COUNTY PREMIER DIVISION REPORT
Good start for Berkshire Senior team in County Premier Division.
The Berkshire Table Tennis Squad made a determined start in their quest to retain Premier Division status in the County Championships at Cippenham TTC last weekend. They put up great fights before succumbing to last season’s top two counties, champions Derbyshire and runners up Essex. They then turned in a magnificent performance to beat Cleveland by 6-4 to give themselves a really good chance of survival when the remaining matches are played next March.
The first opponents were the powerful Essex team who triumphed 8-2. However, three of Essex's wins went to the wire and if they had gone Berkshire’s way, a point on the board may have resulted. Berkshire's wins came from Richard Andrews who beat Umar Mathoor and Tom Maynard who beat Ashley Stokes. Andrews also came close to Chris Sladden before losing at 7 in the fifth game whilst Lisa Sprackling also did well to extend Evangeline Collier to 5 games.
Next up were the champions Derbyshire and what a start Berkshire nearly made, Tom Maynard just losing out to England No 24 ranked Shaun Marples at 9 in the fifth game. Hari Gehlot then leveled it at 1-1 with a 4 game win over David Arrowsmith. The ladies battled away in vain whilst David Barr struggled with a virus. Maynard also beat Arrowsmith whilst Gehlot finished the match by storm against Sam Perry eventually losing out at 9 in the fifth to make the match score 8-2 to the champions.
Finally the match against Cleveland that gave the team the fillip they needed. A great start when Dave Barr beat Andrew Wilson in four tight games. Then Hari Gehlot comfortably beat Danny Welsh. The ladies found the opposition too strong and it was left to the men to battle away. Tom Maynard had a magnificent three straight win over England No 28 ranked Bryn Drinkhall and Gehlot comfortably beat Wilson. Barr then excelled in also beating Drinkhall and after Susan Johnson lost in four games to Karen Shepherd, Maynard clinched the 6-4 team victory with an easy win over Wilson.
This is the strongest squad Berkshire have had for some while and with a good mix of experience and young blood we can expect some good things in the near future.