BATTS continued their fine form this season, beating last year’s runners up Ormesby to firmly cement themselves at the top of the SBL Premier Division. The 5-2 victory away from home was their sixth of the season, and a complete team performance.

The highly anticipated top-of-the-table clash saw two decisive moments that appeared to sway the final result. Scores were level heading into the doubles, with Chris Doran and Joe Ferguson taking on Graeme Barella and David McBeath. Five sets were needed to find a winner, the BATTS duo running out eventual victors 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9.

Graeme Barella then beat Josh Bennett in four, swinging momentum back to Ormesby. Meanwhile Chris Doran and David McBeath were sharing a five-set thriller. Doran (pictured above, photo by Chris Rayner) eventually won out to leave the overall score at 3-2.

Ferguson and Bennett rounded off the tie with two victories to ensure BATTS’ best-ever start to a Premier Division continued.

Ormeau managed to secure their place in the final playoff position with a 6-1 victory over Drumchapel Glasgow. Coming into the tie the Northern-Irish contingent knew that a win would be enough to secure fourth place in the league. 

With one match played Danny Bajwa set a few home nerves racing as he beat Matthew Ware in four. That would turn out to be the last point gained for Drumchapel Glasgow, as player of the match Damien Provost teamed up with Ware in the doubles before the remaining singles matches were all won by the home side.

In Scotland, North Ayrshire (NATTC) started Saturday knowing that they would have to win comfortably and see Ormeau lose to move into a playoff position. 

They did all they could, with an inspired performance from their trio of Hugo Torngren, Viktor Gorman and Martin Johnson against Fusion. Lorestas Trumpauskas was the only member of the Fusion squad to register a win, although Josh Bruce pushed Gorman to five in the final match of the day.

Eventual 6-1 winners, NATTC finished fifth in the league, just two points behind Ormeau.

In the day’s other fixture Brighton comfortably overcame TableTennisDaily. The south-coast side did not lose a match all afternoon as Alex Naumi pickied up a player of the match award. TTD had opportunities in the match, most notably Callum Evans pushed David Andersson to five sets. Umair Mauthoor also took Toby Ellis to a deciding fifth set in their singles clash.

BATTS, Ormesby, Ormeau and Brighton will face each other once more this season, with the winner of their mini-league taking home the title. Drumchapel Glasgow, North Ayrshire, TableTennisDaily and Fusion will compete for places 5-8.

Fixtures are due to be played on 13th and 27th April, with the final round scheduled to take place on Saturday 11th May. 

You can watch all the action again on TTE.TV.

Photo credit (first image): Chris Rayner

Results

Ormea 6 Drumchapel Glasgow 1

Damien Provost (ORM) bt Victor Guang Shi (DRUM) 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-4)

Danny Bajwa (DRUM) bt Matthew Ware (ORM) 3-1 (12-10, 11-4, 11-3, 11-4)

Matthew Ware/Damien Provost (ORM) bt Danny Bajwa/Xinliang Sun (DRUM) 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-8)

Jonathan Mooney (ORM) bt Xinliang Sun 3-2 (11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8)

Damien Provost (ORM) bt Danny Bajwa (DRUM) 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5)

Jonathan Mooney (ORM) bt Victor Huang Shi (DRUM) 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-5)

Matthew Ware (ORM) bt Xinliang Sun 3-1 (10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8)

Ormesby 5 BATTS 5

David McBEath (ORMS) bt Joe Ferguson (BAT) 3-1 (8-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-9)

Chris Doran (BAT) bt Djen Bakx (ORMS) 3-1 (7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10)

Chris Doran/Joe Ferguson (BAT) bt Graeme Barella/David McBeath (ORMS) 3-2 (11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9)

Graeme Barella (ORMS) bt Josh Bennett (BAT) 3-1 (11-6, 14-12, 9-11, 12-10)

Chris Doran (BAT) bt David McBeath (ORMS) 3-2 (3-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9)

Joe Ferguson (BAT) bt Graeme Barella (ORMS) 3-0 (14-12, 11-5, 11-4)

Josh Bennett (BAT) bt Djen Bakx (ORMS) 3-0 (11-6, 16-14, 11-3)

North Ayrshire TTC 6 Fusion 1

Hugo Torngren (NATTC) bt Shaquille Webb Dixon (FUS) 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-2)

Lorestas Trumpauskas (FUS) bt Viktor Gorman (NATTC) 3-2 (11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 14-12)

Martin Johnson/Hugo Torngren (NATTC) bt Lorestas Trumpauskas/Shaquille Webb Dixon (FUS) 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-9)

Martin Johnson (NATTC) bt Josh Bruce (FUS) 3-0 (11-0, 11-0, 11-0)

Hugo Torngren (NATTC) bt Lorestas Trumpauskas (FUS) 3-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-9)

Martin Johnson (NATTC) bt Shaquille Webb Dixon (FUS) 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10)

Viktor Gorman (NATTC) bt Josh Bruce (FUS) 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8)

Brighton TTC 7 TableTennisDaily 0

Alex Naumi (BRI) bt Uamir Mauthoor (TTD) 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-6)

David Andersson (BRI) bt Callum Evans (TTD) 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9)

Alex Naumi/David Andersson (BRI) bt Daniel Ives/Callum Evans (TTD) 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-6)

Toby Ellis (BRI) bt Daniel Ives (TTD) 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-5)

Alex Naumi (BRI) bt Callum Evans (TTD) 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-8)

Toby Ellis (BRI) bt Umair Mauthoor (TTD) 3-2 (12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6)

David Andersson (BRI) bt Daniel Ives (TTD) 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-9)