Table Tennis - Top two clash in crunch Division 1 showdown (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Table Tennis - Top two clash in crunch Division 1 showdown

11:04am Thursday 10th March 2011 in Sport

TABLE toppers Burton C and second-placed Dallam B faced their most important match of the season in Division 2 of the Kendal and District League, as the two sides clashed this week in a top of the table thriller.

Holding a six-point cushion over their rivals, Burton C should have been the more assured side, yet Dallam B started brightly as Lawrence Duncan and Tom Carling dispatched Tony March with relative ease. Burton fought back almost instantaneously when Graeme Wheelhouse and Martin Wakelin defeated Carling and Joe Alaimo in three and four sets respectively. Dallam’s hopes of inflicting the season’s first defeat upon the league leaders received a massive boost when Duncan shaded an unfortunate Wakelin 11-6 in a desperate fifth set to produce a 3-2 scoreline in Dallam’s favour at the half way stage. The tie remained too close to call in the second period, however Burton edged ahead 5-4 with only the doubles to play, after Wheelhouse and Wakelin defeated Alaimo and Carling respectively. Wheelhouse’s ice cool 8-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7 success against Duncan, combined with a 13-11, 11-6, 11-9 triumph in the doubles, set up a crucial 6-4 victory for Burton and an 8 point lead at the table summit.

Fourth-placed Dallam C’s slim promotion prospects improved following a comprehensive 8-2 triumph against relegation threatened Burton E. Matthew Pickering’s early 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 success against Tom Jackson offered Burton early promise, although any hope of a successful result for Burton were dashed when Dallam won the next five singles matches to lead 5-1. James and Thomas Parkinson maintained the Dallam onslaught, claiming all three victories. An 11-7 win in the fourth set for Burton’s Peter Hunt against an off form Jackson could not prevent the young Milnthorpe side from snatching their eighth win of the campaign.

Sixth placed Natland D claimed their ninth success of the season, crushing Burton D 8-2. Howard Pimblett and Louisa Bevan’s early two victories helped Natland forge an unassailable 4-1 lead, while Daniel Herd’s last gasp 12-10 win in a dramatic fifth set against Peter Taylor offered Burton a crumb of hope. Despite Bryan Rhodes’s 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9 win against Taylor for Burton, Bevan’s hat-trick of victories, combined with Pimblett’s double and Taylor’s four set success against Shelley Rhodes, set up Natland’s 7-3 victory.

Dent A slipped to their twelfth defeat of the season, 9-1 at the hands of Dallam B, leaving them well adrift and rooted to the foot of the table. Steve Hawley provided Dent’s only moment of inspiration when he scraped past James Parkinson by the tightest of margins 11-2, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9, 14-12, atoning for his earlier defeat 8-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-3, 12-14 in a mirror image game against a relieved Joe Alaimo. Hawley’s luck once more deserted him in the final singles match of the night, sinking to an 11-7 defeat in the fifth set against Tom Carling.

Entries for the Kendal and District League’s Annual Tournament, to be held at Dallam School’s sports centre, close at the end of this week. Please send completed entries to tournament organiser Bob Bagot as soon as possible.

Results: Division 1: Crook A 1-9 Natland A; Burton B 3-7 Glaxo B; Burton B 7-3 Dallam A; Glaxo B 8-2 Natland B.

Division 2: Dallam B 4-6 Burton C; Dent A 1-9 Dallam B; Burton E 2-8 Dallam C; Natland D 7-3 Burton D; Dallam D 1-9 Burton C.