Milton Keynes Topspin 8-2 Leighton Buzzard Avengers

Wednesday 4 October 2023

Game Result Score Match score
1 David Wackrill beat Steve Jordan (3-2) 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 4-11, 11-5 1-0
2 Mervyn Kelly beat Richard Hardy (3-2) 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5 2-0
3 Russell Penn beat Dwight Edwards (3-2) 11-6, 11-13, 6-11, 11-7, 11-5 3-0
4 Mervyn Kelly and Russell Penn lost to Richard Hardy and Steve Jordan (2-3) 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 13-15 3-1
5 Mervyn Kelly beat Steve Jordan (3-0) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 4-1
6 David Wackrill beat Dwight Edwards (3-2) 11-13, 7-11, 11-4, 15-13, 11-5 5-1
7 Russell Penn beat Richard Hardy (3-0) 11-6, 11-8, 13-11 6-1
8 Mervyn Kelly beat Dwight Edwards (3-1) 13-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7 7-1
9 Russell Penn lost to Steve Jordan (1-3) 11-7, 9-11, 4-11, 9-11 7-2
10 David Wackrill beat Richard Hardy (3-0) 11-7, 11-7, 12-10 8-2
Team Legs won Legs average (%) Points won Points average (%)
Milton Keynes Topspin 27 64.29 427 53.91
Leighton Buzzard Avengers 15 35.71 365 46.09
Team Player Games played Games won Legs played Legs won Legs average (%) Points played Points won Points average (%)
Milton Keynes Topspin David Wackrill 3 3 13 9 69.23 247 135 54.66
Milton Keynes Topspin Mervyn Kelly 3 3 12 9 75.00 221 124 56.11
Milton Keynes Topspin Russell Penn 3 2 12 7 58.33 225 118 52.44
Leighton Buzzard Avengers Steve Jordan 3 1 12 5 41.67 216 104 48.15
Leighton Buzzard Avengers Richard Hardy 3 0 11 2 18.18 204 88 43.14
Leighton Buzzard Avengers Dwight Edwards 3 0 14 5 35.71 273 124 45.42
Match date Wednesday, 4 October 2023 at 19:30
Competition League
Division Division One
Venue Milton Keynes Table Tennis Centre
Season 2023-2024
Legs played 42
Points played 792
Published 27/04/2024 23:48 by David Wackrill.
TOPSPIN TOP DOGS ONCE AGAIN

Thwarted from taking over at the top of the table in the final set of last week’s match, we made sure of it this time with an 8-2 thumping of Avengers. Only Steve Jordan kept his place for the visitors from their demolition at home to OU Primes, with Rickard Hardy and Dwight Edwards joining him here. Topspin went with skipper Russell Penn, Mervyn Kelly and me.

The first 4 sets all went the distance, taking around 100 minutes too, so we switched to 2-table match-play as early as the 5th/6thsets. A good move as the match still finished around 10.20pm. Topspin took the opening 3 singles all by 11-5 in the decider, but then Avengers snatched the doubles 15-13 at the climax. The craziest encounter was played out between Russell and Dwight with both players taking great chunks of points at a time. This was best illustrated in their decider with Russell surging into a 5-0 lead, only to be pulled back to 5-5, before going on to win 11-5. I got the impression that when Dwight gets his ‘act’ together he is certainly going to be a heck of a proposition at this level. He’s certainly got the shots!!

The match went to the 9th set before Avengers logged their solitary singles victory of the night when Steve beat Russell, their first singles win for 2 weeks and after a run of 16 consecutive losses.

Next week we take on bottom of the table Greenleys Princes. What could possibly go wrong?

Man of the match : Mervyn Kelly