Wilmott Cup 2009
The Zonal Group of the Wilmott Cup, the English League Cup Competition for Men,
was played at the newly refurbished St Neots Table Tennis Club on 7th November.
Cambridge, represented by brothers Martin and Kevin Gray, came up against
strong opposition from North Middlesex and Ipswich, the latter team also
represented by a pair of brothers, Ryan and Jake Collins.
In the first match
against Cambridge, the North Middlesex team who included Jimmy Walsh, No.9 in
the English Veterans Ranking List, raced into a winning 3-0 lead before Martin
Gray recorded a straight sets victory over the North Middlesex No. 2, Steve
Dobbins. Kevin Gray then lost to Jimmy Walsh which resulted in North Middlesex
winning the match 4-1.
On arriving at St Neots for the day's play, Ipswich's
Ryan Collins discovered he had left his bat at home, so he and Jake rushed
back to Ipswich to retrieve it, involving an extra round trip of 140 miles.
It nearly paid off when Ipswich's match against North Middlesex stood at 2-2
before the top two, Ryan Collins played Jimmy Walsh in the deciding game. A
tense struggle ensued with Collins coming back from 2 sets down and with the
likely victors of the group coming from this match, both players attacked
bravely. The score went to deuce, until the experience of Jimmy Walsh finally
brought his team home winning 14-12 in the fifth set.
Cambridge took on
Ipswich in the final match of the day and despite Martin Gray winning the first
match against Jake Collins, and Kevin Gray taking the higher ranked Ryan
Collins to five sets, Ipswich came out winners 4-1.
North Middlesex will now
go through to the National Finals to be held in Derbyshire next May.
Many thanks to Bob Pettit for giving up his time to do the umpiring.