Photo credit: Michael Loveder

Ormesby’s unbeaten start to the season continued with a 5-2 win over Fusion.

The league leaders have now defeated every side in the competition at the midway point and their destiny is very much in their own hands. This wasn’t their most spectacular win of the campaign but without some key players, these are the wins that can often make or break a season so the importance of this should not be understated.

It has to be noted that Fusion weren’t at full strength either, with Larry Trumpauskas and Shaquille Webb-Dixon both unavailable. Likewise, Ormesby didn’t have David McBeath or Enio Mendes while recent debutants Yoan Rebetez and Humberto Manhani Junior weren’t available either. But it provided an opportunity for others to step up and in Graeme Barella’s case, he took that chance with both hands.

Barella won both of his singles, impressively defeating the higher-ranked Lorestas Trumpauskas before adding Jesse Bath to his list of victories later. Most impressively, he didn’t drop an end in the process.

While Barella was playing Trumpauskas, Ben Piggott was grafting out a 3-0 win of his own as he came out triumphant against Joshua Bruce. Piggott had missed Oresmby’s win over Brighton due to his involvement in the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Table Tennis Championships, where he reached the men’s final and won the men’s doubles with Felix Thomis. His return here was most welcome.

Trumpauskas and Bruce responded well as they won the doubles in convincing fashion, cutting the arrears to one at that point. But Piggott was impressive again in victory over Trumpauskas and reestablished the lead in timely fashion.

Fusion wouldn’t go away though and when Bath defeated Thomas Rayner 3-1, an impressive result it must be said, the outcome was still up in the air heading into the final two matches. However, Barella raced through his game with Bath to secure it, and that somewhat took the gloss off a brilliant match between Rayner and Bruce, which would go the distance. Rayner eventually took it, coming up clutch with some brilliant shots including a round-the-net backhand when trailing 7-6 in the final end to add emphasis to the hosts’ fifth consecutive win.