Defending Champions held by Natland

Defending champions, Dalton A, were held to a 5-5 draw by an under strength Natland A side in their first match of the new campaign in the Kendal & District Table Tennis League. Roger Pimblett was the star of the show, winning all 3 of his singles matches and combining with Tamas Bacsi to take the doubles. Pimblett recovered from 2 games down to beat the talented Ben McDonald in 5 games. Tamas Bacsi chipped in with a victory against Matthew Rigg. Title contenders IBIS opened their account with a comprehensive 9-1 defeat of Dallam A. Dallam’s only consolation was James Neal’s 4 game victory over Peter Rushton. Steve Dixon and James McGrath were both undefeated, although the evergreen Dixon had to come from behind to beat James Neal, 6-11, 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-7 in a very close fought encounter. The returning Stephen Baxendale produced a man of the match performance, winning all 3 of his singles and the doubles with brother Peter as Burton A defeated Dalton B 7-3. Baxendale inflicted a rare defeat on Gareth Brunton, recovering from 2-0 down to win 12-10 in the fifth.

In Division 2, after 3 rounds of matches, Burton C and Natland D lead the way, with 3 wins apiece. Burton C had a comfortable 8-2 win over a weakened Dallam B and Natland D had a narrow 6-4 win over a strong Burton D side, for whom Simon Gregory was unbeaten. Mick Taylor, Archie Catnach and Devun Whitehead won 2 singles each to secure the win for Natland.

Crook C are top of Division 3, following a third successive win, this time 19-16 over Grayrigg A. John Hardwick was undefeated and ably supported by Hugh Simmons and Andy Gilchrist.

All results, league tables and player averages can be found at https://www.tabletennis365.com/kendal/Results.