Wilmott and Rose Bowl Cups Report
The zonal group of the English Leagues Cup Competition was held at the St Neots Table Tennis Club on Saturday 14th January. Cambridge hosted both the Men’s (Wilmott Cup) group consisting of Ilford, Kettering B, Ipswich and Cambridge, and the Ladies’ (Rose Bowl) group consisting of North Herts, Leicester, Grimsby/Cleethorpes and Cambridge.
In the Wilmott Cup, the omens for the Cambridge team did not look good when their 3rd ranked player, Martin Freeland, sent a message to say his car had broken down on the way to St Neots. This meant that Cambridge’s Tony West and Mirek Pazdzior would have to play in all the matches. However, Cambridge got off to a flying start by beating Kettering B 5-0 in the 1st round. Meanwhile Ipswich, represented by brothers Ryan and Jake Collins, came through in a tight match against Ilford 3-2. In the 2nd round of matches, the Ipswich team also trounced Kettering B 5-0, while the Cambridge side had a closer encounter with Ilford. Tony West started well by beating the strong defensive Scotsman Euan Liddle in 3 straight sets but Mirek Pazdzior then lost to Ilford’s Matt Spero. Some quick thinking was then required as West had suffered the recurrence of an old knee injury in his match with Liddle and with their 3rd ranked player missing, Cambridge called upon Martin Gray who happened to be present supporting both the Men’s and Ladies’ teams. Gray, who has not been able to play much table-tennis over the past year, still showed his class by partnering Pazdzior to a very exciting and tight 5 set victory over the Ilford pair to give Cambridge a 2-1 lead. In the next match West, despite his knee injury, pulled off a straight sets victory over Spero to place Cambridge in a winning position. Owing to work commitments, Gray was unable to stay on as a substitute for West in the final round and so a third substitute was found in Martyn Livermore, Chairman of the Cambridgeshire Table Tennis Association, who was also present at St Neots in his capacity as non-playing Captain of the Ladies’ Rose Bowl team. He made a quick dash home to pick up his table-tennis gear, but was held up by the traffic which was gridlocked due to the roadworks on the A14 and A1. The Ipswich team sportingly allowed the Cambridge team to start the match without naming both their players, leaving the option open for Livermore to arrive back in time to play the second singles in West’s place. Pazdzior played really well against the much higher ranked Ryan Collins and extended the match to 4 sets but Collins proved too strong and ran out the winner. With Livermore only just arriving back at St Neots as the second match was about to start, it was agreed that West should made a final effort to maintain his 100% record for the day, and leave Livermore to partner Pazdzior in the doubles. Despite a valiant effort, West went down in 4 sets, giving Ipswich a 2-0 lead. Now it was Livermore’s turn to step up, and with Pazdzior they combined to graft out a dramatic 5 set win over the Collins brothers. A remarkable win against a very strong established pair. This gave Cambridge a glimmer of hope, but the next singles went Ipswich’s way and with the winning margin of 3-1 reached, Ipswich finished the day top of the group. Considering the adjustments to the team that were made during the day, Cambridge did themselves credit by finishing 2nd, with Ilford 3rd and Kettering B in 4th place.