Milton Keynes Topspin 7-3 Greenleys Princes

Wednesday 29 November 2023

Game Result Score Match score
1 David Wackrill beat Saravana Kumar (3-0) 12-10, 11-8, 11-8 1-0
2 Mervyn Kelly lost to Saish Prabhu (0-3) 9-11, 8-11, 7-11 1-1
3 Russell Penn beat Gary Viner (3-0) 11-8, 11-6, 11-9 2-1
4 Mervyn Kelly and Russell Penn lost to Saravana Kumar and Saish Prabhu (0-3) 12-14, 10-12, 3-11 2-2
5 Mervyn Kelly beat Saravana Kumar (3-2) 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11, 11-9 3-2
6 David Wackrill beat Gary Viner (3-0) 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 4-2
7 Russell Penn beat Saish Prabhu (3-0) 11-5, 13-11, 14-12 5-2
8 Mervyn Kelly beat Gary Viner (3-1) 11-6, 11-13, 11-1, 11-3 6-2
9 Russell Penn beat Saravana Kumar (3-0) 11-5, 14-12, 11-8 7-2
10 David Wackrill lost to Saish Prabhu (1-3) 13-11, 11-13, 7-11, 8-11 7-3
Team Legs won Legs average (%) Points won Points average (%)
Milton Keynes Topspin 22 64.71 355 53.38
Greenleys Princes 12 35.29 310 46.62
Team Player Games played Games won Legs played Legs won Legs average (%) Points played Points won Points average (%)
Milton Keynes Topspin David Wackrill 3 2 10 7 70.00 196 106 54.08
Milton Keynes Topspin Mervyn Kelly 3 2 12 6 50.00 224 117 52.23
Milton Keynes Topspin Russell Penn 3 3 9 9 100.00 183 107 58.47
Greenleys Princes Saravana Kumar 3 0 11 2 18.18 221 102 46.15
Greenleys Princes Saish Prabhu 3 2 10 6 60.00 208 107 51.44
Greenleys Princes Gary Viner 3 0 10 1 10.00 174 64 36.78
Match date Wednesday, 29 November 2023 at 19:30
Competition League
Division Division One
Venue Milton Keynes Table Tennis Centre
Season 2023-2024
Legs played 34
Points played 665
Published 28/04/2024 11:20 by David Wackrill.
RUSSELL MASTERCLASS SEES TOPSPIN HOME AGAINST RESURGENT PRINCES

We were hosts to a re-energised Greenleys Princes this Wednesday on the coldest night of the winter so far. It was a case of woolly hats all round for players sitting out waiting to play. Promoted Princes have long since brushed aside their slow start to the season (4 points from first 4 matches) and with new signings on board had picked up a further 34 points in the following 5 outings before this one, a total which compares rather favourably to top of the table Topspin’s effort of amassing a mere 27 points in the same period.

Princes gave a debut to Saish Prabhu alongside Gary Viner and ever present skipper Saravana Kumar. Topspin went with Russell Penn, Mervyn Kelly and myself.

I opened with a win over Saravana, Saish took out Mervyn and Russell beat Gary before Princes squared the match at 2-2 with the doubles. The evening’s outcome looked well in the balance at this stage but Topspin reeled off the next 5 sets in confident mode to secure victory before Princes won their 3rd set of the night when Saish was too good for me with his fine' loop and smash' attacking style in thr final set. The only ‘scare’ along the way was an 11-9 in the 5th game victory for Mervyn against Saravana.

Russell easily takes the plaudits for this victory with a handsome straight games treble. He’s very hard to cope with in this form with his own penetrating style of taking the ball on the rise, which admittedly leaves no room for error. Not many errors here and the best he’s played all season.

Landmark stat : My own 200th singles win for Topspin in our seven and a half year history (in 113 matches played in Prem & Div 1).

Man of the match : Russell Penn