Just when the older generation were getting used to having it all their own way, along comes a batch of new blood to upset the applecart. And it was certainly refreshing to witness. The Open Singles was won by Chris Durrant, proving that now he can more than mix it with anyone in the League. His opponent Keith Hunt had enjoyed a good tournament to reach the final and he took early leads in the first two sets, but Chris didn’t let him get away, coming back to take the first two sets 11-9, 11-9. The third set was even closer, with Chris always looking like he had the upper hand, forcing Keith back from the table with strong attacking play and eventually running out winner 15-13 in the third set.

The Division 2 final also featured a young player, Matthew Hubbard of Bintree, who now aged 18 has improved his game enormously this season. He faced Colin Smith, a player he had lost to in all their previous meetings, and in the first set it was Smith who won it 14-12. A year ago this would probably have been the undoing of Matthew, but he showed how his game has matured, mixing steady play with a series of fine attacking strokes, and he came back to take the next three sets 11-8, 13-11, 11-8 to win the Division’s trophy.

In the Juniors events the Under 14 Final featured two players new to the League this season, brothers Matt and Phil Denton. Having already wrapped up the Under 17 event, Phil overcame his brother in four sets in the Under 14’s, 11-6, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5. The final was watched by many of the more seasoned campaigners who appreciated how much these two have developed their games in their first league season and championships.

Division 3 saw another two team mates in the final, Jon Cheyette and Alan Ruttledge of Hunworth, and this one turned out to be the closest final of the night. With the first two sets shared Jon took the third 11-9, Alan the fourth 12-10, and at 10-8 in the fifth an unfortunate mis-serve by Alan saw Jon take the match.

Paul Durrant won the Vets competition, beating Nigel Houseago in the final, and father/son combo Paul and Chris Durrant beat brother combo Paul and Steve Barrett in the Open Doubles. The Handicap event was also won by the Open Singles winner Chris Durrant, beating Paul Barrett.

Click here to see 2010 Championships pictures

19/01/2010, played at Toftwood Junior School.
Hingham lost to Windsor Park 4-6.
Its worth a look at the scorecard for this one. The younger players, Robbie Emerson for Hingham and Matt and Phil Denton for Windsor Park were chalking up scorelines which were becoming reminiscent of a bygone era, probably unknown to them! Robbie v Matt did feature a 21-19 scoreline, Robbie winning this one in the fifth 16-14. And against Phil it was a win for Robbie 20-18 in the fifth set. Quite a marathon with Windsor Park coming out on top.

19/02/2010, played at Fakenham Conservative Club.
Fakenham Conservatives lost to Billingford 4-6.
Another one of those could have gone either way Division 2 battles was shaded by Billingford. Man of the match was their Andy Marsh who took a maximum, although he was pushed close by Ted Barnes before winning 11-8 in the fifth. Ted was the right side of another close one against David Lake, winning 11-9 this time in the fifth.

17/02/2010, played at Wood Norton Village Hall.
Bintree A lost to Swanton Morley D 3-7.
An emphatic win for Swanton against a two-player Bintree side, but Matthew Hubbard pushed the unbeaten David Appleby further than anyone this season, losing out in a great game 11-9 in the fifth set.

Don't forget its Finals Night this Wednesday at Swanton Morley Village Hall starting at 7.00 pm. EVERYONE WELCOME!

ORDER OF PLAY

VETS SEMI FINALS                                                                                            

T1.   KEITH HUNT            V  PAUL DURRANT

T2.   NIGEL HOUSEAGO V  PAUL BROWN

FINALS

HANDICAP

T1.   PAUL BARRETT       V CHRIS DURRANT

JUNIOR U14’S

T2.   MATT DENTON        V PHIL DENTON

OPEN DOUBLES

T1.   PAUL & CHRIS DURRANT

                     V

PAUL & STEVE BARRETT

DIV 2

T2.  COLIN SMITH  V  MATTHEW HUBBARD

VETS                                                                   

T1. WINNERS OF SEMIS ABOVE

DIV 3                                                                                    

T2.  JON CHEYETTE V ALAN RUTTLEDGE

OPEN SINGLES                                                                 

T2.   KEITH HUNT     V  CHRIS DURRANT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

JUNIOR U17’S

THIS WAS ALREADY PLAYED ON THE SECOND CHAMPS NIGHT.

WINNER WAS PHIL DENTON 3 SETS TO 1.

17/02/2010, played at Foxley Village Hall.
Hunworth beat Bawdeswell 8-2.
This top versus bottom of the table clash not only provided a most enjoyable night of Table Tennis but took two of the players on a journey into the past. Rod Freary returning recently to Table Tennis, after 15 years away, walked into Foxley Village Hall to find an old adversary from the days of 21points awaiting him. Historically games against Stan Munn had always been tight and gone the full distance. No surprise then that their end of the evening clash produced the game of the night. A battle of backspin against backspin that saw Stan Munn grind out a win in the fifth.

16/02/2010, played at Toftwood Junior School.
Windsor Park lost to Swanton Morley H 2-8.
Windsor Park improved on their previous 10-0 defeat against Swanton H and managed to win 2 games this time. After what appeared to be someone who has never played table tennis before playing instead of Simon in his first game losing 3-0 to Neil, he recovered to beat Richard and winning a game off David. Matt & Phil both had excellent matches, with Phil beating Neil 3-0 and Matt taking games off Richard and Neil. Final score 8-2 to Swanton H.

29/09/2009, played at Toftwood Junior School.
Watton lost to Billingford 2-8.
Watton's Andy Brand has been battling away in this his first season to no avail, but finally tonight the first win came, a straight three sets one too against Billingford's Arthur Lake. Mike Murray added another with a win over Arthur, but Billingford were too strong overall.

12/02/2010, played at Fakenham Conservative Club.
Fakenham Conservatives lost to Swanton Morley F 4-6.
A very close match which could easily have gone either way with so many tight sets, ten of which went to deuce. It was John William's maximum for Swanton which swung it their way, although he had to come back from two sets down against John Ashley with scores of 14-12, 12-10, 11-8 to take the game. Closest finale of the evening went to John though, with a 16-14 win in the fifth over Tony Wright.

08/02/2010, played at Swanton Morley Village Hall.
Swanton Morley D beat Watton 10-0.
Swanton D proved too strong for the league newcomers, although Geoff Nobes had a great game with Steve Sheldrake, losing out eventually 11-7 in the fifth set.

08/02/2010, played at Swanton Morley Village Hall.
Swanton Morley I lost to Windsor Park 4-6.
After eight games it was all square in this encounter, but Windsor Park took the last two in the closest games of the night with two fifth set wins, 11-7 for Simon Denton over Ben Sheldrake and 13-11 for Simon and Phil Denton over Ben and Digby Saunders.

The draw for the semi finals is:-

08/02/2010, played at Swanton Morley Village Hall.
Bawdeswell lost to Swanton Morley G 2-8.
A good win for top of the table Swanton G against bottom team Bawdeswell, despite Rod Feary's attempts to put a spoke in their wheel, taking Bawdeswell's two points with fifth set wins over Dave Worship and Tony Brown, and only just losing out to Ron Duncan. Duncan came back to clinch the last two sets 12-10, 11-9 to deny Feary's maximum.

09/02/2010, played at Beetley Village Hall.
RYBS beat Bintree A 8-2.
RYBS came out on top in the meeting of the top two after a long evening of close games. Matthew Hubbard played well for the visitors and beat Phil Barber 11-8 in the fifth but lost to Colin Smith in five sets, and Chris Riseborough had a fine game to beat Terry Copland 11-9 in the fifth. Colin Smith quietly and unobtrusively secured his maximum with an 11-8 win in the fifth against Chris.

08/02/2010, played at Swanton Morley Village Hall.
Bawdeswell lost to Swanton Morley G 2-8.
A good win for top of the table Swanton G against bottom team Bawdeswell, despite Rod Feary's attempts to put a spoke in their wheel, taking Bawdeswell's two points with fifth set wins over Dave Worship and Tony Brown, and only just losing out to Ron Duncan. Duncan came back to clinch the last two sets 12-10, 11-9 to deny Feary's maximum.

With the first two weeks of the new year dedicated to the League's Annual Championships, its just the finals night that remains. It will take place at Swanton Morley Village Hall from 6:45 pm on 24 February and everyone is welcome to attend, whether a member of the League or not.

ORDER OF PLAY

VETS SEMI FINALS                                                                                            

T1.   KEITH HUNT            V  PAUL DURRANT

T2.   NIGEL HOUSEAGO V  PAUL BROWN

FINALS

HANDICAP

T1.   PAUL BARRETT       V CHRIS DURRANT

JUNIOR U14’S

T2.   MATT DENTON        V PHIL DENTON

OPEN DOUBLES

T1.   PAUL & CHRIS DURRANT

                     V

PAUL & STEVE BARRETT

DIV 2

T2.  COLIN SMITH  V  MATTHEW HUBBARD

VETS                                                                   

T1. WINNERS OF SEMIS ABOVE

DIV 3                                                                                    

T2.  JON CHEYETTE V ALAN RUTTLEDGE

OPEN SINGLES                                                                 

T2.   KEITH HUNT     V  CHRIS DURRANT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

JUNIOR U17’S

THIS WAS ALREADY PLAYED ON THE SECOND CHAMPS NIGHT.

WINNER WAS PHIL DENTON 3 SETS TO 1.

What a wonderful thing our handicap system is!  In the previous round of this cup competition, SM "H" had to give their opponents up to an 11 point start and won quite comfortably and yet in the next round came up against the mighty Bradenham, received a 15 point start in most of the games, and lost!!  Full credit to the Bradenham trio for overhauling such a handicap to win 7-2, Richard Norman for Swanton beating Keith Hunt and David Attridge for their two.  A thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all with plenty of scintillating table tennis and good fun, well what do you expect from Nigel, Atto and Keith!  No time for coffee so who ate all the biscuits?

Elsewhere Swanton Morley C edged through in a close game against Hunworth 5-4, Bintree B beat Swanton I 7-2 and Swanton D beat Windsor Park 6-3.

27/01/2010, played at Swanton Morley Village Hall.
Swanton Morley G beat Hingham 7-3.
Although they lost the match, Hingham climbed off the bottom of the table and could have added another couple of wins, Tessa Nicholls losing out 13-11 in the fifth to Tony Brown and Steven Nicholls 12-10 in the fifth to Richard Johnstone.