Bath Street Marine Table Tennis Club
A Table Tennis England PremierClub
News Release - BSMTTC News 90
Dateline: 16 February 2019
Happy Birthday!
What a way to celebrate your 85th birthday! Playing table tennis in Round 2 of the Liverpool & District Table Tennis League, Frank Murphy Memorial Cup (The Veterans Handicap Cup). A true veteran of the League, Barbara Alcock celebrated her 85th birthday with friends at Marine, playing in the veterans competition. She was also representing BSM 3, the team that currently hold the trophy (see News Story 12 January 2019).
The Club started with 6 teams in the competition, but just 4 were left in for Round 2 and two of those faced each other in a true veterans derby!
The Derby Encounter
The cup week ended with a derby between BSM 3, captained by Mary Delamere, and on this occasion comprising Tom Bell, Barbara Alcock and Liz Adams; and BSM 1, which should have been captained by Mark Benson, and which ended up fielding Steve McCormick, Sue Young and Graham Turner. Captain Mark having suffered a serious hand injury at work and now out of action for up to 6 weeks. Neither Sue nor Graham had expected to be in the line-up! The match started with the home team holding a 71 point handicap advantage and if they were to take advantage of it then they would need to take as many points from Sue as they possibly could. But there is no doubt, Sue was the hero of the hour for the BSM 1 team. Although she only won 1 of her 6 games, her fighting spirit restricted the opponents who were only able to gain a 39 point advantage to add to their 71 point handicap advantage. By contrast Steve and Graham were able to serve up a 142 point advantage to give the BSM 1 team the match, albeit that it was not until the final set of the night that the outcome was decided.
Barbara Alcock of BSM £ with a sample of the excellent refreshments at the cup match between BSM 3 v BSM 1, her own birthday cake! Beautiful home made scones and Cadbury's Milk Tray were also on offer. Hardly any time for the table tennis! But what a great time both players and the appreciative crowd of spectators had!
Above, the match card of BSM 3 v BSM 1, won by BSM 1 by 32 points. And aside the two teams, Sue Young, Graham Turner & Steve McCormick (Acting Captain) of BSM 1 and Barbara Alcock, Mary Delamere (Captain), Tom Bell & Liz Adams of BSM 3. It was the vital contribution of Sue that enabled the BSM 1 team to win the match.
Other Encounters
The cup week started with BSM 2 (Ian Brownrigg (Captain), Stuart Reid and Tony Rimmer) visiting Maghull to take on the highly experienced Maghull 3 team comprising players currently sitting third in Division 2 of the League. Unsurprisingly the visitors started with a 241 point handicap advantage. The question was, could they hang on to any of it? After 8 sets the visitors were still ahead by 23 points, meaning that Tony needed to score 20 points in the final set to secure a win. But the home No.1, Sue Hughes, was in no mood to give anything away, restricting Tony to just 14 points. This gave Maghull the victory by just 5 points. So close!
Above, the match card of Maghull 3 v BSM 2 . And to the right, the BSM 2 team of Stuart Reid, Ian Brownrigg and Tony Rimmer.
Hotly Tipped?
Wednesday saw the BSM 6 Team of Dave Stoddern (Captain), Ken Jackson and Dave McMahon face visitors from Wavertree Labour 1, a mixed team of Divisions 2 and 4 players. On paper a very even match and thus perhaps slightly surprising that the Wavertree team should start with a 53 point advantage. But in Ken Jackson, the home team had a very strong weapon with considerable experience in this event as a former winner. And Ken duly took his 3 sets with a positive 63 point advantage. A contribution was needed from the remaining two Marine players. Perhaps surprisingly they were only able, on the night, to win 3 of their 12 singles games, almost wiping out the work done by Ken in reducing the handicap deficit. In the end, that handicap advantage held with Wavertree Labour taking the match by 338:381 points. Marine's hotly tipped team had fallen at the second hurdle.
By permission, the players of BSM 6 v Wavertree Labour 1; George Liu, Robin Barker, Ken Jackson, Andrew Lloyd, Dave Stoddern and Dave McMahon. The home team were unable to make up the handicap advantage suffering a surprise defeat.
What Next?
With all 4 teams having played, just the one will go forward to the quarter final stage. A stronger line up will be needed in the next round if they are to go any further......!
Special Thanks
Our thanks go to local company Hot Tub Hire Merseyside (https://www.hottubhiremerseyside.co.uk) for sponsoring this article by their recent donation towards our upcoming move to a new home.
