BATTS are the inaugural SBL Premier Cup champions, beating Brighton 4-1 at their home venue in Harlow to lift the trophy.

Fusion earlier defeated Drumchapel 4-3 in the bronze medal match.

Photos by Michael Loveder – see more on our Flickr page

Josh Bennett was the star turn in the final, winning both his singles matches and contributing to the doubles.

However, it was Brighton who drew first blood as Jordan Wykes recovered from losing the first game, saving game points in the second and going on to beat Ralph Pattison 3-1.

Bennett versus Ukrainian Ihor Zavadskyi already had the feel of a pivotal match – the Brighton player’s defensive prowess earning much admiration over the weekend.

Bennett had to be patient, focused and precise and he was, overcoming difficult moments in the first as he saw his opponent save four game points, and again later on before earning the right to coast a bit more through the fourth to seal a 3-1 victory.

The doubles was always close, but victory in three for Bennett & Shayan Siraj put BATTS in front and they never relinquished the lead.

Siraj had been defeated by Will Bayley in their league meeting in Brighton, but it was very different this time as Siraj imposed himself.

And it was left to Bennett to bring home the trophy for BATTS coach Cliff Carder – who donated the cup and is recovering from a recent major operation.

Not that it was straightforward against Wykes. Bennett took the first two and looked in command, but Wykes pulled one back and was had three game points in the fourth.

Bennett saved them all, and another at 10-11, before taking his first match point and with it the trophy.

Final finishing order

1 BATTS, 2 Brighton, 3 Fusion, 4 Drumchapel, 5 North Ayrshire, 6 Urban, 7 Ormeau, 8 Ormesby.

Play-offs

In the positional play-offs, Fusion claimed the bronze medals with a tight 4-3 victory over Drumchapel, who come into next season’s Premier Division as Championships winners.

Garry Dodd kept up his good form over the weekend with a double for Drumchapel, wining the first match against Josh Bruce and then beating Shaquille Webb-Dixon in the fifth match. That one went the distance and Webb-Dixon saved a game point in taking the fourth 12-10, but then missed a match point to allow Dodd to take the decider by the same score.

In between, Webb-Dixon beat Bajwa and Fusion won the doubles to lead 2-1, but Baoman Wan defeated Larry Trumpauskas to make it 2-2.

Dodd’s second victory saw Drumchapel one win from the medals, but Bruce superbly saw off Wan to make it 3-3. Trumpauskas and Bajwa shared the first two games, but Trumpauskas crucially won the third 15-13 as both players had chances – and he went on to win the fourth to sent the medals to London rather than Glasgow.

North Ayrshire claimed fifth place ahead of Urban, beating their opponents 4-0 with almost the minimum of fuss.

Martin Johnson got the first point on the board with a 3-0 win over James Hamblett, the second match was the only one not to be decided in three as Chris Main overcame Toby Ellis 3-1 and, after the doubles also went to the Scottish side, Viktor Gorman completed the whitewash against Mateusz Mikosz.

The top two in the league playing off for the bottom two places in the cup was rather incongruous and it was the league champions Ormeau who prevailed 4-1 against runners-up Ormesby.

Matt Ware put the Irish team in front, against Tom Rayner, but Graeme Barella levelled by beating Conor Nugent.

The doubles was pivotal and Ormeau came back from 2-0 down to claim it 3-2, setting them up to add the next two singles to seal seventh place.

Results

Final
BATTS 4 Brighton 1
Jordan Wykes (BRI) bt Ralph Pattison (BAT) 3-1 (7-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-6)
Josh Bennett (BAT) bt Ihor Zavadskyi (BRI) 3-1 (12-10, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4)
Bennett & Shayan Siraj (BAT) bt Wykes & Zavadskyi (BRI) 3-0 (13-11, 11-9, 12-10)
Siraj (BAT) bt Will Bayley (BRI) 3-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-8)
Bennett (BAT) bt Wykes (BRI) 3-1 (11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 13-11)

Third-fourth play-off
Fusion 4 Drumchapel 3
Garry Dodd (DRM) bt Josh Bruce (FUS) 3-1 (11-4, 17-15, 8-11, 11-5)
Shaquille Webb-Dixon (FUS) bt Danny Bajwa (DRM) 3-1 (11-7, 11-7, 11-13, 11-4)
Robert Pelc & Bruce (FUS) bt Bajwa & Victor Guang Shi (DRM) 3-1 (8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 12-10)
Baoman Wan (DRM) bt Larry Trumpauskas (FUS) 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 13-11)
Dodd (DRM) bt Webb-Dixon 3-2 (9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 10-12, 12-10)
Bruce (FUS) bt Wan (DRM) 3-1 (11-9, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9)
Trumpauskas (FUS) bt Bajwa (DRM) 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 15-13, 11-7)

Fifth-sixth play-off
North Ayrshire 4 Urban 0
Martin Johnson (NAY) bt James Hamblett (URB) 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-8)
Chris Main (NAY) bt Toby Ellis (URB) 3-1 (10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 11-3)
Johnson & Viktor Gorman (NAY) bt Ellis & Mateusz Mikosz (URB) 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-9)
Gorman (NAY) bt Mikosz (URB) 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-7)

Seventh-eighth play-off
Ormeau 4 Ormesby 1
Matt Ware (ORM) bt Tom Rayner (OMY) 3-1 (11-2, 11-8, 15-17, 11-3)
Graeme Barella (OMY) bt Conor Nugent (ORM) 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 12-10)
Ware & Zak Wilson (ORM) bt Barella & Rayner (OMY) 3-2 (4-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7)
Wilson (ORM) bt Jake Haygarth (OMY) 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-7)
Ware (ORM) bt Barella (OMY) 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6)