North Cornwall Table Tennis League 2018/19 latest round-up

ALL four semi-finalists in the Team Handicap Knockout come from Division One following the last eight ties which were played last week.

Two of those matches were held at North Hill Village Hall with North Hill A welcoming local rivals Altarnun A, and Division Three leaders North Hill C entertaining Crackington B.

Altarnun have pushed on in recent weeks to move to within two points of Budehaven C in second in, Division Two.

However North Hill are vying for the runners-up spot with Budehaven A in the top division and showed why as they cantered to a 5-2 victory, as Shirley Luckhurst was undefeated with three with Martin Hynes and Bob Thompson both contributing with two.

Malcolm Tulip, who normally plays for Altarnun B, used his massive headstart to grab the visitors’ points.

Although there weren’t such huge deficits to overcome across the hall, Crackington B showed their cup pedigree to win 6-3.

All matches started with the hosts having an advantage ranging from 8-0 to 13-0, but the away side held their nerve well, going 3-0 up even if Robin Evans had to win a sudden death point against Jill Diggory in the decider.

However in her next match against Keiron Chatterjea, Diggory — faced with the same situation — managed to close it out 21-20 in the third to keep it alive at 3-1.

But with the returning Ross Paynter in fine form, Crackington closed the victory out at 5-2 before agreeing to play out the final two matches to lengthen the evening, which were shared.

Crackington will face Torridge in the next round after the champions-elect won 5-2 at Budehaven E.

The league’s best player David Streak started 16-0 and 14-0 down respectively in his two matches but still won in straight games while David Stone and Steve Cragg both performed excellently to win twice. For the home side, Ian Westaway and Ian Edwards were both on target.

Budehaven A are the final team through to the last four after defeating Crackington C 5-3.

With plenty of players to choose from, home captain Dave Salisbury chose not to play himself and it was son Owen and impressive newcomer Mark Beaumont who defied the large handicaps to win five of their six matches.

Trevor Dean, Simon Patterson and James Ellis at least won.

Crackington C were back in action 24 hours later in a rearranged Division Two match but lost 8-2 at home to their Budehaven C counterparts.

Although Budehaven’s best player Anthony Ward was somewhat surprisingly defeated by both Trevor Dean and Simon Patterson, Andrew Ward and Gary Bickle were both in fantastic form to claim three points apiece.

To find out the latest results, scorecards, tables, fixtures and more, visit www.tabletennis365.com/NorthCornwall