Evergreen’s Team was Mick Curry, Dave Lewis & Michael Higgins and in Match 1, Mick took on Terry Wassall, who started well with an early lead, but Mick’s steady play took him into a mid-game lead at 6-4. Terry’s mix of effective and less successful forehand attacks allowed Mick to prevail at 11-9. A similar pattern emerged in G2 and Mick started to connect more, moving him to 11-5. Mick has an interesting back hand with the bat looking like an upturned (non-stick) frying pan. It works quite well and he was able to increase the margin of superiority over Terry by winning the final encounter 11-3.

Tom executed some superb shots against Dave Lewis, but unfortunately, this was only during the warm-up! Once the game started, Dave tore into a significant lead at 7-0. Tom’s smash was not working (I thought you only had to add hot water to make it work: sorry is this a sports report or a cookery article?). Tom started to get back into the game with a couple of back hand flicks, but Dave had a better game all round to reach 11-4. Tom improved his performance in G2 and blows were traded to reach 6-6 at one time. Dave looks a bit like the rock singer Peter Gabriel, with a neat beard, although he did not reward us with a song. Tom squandered a back hand smash as Dave edged ahead. There were some good rallies, but Tom did not have the killer final shot as Dave made it 11-8. In G3, Dave executed some useful top spin lobs which took him to 4-2. Tom fluked one back but Dave moved towards victory from a couple of effective smashes and a bad one from Tom. Dave wrapped up the game at 11-7.

Match 3 saw Robin against Michael Higgins, who easily won 11-4, 11-4 & 11-2. Michael was wearing a woolly sweater which could have been knitted by his ancient grandmother, but it did not stop him executing a useful spin serve which confused his opponent. Robin tried to smash his way out of trouble, but to no avail. Dave Lewis then returned to the fray to take on Terry. Both started off with some looping top spin lobs. Both executed good smashes, but Dave was being more consistent and built up a conclusive lead at 7-1. Soon it was 9-1. Terry fluked a shot to reach 9-2, but Dave had no difficulty in easing to 11-2. G2 was much closer as Terry improved his % of successful smashes. It reached 7-7, but Terry missed a back hand to allow Dave to move ahead and he finished the game off at 11-7. Dave’s positioning of shots helped him move ahead early in G3 showing that it’s not just about force. At 5-1 a useful back hand got Terry back to 5-2, but it could not be sustained as Dave moved to 9-3. Terry staged a mini-recovery with some useful winners, but he also missed a couple to allow Dave to take this game to 11-7 to win the set 3-0.

Robin exchanged his pen for his bat to face Mick in Match 5 and surprised the world by winning G3 at 11-7; Mick won the first two, 11-6 & 11-7. Mick could have been having a senior moment or just wanted a breather, but for a few moments, Robin managed to make his serve work to good effect and he achieved one or two forehand winners. But it was not to last and Mick tidied up the last game at 11-5.

Michael Higgins then faced Tom and rushed into a 6-0 lead, even though Tom was playing well and sustaining some useful rallies. Tom fluked a shot to get on the score sheet and then started to get back into the game with better returns and more smashes. At 10-8, he could have turned it round, but even after this Lazarus-style recovery, he could not stop Michael from taking the game to 11-8.

At this point, it was possible to give some scrutinise to Michael’s serve which did not appear to be thrown up in the air from a flat hand. This could mean difficulty in spotting the direction of spin and perhaps he should be sentenced to 3 months at the TT Retraining Establishment where prisoners are savagely beaten if they cannot produce a legal serve. He moved to 5-1 and I realised that he was left-handed but seemed to use back hand where a forehand might have been more logical. At this time, I noticed that Tom is also left handed—Oh! the wonders of observational journalism. Anyway, none of this stopped Michael from streaking to 11-3. Game 3 produced a much better spectacle as they slugged it out to stay close with Tom leading for most of the game, finding some excellent fore hand and back hand smashes. At 8-5, could Tom pull off a win? Michael clawed it back to 10-10, it moved to 11-11, then 12-12, but in an anti-climax, Tom cocked up a serve to let Michael win at 14-12, a disappointing end to an exciting game.

We then pass swiftly through Robin’s encounter with Dave, which he won 11-5, 11-7 & 11-8. Robin won a small number of smashes and occasionally served to good effect, but Dave was too steady and was always in charge.

With he match well and truly lost, Terry met Michael Higgins, and in an excellent first game, Terry used a mix of effective smashes and sound returns to win 11-9. But Michael pulled his game together to gradually crush Terry’s resistance to reel off 11-6, 11-1 and 11-3.

Finally, Mick, wearing the designer track suit he has used since the 1980s, faced Tom. We saw Mick make a complete mess of a couple of serves; Tom responded but played well to move to 9-5. Was a win on the horizon? Well, no because Mick introduced a hitherto unrevealed fiendish serve which Tom took time to adjust to. Mick won G1 at 12-10. G2 also showed balance as Tom kept it to 6-6 at one point. But Mick produced a useful back hand smash to take the lead and finished off the game with a dynamic smash at 11-8. Tom had shot his bolt by the time we got into G3. He missed some back hands and Mick improved his percentage of winners to ease to 11-3 as Tom ran out of steam.

As usual, the game was punctuated by a large number of jokes and by short breaks as a number of players miss-hit the ball into the nearby court where our ‘A’ team was performing against Suma. Popps B all showed a degree of improvement, but finished the season without a win, reflecting the fact that the weaker teams tend not to appear in the summer league. Our opponents have tended to be more experienced and it has been easy to lose heart in the face of regular drubbings. But a degree of learning has taken place and indeed, we have to play against more experienced opposition to improve.

On a broader note, we are now getting geared up for the Winter League, when we will enter 2 teams. Terry Allington has kindly agreed to take over as Team Sec for the ‘A’ Team and will have to cope with the fact that Alan Woods has had to drop out for health reasons. We hope he gets back to full fitness as soon as possible and thank him for his support. Peter broke his leg earlier in the year and will need to get back to full fitness, as will John Taylor, so there will be pressure on the ‘A’ Team. Tom will handle the ‘B’ team and is recruiting some old contacts to return to the game. So we can look forward to an enjoyable league programme.

Phil Parry v Adrian Normanton 3-11, 4-11, 3-11                          0-1

John Davenport v Tom Normanton 14-12, 11-4, 11-7                1-1

John Korner v John Schofield 1-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 5-11     1-2

John Davenport v Adrian Normanton 11-13, 4-11, 7-11           1-3

Phil Parry v John Schofield 9-11, 4-11, 8-11                                   1-4

John Korner v Tom Normanton 11-7, 11-5, 11-3                          2-4

John Davenport v John Schofield 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8            3-4

John Korner v Adrian Normanton  9-11, 8-11, 8-11                     3-5

Phil Parry v Tom Normanton  11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 11-5                     4-5

Dolphins:    Ken Scott, Denise Scott, Alan Cowburn

The opening set between Terry Allington and Ken Scott was between two players who practice together, Terry taking the opening game to seven. The wily Ken then started to change his tactics by pushing the ball back and using his high kicking topspin ball to counter Terry’s defence. It worked well as Ken ran through the next three games to give Dolphins a 1-0 lead.

The next set between John Korner and Alan Cowburn was a battle between John’s consistent topspin and Alan’s fast attack. John won comfortably to level the score at 1-1.

The third set featured Denise Scott. She faced the awkward Trevor Kershaw with his high topspin defence. Denise was caught in two minds whether to attack or defend and made too many mistakes against the confident Trevor, to give Popps 1-2 lead.

John Korner again played well to defeat Ken Scott in 4 games, Ken’s famous backhand flick letting him down at times.

Terry Allington used his tight defence to see him though against Alan Cowburn, to make the score 1-4 to Popps.

In the sixth set Trevor Kershaw had a fine win over Ken Scott who he had never beaten before. It went to 5 games with Trevor just edging the final game.

John Korner capped a great evening with a fine win over Denise Scott to make the score 1-6 to Popps.

Trevor Kershaw proved too strong for Alan Cowburn who had struggled all night to find some form.

The ninth set between Terry Allington and Denise Scott was very close, going to 5 games. Denise found Terry’s defensive strategy much more to her liking and showed a great fighting spirit. In a tense final game Terry’s nerve and concentration saw him through.

The final score was Dolphins 1, Popps A 8.

Teams: Marsh: Adrian Normanton, John Schofield, and Robert Woodward (borrowed) Popps: Terry Wassall, Dennis McGuinness, Robin Thomas.

Your correspondent was not present at our first encounter with Marsh, did not write the report and was not able to make the usual stereotypical comments about the political colour of our opponents. Did they practice under a big poster of Margaret Thatcher? Did they indulge in fox hunting through the streets of Huddersfield? Were they all public school toffs, used to roasting boys over the prefects’ fire? We will never know. What we do know is that they beat us fairly easily last time and would probably do so again. In addition, they turned up one short and commandeered Robert Woodward, a not inexperienced player, to make up their numbers. In the event Adrian stormed into an early lead against Dennis, with some big smashes while Dennis tried to get used to Adrian’s style of play. 11-1, followed by 11-1 as one sensed that Dennis was beginning to feel intimidated. However, he was returning serve and contributing to long rallies, only to lose the crucial point. Points were hard to come by and Adrian benefited from a couple of flukes to wind up G3 at 11-4.

Robin then met John (not John Schofield, the great US jazz guitarist). He won 11-1, 11-5 & 11-4, wearing an arm bandage which may have contained some sophisticated electronics to allow him to receive coaching while he administered a comprehensive defeat. Terry had by then arrived and was pushed into service against Robert. He allowed Terry to make mistakes, returned most shots and goaded Terry into a number of risky attack shots which missed the table. He won G1 11-2, but in G2, Terry played better and won more smashes to lose 11-5. Terry executed a useful forehand smash in G3, followed by a wild back hand as Robert cruised ahead, to win 11-4.

Dennis then reappeared to take on John. He struggled to handle John’s serve, had a couple of good forehand attacks, but could not prevent John moving to 11-3. G2 ended up at 11-4 to John, but did not reflect the balance of the game which included some longish rallies as Dennis mastered John’s serve. However, after 5 or 6 shots, Dennis would make a mistake and lose the point. John won G2 at 11-4 and cleaned up G3 at 11-3, having executed some useful smashes.

Adrian V Terry was more balanced than the previous matches and both players won some useful attacking points. Terry’s smash (sounds like a chocolate flavoured potato powder) was beginning to connect, but Adrian was playing the steadier game and moved to 11-8. Terry was beginning to deal with Adrian’s serve, but threw in a couple of brash smashes, allowing Adrian to win G2 11-6. In G3, Adrian moved ahead with a useful back hand, then fluked a shot. Terry got a couple back with his lightning reflexes (who writes this stuff?) but the inevitable took place as Adrian smoothly moved to 11-6.

Robin then found himself against the experienced Robert, who patiently allowed him to make mistake after mistake as he reeled off 11-3, 11-5 and 11-3. However, it was a useful training exercise.

The next match was a John Terry encounter, so lock up your daughters! Terry tried to hit himself out of danger as frustration allowed John to win 11-2 in G1. Terry played more effective table tennis in G2, with his back hand working well early on. However it was not consistent and John won 11-5. Terry seemed to be losing the will to live as he tried to hit anything that moved, but John stayed calm to win 11-3.

In an other exhibition match, Dennis took on Robert. Dennis looked like an advert for Orange phones as he scampered after shots, showing excellent mobility for a man who remembers Queen Victoria’s coronation. He kept his concentration, produced some cunning serves and lost 11-7. However, Robert tightened up his game and won G2 11-3. Dennis contributed to some entertaining rallies in G3, but again, lost crucial shots to allow Robert to build up a big lead. Dennis produced a mini-fight back to bring it back to 11-5.

Robin scored the only winning game of the night for Popps, by winning G3 11-8 against Adrian, resplendent in an all-black outfit and a pair of hot pants which would have looked better on Kylie Minogue. Adrian won the first two comfortably by 11-5 & 11-4, but Robin produced some fast services which, unusually for this league, Adrian found frustrating to deal with and squandered his returns. However, normality returned in G4, which he won 11-8.

So Marsh Conservative Club took the match overall 9-0. Popps had some moments of class but if you blinked you missed them. Robert Woodward gave a master class in steady defensive play and overall, the match was played in an atmosphere of good humour and bonhomie. Will Marsh Conservative Club now be renamed as Marsh Coalition Club? Will they ask George Osborne to restore proposed cuts in funding for table tennis? Answers on a post card to Alan Dickinson.

In the first set Terry Allington was returning after 3 defeats against Suma. He faced the awkward Mick Curry with his heavy backspin push shot, and classic backhand flick. Terry used his watchful defence to come through in 4 games.

The second featured Trevor Kershaw against Michael Higgins Michael is an old fashioned type player, with a push and block game but he soon fell away to Trevor’s high topspin returns, to loose in straight games. This gave Popps a 2 – 0 lead.

Two attacking players Philip Parry and Dave Lewis fought out the third set. The bearded Dave was always in control with his consistent topspin loop shot, which made the score 2-1 to Popps.

In the fourth set Terry A out-pushed Michael Higgins to win in straight games and made the score 3-1.

Trevor K and Dave L , similar players with their topspin attacking game. Dave always the stronger powered his way to another success to make the score 3-2.

Philip Parry had a good win over M.H. who had struggled all night to his form. Philip gave him no chance with some cracking forehand smashes to make the score 4-2.

A nervous T.K. found it hard going against Mick Curry who defended well and used his backhand flick to pick off his opponent and make the score 4-3.

A cat and mouse game between T.A. and D.L. went the distance with a determined Dave winning in 5 to make it 4-4.

In the final set Philip Parry kept up his good form against Mick Curry who fought hard but found Philip’s lightening hits too hot to handle.

Final Score Evergreens 4 Popps A 5 , a great result for us. Hopefully this will auger well for the hard matches to come.

After their successful winter season, Popps ‘A’ were brought down to earth after this defeat by Suma.

In the first set, Terry A and David Blackburn set the standard with a marathon which lasted an hour. A long, pushing game ended with David winning in four games. The umpire was given three cheers after the final point!

The second set brought to the table John Davenport, Popp’s new loan signing from Huddersfield. John is a tall athletic young man, with a fine all-round game. He faced a determined Brian Chapman with his mixture of backspin and flat topspin. John played well to win in five games.

Alan Woods is Popps most improved player in my view, but in the third set he faced the experienced Derek Harwood, who uses strange rubbers on his bat to fool you with his spin. Alan showed great fighting spirit to force a fifth game, but Derek produced some great forehand shots to give Suma a 2-1 lead.

The way the match was being played it seemed likely to finish at midnight so it was decided to play on two tables. The Suma team played with great confidence now and Popps were always second best. The Popps team gained some consolation, when Suma admitted this was one of their hardest matches.

This had been another enjoyable match, and I am sure we can only improve by playing the better second division sides.

Popps Team: Alwyn Kershaw, Dennis McGuinness & Robin Thomas.
Spartans: Steve Hansen, Mick Mullins, Karthick Shetty

Spartans are a Division 2 side in the winter league and had already delivered a convincing defeat in our earlier match, so Popps were not expecting any miracles.

Last time, Spartans were missing a player and roped in a starving beggar from the street outside, who was promptly beaten by Terry Wassall. Perhaps Spartans would turn up with a full side this time round and of course we would be missing the erratic but occasionally flamboyant Terry. Dennis and Alwyn are both on fast learning curves as they pick up their games after a gap, while Robin’s game hasn’t seen much of a learning curve since kindergarten days, playing with a sandpaper bat on the kitchen table.

Why are they called Spartans? Are they a tough, athletic race who lives a hard life, training all the time and occasionally attacking Persia? Now we would find out.

Given our rather poor record in this league, perhaps the team would do well to study some videos of Matthew Syed, (former UK No 1 & Commonwealth Singles Champion, now an award-winning sports journalist) so as to develop a more effective defensive style. Most of them are too old to put in the sort of hours of practice advocated in Matthew’s learned treatise ‘Bounce’, even if they did nothing else, so perhaps they should learn to become so adept at defence that they force their opponents to go for ill-advised smashes. Such an approach would force these guys to move at a speed they will not have experienced since their younger days, for example running to the bar when last orders are called.

Alwyn against Steve saw Alwyn initially creeping ahead in a tentative way as both players sounded each other out like mating stags, both utilising spin and keeping the pace slow. Though level at 10-10, Steve tightened up his game to win at 12-10. He improved in G2, despite an excellent return from Alwyn, who then missed a couple. Steve opened up an unassailable lead, from 6-2 to 11-5. In G3, Alwyn tried to toss up the ball to tempt Steve towards rash smashes. It worked on some shots, but Steve was now improving his forehand and moved to 10-5. Alwyn then gave him the point with a botched serve. 11-5 meant a 3-0 win for Spartans.

Dennis, bronzed and fit after his world tour of Malta then met Mick, a surprisingly effective operator despite various major NHS repair jobs on his limbs and one pending. After a lengthy ritual of removing his track suit bottoms, Mick trailed initially to Dennis, but the game was scrappy with Mick having a bit more consistency to move to 11-8. Mick’s backhand started to work while the fast serve from Dennis sometimes failed and Mick edged to 11-6 to win G2. Both players made mistakes in G3, Dennis missed some simple forehands and Mick also slipped up on some scrappy forehands, but despite not being very mobile, he used his skill and experience to outwit Dennis to win 11-8 and the set 3-0.

If I’ve got this right, Karthick is happy to be called ‘Kar’ and he took on Robin in M3. His game was characterised by a good spin serve and an effective back-hand flick which he executed at the right moment, winning 11-6, 11-5 & 11-4, with your correspondent starting off badly and steadily going down hill. Kar is by profession a psychiatrist and one would imagine him having a field day trying to analyse the weird bunch of strangely dressed characters making odd shouts at moments of triumph and despair who come under the description of TT players.

Alwyn then took on Mick in what turned out to be the longest match of the night. Mick took time to settle down, making some silly mistakes. Alwyn moved ahead. Alwyn wasted a couple of strange serves and then tried to tempt Mick by tossing up the ball. Alwyn over-hit a couple of balls and it was level at 10 each. A good final serve from Alwyn took him to 13-11. In G2, Alwyn continued his tossing regime to mixed effect and a powerful smash from Mick elicited a big, almost primeval shout from Alwyn. Of course, he lives in Outlane, a rather primitive and savage part of Yorkshire, where men shout at each other as the night falls over the fells. Sometimes, naked witches dance in the glow of raging camp fires. You should go there. But back to the game. A Mick fluke took him to 9-8, it moved to 10 each and Mick held his body together to lurch to 12-10. G3 stayed level at 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 and could have gone either way, but Mick again contrived to win 13-11. By this time, the combined World Cup Football reporting teams had arrived to commentate in the mounting excitement. Garry Linacre nearly choked on his baboon flavoured crisps. In G4, Alwyn moved to a dramatic 7-1 after a good start as Mick appeared to tire. He briefly rallied, but Alwyn cruised ahead to win 11-5.

By this time, Adrian Chiles was wetting himself as the two old stagers battled it out in the deciding encounter. Mick’s smashes started to work and Alwyn started to lose concentration. Two good smashes by Alwyn were not enough to rescue the situation and Mick won the game at 11-5 and the set at 3-2.

Robin then had a brief encounter with the steady Steve, who reeled off 11-6, 11-3 & 11-3. His game was a few leagues above Robin’s, with a difficult spin serve and a strong all-round game. Robin seemed to accelerate the end of the game, as hunger pangs kicked in. The earlier the finish, the sooner the supper.

After a good start, Dennis flopped badly against Kar. They were well matched at first, at 5-5 in G1, but Kar’s smashes were starting to work. He won at 11-9. Dennis started well in G2 and it was level at 5-5. Dennis missed a back hand and Kar moved ahead, whilst confusing Dennis with his serve. Kar won G2 at 11-6 and in G3, Dennis had no answer. He frequently over-hit or hit the net and generally lost his concentration, going down 11-1.

Match 7 showed a flicker of excitement as Robin took a game of Mick. However, he could not sustain the effort and Mick won 3-1.

Alwyn returned to the table for a grilling from Kar, losing the first game 11-4. Alwyn won some smashes, but Kar timed them better, waiting for the chance to execute his slick back hand flick to good effect. Kar not only played smart table tennis, but won the prize for the smartest attire, with a fetching colour coordinated tracksuit, making the rest of the players looking like down and outs at a city soup kitchen having been clothed at the annual Oxfam sale. He won G2 11-5, as Alwyn’s inconsistency dogged him. G3 looked more promising at 5-5, but Alwyn skied one shot into the adjacent court and made a complete mess of a serve and a back hand. Kar went on to win 11-6.

In the final match, Dennis endeavoured to salvage some honour against Steve, but without success. Whist both players made mistakes, Steve was more consistent and won 11-6 in G1. He moved into an early lead in G2 as Dennis tried to find a strategy which would work. He didn’t. Steve had a couple of effective smashes as Dennis skied the ball. 11-3. In G3, Steve went for his shots more and missed some, but he had momentum. Dennis tried to steady things, but hit the net a couple of times. Steve’s lead developed from 5-1, to 9-3, eventually winning at 11-4.

So Spartans won 9-0, with Popps picking up the odd game. However, as usual in this league, the match was played with good sportsmanship and humour. You’ll be pleased to hear that there were no dangerous tackles, no swearing, no yellow cards, no red cards, no heads sinking into hands, no crude victory celebrations, no attacks either on or from the crowd, no WAGS (although Mick had his lovely wife watching him whilst playing a computer game), and no attempts to sink football studs into a player’s chest. After all, this was not the World Cup; it was the courteous, sportsmanlike game of Table Tennis. OK, we didn’t have Nelson Mandela to grace the proceedings, but many of the players were probably as old or even older.

I was somewhat surprised to learn that it is not only POPPs members who read this blog!  My advice to our other readers is ‘get a life’. There must be something you could be doing that is more worthwhile than reading this. In any case,  there is  no guarantee that anything reported here is accurate. Consider this to be a disclaimer. On the other hand, if you do read any of these reports, please leave a comment and say hello!

It is traditional to end these reports with a statement to the effect that the match was played in excellent spirit. Just for a change I thought I’d begin with this. So, as usual, the match was played in excellent spirit. There was a good deal of badinage and laughter (mainly them laughing at us it must be said).   As usual, POPPs B got a bit of a hammering.

It was hard to tell which was the best Evergreen player. Michael was the most unorthodox, playing almost anything that came to him with a backhand, and he won all of his 3 games to nil. Terry took him close a couple of times getting to 4, 8 and 9 but Michael’s effective all purpose backhand push/drive/smash kept catching him out. Michael even contrived to play this when the ball was clearly on his forehand side! And, despite it being very warm, he kept his rather fetching 1950s jumper on all night. Dave and Mick were much more orthodox and both had effective forehand and backhand top spin drives and pretty good smashes when the opportunity presented itself. David had a rather nautical air about him with a blue top and a submarine commander’s beard. He certainly torpedoed us and we went down with all hands. Which rather reminds me of a Wren I used to know. As far as we could tell, Mick was quite normal. Which is more than can be said for the POPPs trio.

Both Dennis and Terry managed to get a game off Mick, 11-7 and 11-9 respectively. These were our only successes of the night. Terry got close in the 4th game losing 11-13 and so failing to take the set into a deciding 5th game. The only trouble Mick seemed to have was when Terry’s forehand drives and occasional smashes, despite appearing to be aimed cross court, went down his backhand side of the table leaving him  somewhat stranded. Not all of these were miss-hits. On the other hand Terry had more difficulty than the other POPPs players in getting Mick’s serves back – a good variety of top and backspin with a bit of side thrown in now and then. The fact that he almost disappeared below the table when winding himself up for a backspin serve didn’t help. Dave, like Michael, won all his sets to 3 nil with none of the POPPS players getting closer than 9. Dave had a good all-round game and was quite happy standing back from the table and driving everything back waiting for the inevitable mistake.

It is evident from patches in  Tom’s  and Dennis’  sets that they are both good players recently returned to the game and gradually getting back into it. Dennis impressed with his speed and reactions round the table leaping about like a jack-in-the-box and often hitting winners (and near misses) in full flight with both feet off the ground. As we all agreed as we packed up to go home, all we need is a few years more experience and things can only get better. Pity the combined age of the team is about 220 years!