Aylesbury & District Table Tennis League

FRANK MITCHELL TROPHY 2009-10

FRANK MITCHELL TROPHY 2009 / 2010

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FINAL

	Div	H'cap	Score			Div	H'cap	Score	Result
Bierton	P	0	378	v	Bucks CC C	1	230	357	Bierton

at Elmhurst Community Centre on 21 April 2010

BIERTON ARE BEST IN MITCHELL FINAL

Premier Division forerunners, Bierton Sports, have won Aylesbury and District's Frank Mitchell Handicap Trophy after a series of testing challenges in each round. Having overcome a 240 point deficit against Brill in the semi final, they faced the daunting prospect of overhauling a 230 point advantage awarded to their Division One opponents, Bucks CC “C”. Bucks, by contrast, had seen off two Premier Division Teams in the earlier rounds.

Alan Cherry, Michael Wilkins and Craig Brown represented Bierton and needed to restrict the Bucks trio, Paul Rickard, Martin Gillett and Steve Rycraft, to 8 points in each leg to ensure victory. This they managed to do to great effect in the first 4 games to leave them only 100 points behind Bucks.

Captain Martin Gillett then inspired a recovery for Bucks taking 11 points in the second leg against Alan Cherry. His compatriots, Paul and Steve, each reached double figures against Michael Wilkins but Martin could only reach 16 points over two legs against the attack minded Craig Brown.

Bierton had done enough in the early games and moved ahead of Bucks by 1 point at the end of game eight. Paul tried his best to perform a miracle in the last game against Alan but, using his clever bat skills, Alan outmanoeuvred Paul to win 21 – 10, 21 -12 making Bierton the 2009/10 Frank Mitchell Champions.

SEMI FINALS

7 April 2010 at Elmhurst

Home team	Div	H'cap	Score		Visitors	Div	H'cap	Score	Result
Bucks CC C	1	0	329	v	Tring D	2	75	327	Bucks CC C
Bierton	P	0	378	v	Brill	2	240	340	Bierton

BUCKS C AND BIERTON GO THROUGH

At last we know who will meet in the Frank Mitchell Trophy final on 21 April at Elmhurst Community Centre. But nothing was guaranteed for either Bucks CC C or Bierton in their semi final matches this week. Premier Division Bierton had to retrieve 240 points against Brill who had seen off Sports B and Haddenham A from the top division in previous rounds. Bierton fielded arguably the strongest team available from their squad with the Milton Keynes based players Alan Cherry, Craig Brown and Michael Wilkins. Brill from Division Two were represented by the wily John Fitsell and tireless campaigners Charles Wallis and Steve Donlevy and needed to score more than 7 points in each leg to ensure victory. John managed to do this averaging 8 and against Michael Wilkins, in particular, he took 29 points. By then Bierton through Alan Cherry and Craig had pulled back a large amount of the deficit which stood at only 51 points by the sixth game. Alan was Bierton's best player losing only 20 points in the match which Bierton won by 38 points.

Bucks CC C from Division One had a closer encounter with the Division Two outfit, Tring D who received only 75 points. Mark Luscombe, daughter Rose and Bill Chapman fought hard to protect that advantage against the Bucks trio, Paul Rickard, Steve Rycraft and Martin Gillett. With Tring needing to score 16 points in each leg, Paul dented their aspirations winning the first leg against Bill 21 – 6. Bill managed to reach his target in the second leg and Mark restored the 75 point lead when he beat Steve in the second game. The match then seemed to drift in Tring's favour especially following the21 -14 leg that Bill took off Steve. In fact, with three games to go, Tring still had a lead of 39 points. Paul was to meet Mark, the best player on the night, in the last game and was praying for a healthy lead. His team mates came up trumps and gave him a tenuous 12 point lead which he protected only losing the first leg 21 – 20. Needing 11 points, Paul continued to defend stoutly against Mark's relentless attacking play and scraped through losing the second leg 21 – 12 to give Bucks the match by two points, the slenderest of margins.

Spectators will be welcome at Elmhurst Community Centre on 21 April when the Final between Bucks CC C and Bierton will be played.

CHAMPIONS BEATEN

Sports B, defending champions of the Aylesbury and District Table Tennis Frank Mitchell trophy were well and truly beaten by Brill from Division Two. The Premier Team had to overcome a handicap of 245 points to progress to the semi final stage which meant restricting their opponents to 7 points in each leg.

Tim Cheek was the most successful Sports player keeping Charles Wallis, John Fitsell and Steve Donleavy below the target score with Roger Mason also managing to beat Charles 21 ? 5, 21 ? 6. After Steve had taken 28 points off Roger, the match was effectively put out of Sports' reach when John took one leg off Andrew Eggleton and accumulated 16 points in the second leg.

Brill now meet Premier Team Bierton in one semi final having the scalps of Haddenham A and Sports B already from this division. In the other semi final Division Two Tring D will meet Bucks CC C from Division One.

ROUND THREE

Week commencing 25 January 2010

Home team	Div	H'cap	Score		Visitors	Div	H'cap	Score	Result
Bucks CC A	P	0	375	v	Bucks CC C	1	185	434	Bucks CC C
Sports A	P	0	372	v	Tring D	2	285	458	Tring D
Bierton	P	0	378	v	Tring B	1	200	375	Bierton
Sports B	P	0	335	v	Brill	2	245	408	Brill

ALL TO PLAY FOR

No clear favourites emerged from round three although there was a close encounter between Bierton from the Premier Division and Division One's Tring B who had a 200 point advantage. The Bierton trio of Craig Brown, Allan Cherry and Neil Massa needed to prevent Roger Shelton, Gordon Whitehead and David Mosley accumulating more than 10 points in each leg. With the occasional lapse the Tring players kept up the pressure and Roger Shelton, in particular, increased Tring's chances of victory taking 30 points off Neil Massa in the penultimate game. Needing 23 points in the last game, Gordon came agonisingly close managing just 20 points against Craig. Bierton took the match by a slender margin of 3 points and will next play either Sports B or Brill who have yet to play.

Mark Luscombe led his Division Two Tring D team to victory at top Premier Team, Sports A having a cushion of 285 points. Together with his son, Jamie and Bill Chapman, Mark's team won by a comfortable 86 point margin against Russell Fincher, Nick Hansell and Chris Haines. Tring D now have to visit Bucks CC C from Division One in the semi finals.

The Bucks C Team overcame their club's A Team having a start of 185 points. All the C team's players were strong throughout the evening but Steve Rycraft excelled by winning one leg 21 ? 18 against Tim Wooster. He also gained 34 points in the opening game against Dawn Pearce. Paul Rickard and Martin Gillett were Steve's team mates and Andy Cullen was the third Bucks A Team representative.

The Semi Finals will be played during the week commencing 22 February.

ROUND TWO

Week commencing December 14th 2009

Home team	Div	H'cap	Score		Visitors	Div	H'cap	Score	Result
Haddenham B (at Stadium)	P	50	347	v	Bucks CC A	P	0	360	Bucks CC A
Bellingdon	P	0	358	v	Bucks CC C	1	215	455	Bucks CC C
Quainton B	1	175	355	v	Sports A	P	0	371	Sports A
Bucks CC D	1	0	322	v	Tring D	2	140	422	Tring D
Bucks CC F	2	255	348	v	Bierton	P	0	378	Bierton
Sports F	2	90	349	v	Tring B	1	0	358	Tring B
Tring C	1	115	251	v	Sports B	P	0	378	Sports B
Brill	2	265	379	v	Haddenham A	P	0	378	Brill

REPORT

21/12/09

Round Two of The Frank Mitchell Handicap Trophy saw one of the favourites, Haddenham A from the Premier Division, eliminated in a closely fought contest with Division Two Brill. Having scraped through in Round One on the away team rule in a tied match with Rivets, Brill used their 265 point start to good effect with the outcome lasting until the last point. John Fitsell again stood out for Brill restricting all the Haddenham players. In the last game of the evening Darren Palmer needed to prevent John accumulating 20 points to ensure a win for Haddenham. John won 14 points in the first leg but if he thought it would all go his way, Darren had other ideas. John just managed to take the six points he needed and Brill won by one point. Their reward for this win is an away match to Tring C from Division One or Premier Division Sports B, the last winners of this trophy. Bad weather prevented their match from going ahead.

With a start of 50 points Haddenham B held off the Bucks CC A team until the last game when Brian McMullan faced Andy Cullen with the match poised on level terms at 318 points each. Brian couldn't keep Andy at bay with Bucks winning by 13 points. Bucks will now face their Division One C Team who beat Bellingdon from the Premier Division having a start of 215 points. The Bucks team have been strengthened by the addition of Paul Rickard who managed an impressive win against Keith Slipper. Paul's team mates, Martin Gillett and Steve Rycraft have shown more confidence and they were strong winners against Lee Rogerson, Keith and Bas Mocharrifie.

Sports A blew away Quainton B's advantage of 175 points to progress into the next round. Russell Fincher, Nick Hansell and Chris Haines were too strong for Mick Simmonds, David Styles or Jim Styles although Jim prevented Chris Haines from winning both legs by taking the first one 21 -14. Sports won by 16 points and will meet Tring D in round three. The Tring team had a start of 140 points against Bucks CC D and performances of note from Mark Luscombe, Fred Luscombe and Bill Chapman ensured a win by 100 points over Paul O'Connell, John Willcocks and John Roper.

Roger Hopkins, Roger Shelton and Gordon Whitehead from Tring B braved the weather to visit Sports F and triumphed by 9 points. The result seemed to be going in Sports favour until the seventh game between Roger Hopkins and Frank Hardy. Having received a start of 90 points, the deficit was still 45 at this stage. However, Roger pegged it back to 24 and Roger Shelton further reduced it to 5 with the defeat of Janice Carey. Sports third player, Phil Blind found this hard to defend and Gordon broke the resistance in the first leg 21 ? 10. Tring will visit Premier side Bierton next following their win against Bucks CC F where they overcame a lead of 255 points to win by 30 points. Anna Wharrier, Paul Hartnell and Sue Hinton were made to work hard by Dwayne Brookes, Alan Cherry and Craig Brown.

Good Luck to everyone in the next round.

ROUND ONE

w/c 23/11/09

Home team	score	H'cap		Visitors	Score	H'cap	Winner
Haddenham B (Stadium)	360	0	v	Bucks CC E	330	60	Haddenham B
Sports C	308	10	v	Bucks CC A	349	0	Bucks CC A
Bellingdon	378	0	v	Haddenham D	361	175	Bellingdon
Sports H	313	105	v	Bucks CC C	378	0	Bucks CC C
Sports A	378	0	v	Sports D	336	150	Sports A
Quainton B	378	0	v	Risborough B	309	195	Quainton B
Bucks CC D	376	0	v	Haddenham E	353	145	Bucks CC D
Tring D		250	v	Quainton A	concede	0	Tring D
Bucks CC F	354	45	v	Bucks CC G	319	0	Bucks CC F
Bierton	377	0	v	Bucks CC B	359	165	Bierton
Tring A	252	0	v	Sports F	443	190	Sports F
Tring B (Cricket Club)	378	0	v	Tring F	322	125	Tring B
Tring C	343	10	v	Haddenham C	305	0	Tring C
Sports B	378	0	v	Sports G	345	230	Sports B
Rivets	360	0	v	Brill	360	105	Brill
Haddenham A		0	v	Tring E	concede	300	Haddenham A

Report

30/11/09

Four teams from the first round managed to overcome their higher ranked opponents in addition to Tring D, from Division Two, who won through after Quainton A conceded their match. Of these Sports F were also fortunate in that Tring A could only field two players which effectively lost them the match. The Sports team are hosts to Tring B in the next round whilst Tring D will travel to Bucks CC D from Division One.

Most impressive was the encounter between Division One Rivets and Brill from Division Two who were handed a start of 105 points. John Fitsell was Brill's mainstay beating both Alan Harling and Keith Creser. He lost the first leg to Steve Everest 21 - 16, but restored the position by winning the second leg 21 - 20. Sheila Brown and Steve Donleavy supported John to finish the match level on points. In these situations the away team takes the tie. Brill's success means that they will meet Haddenham A at home in the next round.

Two Bucks CC teams from the second division met in what was a close encounter. The F Team with a start of 45 points needed only 11 to win through, despite the tenacity of the G Team's Brian Whitehead, Tony Greenham and Gene Demagalski. A strong performance on the evening from Helen Riddell and Gerry Saunders saw the F Team win with their reward being a home tie with Bierton from the Premier Division in the second round.

In the Division One clash Tring C with a 10 point start overcame the 2008 trophy runners up, Haddenham C, with John Richardson, Nick Lane and Andy Templeton all having a strong evening against Lee Mallick, Cynthia Kunschke and John Badmin. Nick played exceptionally well to beat Cynthia and take a leg off Lee. Tring will face 2008 Trophy winners, Sports B who were comfortable winners against their sister team, Sports G, from Division Two.

PRELIMINARY ROUND RESULTS

Home team	Score	H'cap		Visitors	Score	H'cap	Winner
Haddenham D	408	85	v	Ridgeway	341	0	Haddenham D
Quainton C	347	100	v	Rivets	368	0	Rivets
Haddenham B	365	0	v	Risborough A	322	110	Haddenham B
Bucks CC G	368	80	v	Sports E	362	0	Bucks CC G
			v

Eight Teams contested the preliminary round of this season's Frank Mitchell Trophy with Haddenham B from the Premier Division, Haddenham D and Rivets from Division One and Bucks CC G from Division Two going through to the first round proper.

Both Haddenham teams progressed smoothly. The B Team of Chris Hawkes, Brian McMullan and Jon Abungan clawing back 110 points against Risborough A from Division One and going on to win by 43 points, whereas the D team of Martin Taylor, Malcolm Burr and John Cripps only needed to use 18 points of their 85 point advantage to keep Premier Team, Ridgeway at bay. Jon Abungan was outstanding for Haddenham B with Malcolm Burr just eclipsing John Cripps as man of the match for the D Team. Matt Axford was Risborough's best player and Bob Croucher was outstanding for Ridgeway.

Elsewhere Rivets overcame a deficit of 100 points at Quainton C, from Division Two, despite losing the first two games, Ally Ginger beating Alan Harling and brother Matt inflicting a prestigious defeat of Steve Everest. Unfortunately they could not maintain their performances where Rivets' Keith Creser excelled. Rivets ran out winners by 21 points. In the final match Bucks CC Gfrom Division Two started with a lead of 80 points against Sports E and were taken very close winning by 6 points. In the last game James Gibson needed to pull back 21 points for Sports against Brian Whitehead and performed well to beat Brian 21 ? 13, 21 ? 14, but the task was too much for the Division One team.

FRANK MITCHELL TROPHY 2007-8

SPORTS B WIN FINAL!

Aylesbury Sports B from the Aylesbury and District Table Tennis Premier Division faced Haddenham C from Division One in the final of the Frank Trophy at Elmhurst Community Centre last week.

Partisan spectators gathered to see how the premier side represented by Tim Cheek, Bradley Willis and Andrew Eggleton would cope with the handicap of 160 points granted in favour of Roger Mott , John Badmin and Lee Mallick of Haddenham. To win Haddenham needed to acquire 12 points in each leg, but handicap table tennis is never that simple.

Haddenham's strongest player, Lee Mallick, was first up against the wily fox Tim Cheek and his famous long pimples. In spite of his fears, Lee managed to collect 23 points over two nervous legs, with Tim playing a patient game in the second leg to recover from 6 ? 2 down to win 21 ? 10. In the legs that followed, Andrew Eggleton showed fewer nerves than either of his team mates or his opponents, making steady inroads into the handicap. His ability to change from a focused defence to sudden attack was always unsettling to John Badmin and Roger Mott .

After four rubbers, Lee came up against the emerging talent of Bradley Willis and took the first leg 21 - 14 with a mix of good recovery shots and deceptive attacking forehands down the flanks. Following tips from his experienced colleagues, Bradley won the second leg 21 ? 16. The score had see-sawed between the two until Lee reached 16 before Bradley turned the screw to rescue much needed points for his team. The game between Roger and Andy went as expected with Sports reducing the margin to 47 points.

The following game was the key battle of the evening. Bradley was having difficulty breaking John Badmin's resistance until the score in the first leg reached 10 ? 10. At which point Bradley discovered a winning formula, moving his rival around the table with patient top spin attacks. Ultimately winning the leg 21 ? 11, then hammering home the advantage in the second leg 21 ? 3 meant Bradley had very much broken the back of Haddenham's challenge, who were only 19 points ahead. Tim Cheek then kept Roger at bay to take Sports into the lead, the Haddenham captain's attempts to flat hit his way out of trouble were met by Tim's solid defence.

Andrew took the first leg against Lee 21 ? 11 which meant that Sports had effectively won the trophy with one leg to spare.

Spectators showed their appreciation of some fine table tennis but also for the organisers, Brian Whitehead , Jim Styles and David Ballard for their time and effort.

Result

Result

PRELIMINARY ROUND RESULTS