Ormesby picked up a massive victory over title rivals BATTS as David McBeath came to the fore on the big occasion. 

It was a battle between two teams that fell just short last year and with that in mind, it’s hard to understate just how important a victory this could prove to be for the Cleveland-based outfit as they kept up the pace with Brighton by going two from two.

It was an outstanding encounter, with most of the games being closely fought but Ormesby, you always felt, had the upper hand.

The tone was set by Jose Enio Mendes, who beat BATTS debutant Haotian Chen in straight ends with an outstanding performance. He flew out of the traps to produce an 11-2 end before Chen got into the contest, but was nudged out of the second and third ends by a few points.

McBeath, back from America, then took out England’s rising youngster Ralph Pattison in what was yet another thorough examination of his improvement. He by no means did himself a disservice here as he troubled the England international, tying the game up after two ends with an impressive 11-5 win. However, McBeath’s class eventually prevailed as he found a new level for a 3-1 win.

When McBeath and Mendes beat Chen and Chris Doran in the doubles, BATTS had a mountain to climb. This was, of course, familiar territory for the hosts, who launched an astonishing fightback to defeat Fusion from the brink in the opening round.

But it wasn’t to be this time. Chen played significantly better against McBeath and his dynamic forehand was causing the Ormesby man issues, but he crucially missed two shots at the end of the second to fall two games behind and from there, it felt like the odds were against him. Chen pulled one back, but McBeath came home.

On the other table, a classic was unfolding. It appeared that Doran would pick up a routine victory over Ben Piggott, as he won the first two ends 11-6, with Piggott looking flustered by Doran’s performance. When he went 10-6 up again, it appeared over, but Piggott’s fight and perseverance shone through as he dragged the game to a decider. Piggott’s explosive forehands were being well absorbed by Doran but Ormesby’s young talent was relentless and kept going for his shots, despite Doran’s, at times, astonishing retrieval work.

It came down to a 10-9 showdown and Piggott created an opening but just snatched at a backhand, ending the contest there. Doran, once again, pulled out a clutch point when he needed to. His eighth-match point finally got him over the line. A heroic effort from Piggott.

Mendes suffered a shoulder injury, which saw him withdraw from his game against Doran. It left Piggott and Pattison to go into battle and it was the former who prevailed, dusting himself off after the agony of losing so closely to Doran to pick up an impressive win against a player who recently entered the top ten of the senior national rankings.

The pair shared two deuce ends but Piggott crucially took the third tight end to go ahead and then established a strong lead in the fourth to wrap up an impressive day for him and a very successful one for Ormesby.

“I thought we all played very well,” McBeath said. “Ben had a titanic match with Chris and almost got it and I thought the doubles was a good game and on the verge of going a lot closer. The guys were getting better in the doubles as the match went on; they hadn’t played together; me and Enio have played a lot together.”

On their title prospects, McBeath added: “We’ll have to see if we’re all available at the same time; I know that let us down last year. But Brighton are a very strong team and once again they’ll be wanting to retain it. We’ll give them a run for their money.”

Ormesby host North Ayrshire next on Saturday, November 9th. BATTS will travel from Harlow to Glasgow to take on Drumchapel.

Photo by Chris Rayner