BATTS retained the SBL Premier Cup with a 4-0 final victory over Ormesby, making up for the disappointment of missing out to Brighton in the Premier Division a couple of weeks ago.

The holders, represented by Josh Bennett, Chris Doran and Alexis Douin, always had a bit too much for their opponents, who were without their star names.

Hosts North Ayrshire finished in third place at the end of a weekend of great action at the National Sports Training Centre in Largs, on the west coast of Scotland.

In the first match of the final, Adam Webster started aggressively against Chris Doran and led 5-2 early on, but Doran found his range and found some clean, crisp winners to move into the lead at 7-6 and then pull away to 10-6.

Webster refused to go away, working his way back to deuce, but went long on the next two points to allow Doran to close out the game.

Doran was in front for most of the second, apart from when Webster led by a solitary point at 8-7, but four in a row gave Doran the game and put him firmly in control.

The BATTS man continued that momentum, going 5-0 up in the third as Webster perhaps chased the game a little and made unforced errors. Although he clawed back a few points, and saved a match point, he had too much to do and Doran took the game 11-5.

Josh Bennett, the only one of the BATTS trio who played in last year’s triumph, took on Graeme Barella in the second match.

He looked confident from the off, backing his attacking play, and always held the edge, particularly when the rallies opened into forehand-to-forehand battles. The Ormesby man did not have the same range of weaponry as Bennett won the opening two games, both to five.

Barella was more controlled on the attack in the third, particularly getting in behind his serve and trying to finish the points earlier, and he opened a 6-1 lead which he converted into an 11-5 game of his own.

The fourth was much more a tug of war with never more than a point between them. Both served into the net in quick succession near the end of the game – Barella on game point at 10-9. He was not to have another chance as Bennett won on his second match point.

Alexis Douin came in to partner Bennett in the doubles, against Barella & Abraham Sellado, and it looked like they were set to dominate, leading 8-3 before the Ormesby pair rattled off a succession of points, culminating in a blistering winner by Barella to take it 11-9.

Barella & Sellado had won as a pair in the semi-finals, whereas Bennett & Douin had lost – could Ormesby force a victory to turn the tide? Well, not in the next game, BATTS tearing out to an 8-1 lead and winning it 11-2.

The third was cagey and tight, BATTS missing two game points at 10-8 but taking it 12-10. Douin’s flicks were a feature of that game and a couple of point-winning repeats in the fourth prompted an Ormesby timeout at 4-1 down. But the north-easterners could not stem the tide and BATTS ran away to clinch the match, despite Ormesby saving a couple of match points.

Young Sellado had a tough task to bring Ormesby back into it as he faced Douin – a fact that was brought home when the Frenchman won the first nine points. Sellado retained his sense of humour in the face of the barrage, celebrating at volume and with a smile when he finally got on the board.

If he had been caught by surprise in that first game, he did not make the same mistake again and gave as good as he got in the second, Douin edging it 11-9 in the end.

The third saw a similar pattern as it went to 9-9, but this time Sellado took the crucial two points and extended the battle.

And while Sellado did not go quietly, Douin always had that little bit extra as he clinched the cup with an 11-7 scoreline.

Hosts North Ayrshire took third place, alongside bragging rights in Scotland, as they defeated Drumchapel Glasgow 4-0 as Viktor Gorman, Martin Johnson and Chris Main all took singles victories and Johnson & Gorman won the doubles.

Brighton beat Ormeau 4-2 to take fifth place – though there was a memorable doubles win from 2-0 down for Ormeau, and a victory for 13-year-old Peadar Sheridan over Will Bayley which made it 2-2. Second singles triumphs for Joseph Langham-Ferreira and Ihor Zavadskyi completed the victory for Brighton.

Fusion ended in seventh thanks to a 4-1 win over Nottingham, who took the lead as Howard Onweng defeated Larry Trumpauskas. Shaquille Webb-Dixon, Josh Bruce and Trumpauskas all won one – Bruce 15-13 in the fifth against Owen Brown – and Bruce & Trumpauskas took the doubles as Fusion turned it in their favour.

Results

Final
BATTS 4 Ormesby 0
Chris Doran bt Adam Webster 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-5)
Josh Bennett bt Graeme Barella 3-1 (11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 13-11)
Bennett & Alexis Douin bt Barella & Abraham Sellado 3-1 (9-11, 11-2, 12-10, 11-4)
Douin bt Sellado 3-1 (11-3, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7)

Positions 3-4
North Ayrshire 4 Drumchapel Glasgow 0
Viktor Gorman bt Danny Bajwa 3-1 (11-7, 3-11, 11-9, 11-8)
Martin Johnson bt Victor Guang Shi 3-1 (11-4, 8-11, 11-1, 11-6)
Johnson & Gorman bt Bajwa & Guang Shi 3-1 (11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-8)
Chris Main bt Martin Perry 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-8)

Positions 5-6
Brighton 4 Ormeau 2
Ihor Zavadskyi bt Adam Faulker 3-1 (11-3, 11-3, 8-11, 11-3)
Joseph Langham-Ferreira bt Alex Lo 3-1 (11-5, 11-7, 3-11, 11-8)
Faulkner & Peadar Sheridan bt Zavadskyi & Langham-Ferreira 3-2 (6-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8)
Sheridan bt Will Bayley 3-1 (7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7)
Langham-Ferreira bt Faulkner 3-0 (12-10, 11-6, 12-10)
Zavadskyi bt Sheridan 3-0 (11-6, 11-1, 11-2)

Positions 7-8
Fusion 4 Nottingham 1
Howard Onweng bt Larry Trumpauskas 3-1 (7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8)
Shaquille Webb-Dixon bt Joe Sawyer 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-5)
Trumpauskas & Josh Bruce bt Sawyer & Owen Brown 3-1 (11-3, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3)
Bruce bt Brown 3-2 (12-10, 5-11, 9-11, 11-6, 15-13)
Trumpauskas bt Sawyer 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-8)