down at Chapel Gate. Captain Smith and Roberts bagged a brace apiece and Douglas added one more to the tally. Inspired by their in-form captain Les Smith (pictured below), the H team are gradually inching themselves away from danger, but they are still lying fourth from bottom so they need to keep up the pressure.

DIVISION 1

Merton D 2 New Milton B 8

(Brian Bickell 3, Shaun Newcomb 2, John Millward 2)

DIVISION 3

Bmth Sports J 3 New Milton G 7

(Simon Golding 2, Simon Daish 3, Danny Williams 1)

DIVISION 4

Bmth Sports M 5 New Milton H 5

(George Roberts 2, Les Smith 2, Malcolm Douglas 1)

There was a break in the Bournemouth & District Table Tennis League programme as last week was given over to the Annual Times and Directory Handicap Cup competition. The New Milton Club had no teams left in the Cup proper, but five of their teams had made it through to Round 2 of the consolation “Plate” competition.

The Club was assured of at least one team going through to the Quarter-Finals as the F team was drawn against the G team in a Div 3 local derby. The D and K teams had a much easier passage as neither Bmth Sports H nor Merton D were able to put out a team, so those Milton teams went through by default.

The local derby went strictly with the form book as the table topping G team (Simon Golding, Dan Williams & Simon Daish) saw off their struggling F team (Sylvia Smith, John Parkhouse & Malcolm Nash) 8-1 down at Mudeford Wood. It was all over by 5-0 but the remaining games were still played with Smith avoiding the whitewash by defeating Williams over three ends in the last match of the evening.

Also at Mudeford Wood on the same night, the B team (Brian Bickell, Zoltan Karip-Barath & John Millward) from Div 1 took on Bmth Sports J who normally play in Div 3. It was all over by the sixth game at 1-5 with Karip-Barath picking up the only win. It was decided to play the remaining three games and Karip-Barath added to his tally so Milton lost by 2-7 to exit the Plate.

So Milton have three teams in the Plate Quarter Finals to be played Week Commencing 6^th April, the G team by right of conquest and the D and K teams by default.

The New Milton C team has been struggling a bit in the Bournemouth & District Table Tennis league this season, but Zoltan Ordog’s first ever hat-trick helped his team to repeat their first-round 8-2 victory over Div 1 fall-guys Merton D. Julie Smillie also came up with her first hat-trick of the season and combined clinically with Ordog (pictured below) to win the doubles to claim the maximum points.

In a week which saw the New Milton Club’s teams win four out of their ten matches, the high-flying E team (Frank Handy, Simon Golding & Peter Daish) did the double over Bmth Sports E in Div 2 with a 6-4 win away at Chapel Gate. The G team (Bev Scott-Johns, Simon Daish & Simon Golding) tightened their grip at the top of Div 3 by doing the double over Nimrod A, aided and abetted by hat-tricks from Golding and Daish.

Div 4 saw the H team (Malcolm Douglas, George Roberts & Les Smith) overcome a first-round 4-6 defeat at the hands of lowly Nimrod C to wallop them 8-2 at their place, courtesy of hat-tricks from George Roberts and Malcolm Douglas, his first of the campaign.

The club’s other treble-makers were England Veteran Brian Bickell, who helped his B team to a draw against Broadstone A in Div 1, and teenage starlet Kai Major, whose full house for his D team included a fantastic win against the Merton legend that is Phil Beeden.  Full results details are below:- Read the rest of this entry →

Overall, it was a really strange week in the Bournemouth and District League for the New Milton Club, but suffice to say their teams improved on seven defeats out of nine matches in the first round by losing just the five matches this time around. The other results were three wins and a draw.

The club’s most spectacular turn-around came in Div 1 as the C team (Svet Ignatov, Zoltan Ordog & Matt Winter) banished the memory of their first-round whitewash at the hands of division leaders Lynwood A by holding them to a 5-5 draw in their own back yard. Ignatov (pictured below) and Ordog showed how much they were missed from the first encounter as they bagged a brace apiece. An out of sorts Winter was unable to improve on his first-round duck, but he combined well with Ignatov to snatch the doubles to force the draw.

In Div 5, the J team (Lynn Willrich, Geoff Biggs & Elliott Storr-Smith) improved on a 4-6 first round defeat by beating the high-flying Shamrock C by 7-3, but Shamrock did turn up a player short which gifted Milton three games. Up in Div 2, the E team (Frank Handy, Peter Daish & James Lewis) beat basement boys North Bmth 7-3 home at the Grange having been held to an away draw first time around. Lewis repeated his hat-trick, so it was captain Handy’s brace of wins which made all the difference as he didn’t play in their first meeting.

The A team (Steve Hemmings, Brian Vibert & Matthew Ware) weren’t expecting too much from their return match against league leaders Bmth Sports A as they had previously lost 1-9 away at Chapel Gate. It was a slightly improved scoreline of 2-8 at the Grange, but it was the more noteworthy as teenage starlet Matthew Daish got the better of league Coaching Officer Stephen Foster who had only previously dropped one match until then.

The Club was involved in three “whitewashes”, only one of which went their way. The G team (Bev Scott-Johns, Simon Golding & Simon Daish) were looking forward their return match against Bmth Sports K whom they had previously beaten 8-2, but the Bourne failed to show at Mudeford Wood, so Milton claimed the match. The Dees went down 0-10 away against Lynwood B and the K team lost 0-10 away against Winton YMCA F, not helped by the fact that Milton were a player short.

Sylvia Smith helped spare her F team’s blushes in Div 3 as she scraped a win over five sets against Broadstone C’s Alan Lo (the scoreline says it all at 11-7, 8-11, 12-14, 12-10, 12-10) to make it the slightly more respectable 1-9.  Full details are below:- Read the rest of this entry →

There was a break in the Bournemouth and District League programme as the week was given over to the annual Times & Directory Handicap Cup competition (Round 2 of the Cup and Round 1 of the “Plate”). The New Milton Club’s two remaining teams were knocked out of the Cup proper but the B team go through to Round 2 of the “Plate” by default.

The C team (Julie Smillie, Malcolm Floyd & Zoltan Ordog) who usually play in Div 1 travelled to the Winton YMCA and had a mountain to climb as they all had to give a 12 start up to 21 against Winton YMCA C’s three very experienced players from Div 4. It looked like captain Malcolm Floyd had got it sussed in the first end of his first match as he hauled himself level to 20-20 against Winton’s Geoff Hawkins, but Floyd failed to return a tricky serve and lost that end. All the “nets and edges” went against him in the second and he got battered 14-21 to lose the match. Smillie lost her first match then Ordog (pictured below) beat Derek Orchard to make it 1-2. Floyd lost his next match but it looked like Ordog was going to pick up a second for Milton but Hawkins’ luck held to deprive the Hungarian over three ends. This brought the score to 1-4 which left Smillie to beat Orchard to keep Milton in the cup. She lost the first end 15-21 but caught up to 20-20 in the second end, when Orchard speculatively smashed back her serve to take the match off her. Milton therefore lost 1-5 but it could easily have gone the other way.

There was a much closer scoreline in Milton’s other cup match as the Div 2 E team (Frank Handy, James Lewis and Peter Daish) travelled to Southbourne to take on Merton L who normally ply their trade in Div 5. Lewis and Daish each won two out of three but captain Handy lost his first two matches, so it hung in the balance at 4-4 as Handy took on wily old Merton veteran Gordon White. Handy was hoping to break his duck for the evening, but he found the 11 points differential very hard going and lost over three ends for Milton to end up narrowly losing 4-5.

Five New Milton teams featured in the draw for Round 1 of the consolation Plate competition, but none of them actually played a match. The D, F, G and K teams all had “byes” but the B team were drawn to play away against Bmth Sports L. Captain Shaun Newcomb, John Millward and Brian Bickell duly turned up on Friday night at Chapel Gate which is more than can be said for the Bourne side so Milton claimed the match. The “famous five” therefore proceed to Round 2 of the Plate without so much as raising a bat in anger in the consolation event.