CENTERPRISE International are the new champions of the Basingstoke and District Table Tennis League after demolishing St Peter's A 9-1 in their final match of the season.
All Centerprise needed to do was draw the game as they were one point in front but the team of Tony Reynolds, Kevin Macken and Graham Watts were taking no chances against the strongest St Peter's side of Pete Matthews, Steve Murgatroyd and Sean Pickin.
St Peters needed one point to be sure of runners-up spot and they only just managed this, with Pickin beating Watts in five sets.
Earlier, Centerprise International beat Winklebury 9-1, with Tony Reynolds coming back from two sets down to beat Malcolm Cummins 11-7 in the fifth. This inspired his team, who dropped only the doubles. Kevin Macken was pleased with a four-set win over Cummins while Graham Watts was untroubled on the evening.
The same Centerprise team trounced RAF Odiham 10-0 with the only scare coming in the last game of the evening where John Edbrooke took Macken close in five sets.
The pressure on Centerprise eased slightly when Queens A won five games against St Peter's A. St Peter's took a 3-0 lead, with Matthews beating Tony Duffield and Pickin beating Tony Pal-aczky. Then Queens kicked in with Duffield gaining revenge on Murgatroyd and Pickin and Palaczky taking the scalps of Murgatroyd and Matthews in a tense evening's table tennis watched by Centerprise captain Dave Salisbury.
In division two, Queens B were confirmed champions after two wins. Firstly, Louis Palaczky helped his regular team-mates George White and Terry West to a 10-0 win over Hannington B. Hannington did not go down without a fight, however, and Pete Blunden and Avril Waters took West and White respectively to five sets.
Queens then showed their champion status, beating St Peter's B 7-3. White started the night by coming back from 2-1 down to beat Brian Wilde 11-8 in the fifth set. This triggered Wilde's demise on the night with defeats by Terry West and Nigel Cooper.
Steve Armstrong picked up two good wins, beating Cooper and West, but found the George White "slap" too hard to handle.
KG D were consigned to bottom spot after Hannington B picked up two wins in an 8-2 loss to KG C. George Freeman beat Martin Richards 11-8 in the fifth set and Steve Redstall defended well against Roger Bielby to take the village side clear of last place.
The only place not confirmed in the league is the runners-up spot in division two, which is between Labour A and Ashford Hill.
In division three, Queens C took runners-up spot after claiming 15 points from two matches. Firstly, they were held to a 5-5 draw with Queens C - mainly due to Lorraine Watkins beating Mike Chamberlain and George Hellans.
Louis Palaczky nearly saw his 100 per cent record go but came through a five-set thriller to beat Roy Pike 11-8.
The same Queens side then demolished Coaching Lions 10-0 to leave the Lions stuck in bottom place at least 32 games adrift of the nearest side.
Champions Oakley A finished with an 8-2 win over Labour B.
Oakley's Chris Smith has enjoyed successes this season and he continued with wins over Brian Garson and Barry Barnes, although Barnes took him to 11-8 in the fifth set.
Dave Smith enjoyed an unbeaten night and Garson hit a great three-set win over Charles Smith to put Labour B on the same points as Oakley B in joint sixth spot with one match each to play.
Oakley suffered two recent losses. The first was against Labour, where John Davey shone with a great treble, beating Brian Gridley 16-14 in the fourth. Gridley replied with wins over Keith Ward and Barry Barnes.
The village side then fielded only two players and lost 6-4 to Queens D despite Ron Cleave and Dave White beating Lorraine Watkins.
- The Handicap Team Knock-out final is at Hannington Village Hall tomorrow (7.30pm) and the finalists are Coaching Lions and Queens A, who defeated St Peter's A and Labour A respectively in the semi-finals.
The favourites are the Lions who are looking to add to their league handicap title this year.
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