170318 | bsmttc

News Release - BSMTTC News 60

Dateline: 18 March 2017

More Cup Action

This week some of the Club's teams have again been in cup action. And there couldn't have been a greater contrast with teams at each end of the age spectrum in cup competitions.

Pride of place goes to the Club's junior team, playing under the banner of Crosby High C, who, having already won the U13 Division of the L&DTTL Junior Development Division fought their way to the final of the JDD Handicap Cup, which included both U13 and O13 teams. Take a look to see how they did!

At the other end of the age spectrum 2 teams were in action in the Quarter Finals of the L&DTTL Frank Murphy Veterans Handicap Cup, a competition in which the club has a very strong tradition. You can find out about their progress here too.

The JDD Handicap Cup

Having come through the first two rounds of the new Handicap Cup competition for the L&DTTL Junior Development Division by narrow margins the Bath Street boys, who play in this event under the name of Crosby High C, found themselves in the Final facing the young lions of St Johns School C Team. The JDD has operated for just 2 seasons, and this season was split into an U13 Division and an O13 Division. The boys just crept into the U13 Division. However in the cup competition all the teams were involved with their different ages and standards of play being reflected in the handicaps allocated for each match. Being the 'senior' team in the Final and the elder team the boys faced a massive 144 point handicap disadvantage for the match, which comprised of 9 sets of singles, each set being 2 games played to 15 points. The handicap is then added to the points scored by the lower ranked team and the team with the highest points including the handicap is the winner. This meant that the St John's team had to score just 126 points on the table. And frankly it looked as if the Bath Street boys would have a mountain to climb to overcome the handicap. Looking at the scores when the two teams met in the last week of the JDD league a handicap of around 120 points looked to be about the maximum that it might be possible to overcome. The final, played on Tuesday the 14 March at St John's School, was a great match played in an excellent spirit by both teams. And well supported by parents and Team Managers. The Bath Street boys knew that they would have to restrict their young opponents to scoring no more than 7points in each game and in the first two sets Euan and Finn respectively did exactly that conceding just 13 and 14 points respectively in the 2 sets. set 3 and up stepped Hugh. Hugh has been playing table tennis for just 6 months, and the level of his improvement was plain to see on the night. So, much so, that by the end of the night he had gained the 'Man (or should that be Boy?) of the Match' award. In his 3 sets Hugh conceded a total of just 25 points. All 3 boys stuck to their task, played with great discipline and determination and really kept it together as well as showing how much they have each improved. By the end of the 7th set, the gap between the two teams had been closed with the St John's team just 2 points ahead. By then Hugh's work was done, leaving it to Finn and finally Euan to secure the cup. This was a truly tremendous effort to overcome the big handicap and finally to win by a clear margin of 36 points. Well done boys, a great achievement. The trophy for the cup and for winning the U13 division of the JDD will be presented at a presentation evening to be held on Tuesday 28th March at St Johns School at 7pm.

The Club's junior team, who played under the banner name of Crosby High C, in the L&DTTL JDD, of Hugh Frediani-Bellis (12), Captain Euan Mason (13), and Finn Mason (12), in action in the JDD Handicap Cup Final on Tuesday 14 March.

In the right hand picture, the St John's School C Team of Louis Cheung Turner, Ryan Sung and Caleb Higgs. They played their part in an excellent match, and being just averaging 9 years of age their day will certainly come. And to the left, all 6 boys still smiling at the end of a tough battle. Great credit to them all for maintaining their composure throughout and playing in such an excellent sporting spirit.

The Frank Murphy Veterans Handicap Cup

Having been in the final of this competition in each of the past three seasons and having won the trophy twice in that time, there was quite a lot of pressure on the two club teams remaining in the competition this season. Especially after the Club's top team fell at the first hurdle, defeated by the handicap.

Keith Dudley's BSM 5 Team were first in action this week with a home draw against Sefton Park 3, a team that had already disposed of another Bath Street team in an earlier round. On paper this looked like a fairly even match. The visitors fielding two regulars from division 3 of the league plus a player from division 4. And Keith accompanied by his division 4 team mates Les Dodd and Peter Ashley. The handicaps also suggested a fairly evenly balanced match just 10 points difference between the sides in favour of the Bath Street team. the evening started with honours shared, Peter winning the first game but loosing the second. Similarly in set 3, Keith winning one and loosing one. But in between was Les Dodd, who went on to prove to be Man of the Match winning in some style all 6 of his games and conceding just 71 points in the process. After the initial slip against the visiting No.1 Robbie Puddifer, Peter also went on to win 5 out of 6 of the games played, and Keith weighed in winning a further 2 game and only losing by very narrow margins in the others so that by the end of the evening he had won 108 points and lost just 3 more. The effect was that the home side started 10 points ahead, and remained ahead throughout the match recording a victory by 492 points to 404. A very good win indeed.

The Frank Murphy Veterans Handicap Cup

The last team in action this week was Dave Noden's BSM 3 Team; Dave, Ted Cramsie & Darren Taylor. An away draw to Waterloo looked like a good challenge made even more challenging by a 91 point handicap deficit. Despite this it still looked like an evenly balanced contest and possible for the higher ranked side to overcome the handicap deficit. A good start was going to be essential. However Darren, who has a great track record in this competition having reached the final three times, seemed to choose this particular night to have a rare off night, and was only able to take 14 points off the handicap deficit overall from his six games despite winning 4 of them. In fact the first 3 sets of the night were really to prove conclusive, with first Darren dropping points, then Ted and then Dave. So that by the end of 3 sets the visitors had only been able to take 5 points off of the handicap deficit. The next 5 sets all went to the visitors but despite this by the end of the 8th set the home side were still 16 points ahead, but with 42 points still to play for the match could still rest on the final set. It was not to be however as in the final battle of the two No.1's honours were even, leaving the Waterloo side still 17 points ahead. A good match, where the real damage was done in the first three sets.

So, all in all, just 1 team through to the semi-final draw.