HELLAND A extended their lead at the top of Division One of the North Cornwall Table Tennis League by thrashing reigning champions Budehaven A 7-3.

Budehaven were back at full strength with Denis Hough returning, but in the end the home side proved too strong.

Ritchie Bartlett won all three of his outings without dropping a set while Mike Fisher also did well, only losing to Dave Salisbury.

Salisbury was in fine form for the visitors as he beat Fisher and Ingus Abolnieks in a five-set thriller.

Budehaven were back in action on Sunday night in a rescheduled game with struggling Crackington A and won 8-2.

Salisbury made it five wins for the week including coming from 2-1 down to beat the hard-hitting Frank Barnes who beat Helen Murgatroyd and Hough in Crackington’s only successes.

There was an action-packed week in Division Two with Helland B looking ever more likely to join their A team in the top tier.

They hammered Altarnun 8-2 away from home although an unbeaten record went.

Dave MacLennan lost his 100% winning record to Paul Burden at the 13th time of asking after being two-sets up, before George Wright did likewise to beat Burden and inflict just the third defeat of the season on the Altarnun skipper.

Burden grabbed Altarnun’s points while Wright won all three.

Budehaven C initially missed the chance to close in on Helland as they could only muster a 5-5 draw at home to ever-improving Launceston.

Stephen Parsons continued his own return to form for the away side with three wins, including a shock 3-0 win over Owen Salisbury and coming from 2-1 down to beat David Sillifant. Karen Horrell easily dispatched of Sillifant and Adam Osborne, and was unlucky to be on the end of a thrilling comeback from Salisbury who won two of his singles. Sillifant and Osborne could only win one apiece.

Crackington B had a week of playing both Budehaven’s B and C teams and endured mixed fortunes.

On Thursday they edged past Budehaven B in a marathon evening.

Keiron Chatterjea and James Ellis won two apiece while Anthony Ward was unlucky to be on the losing side, winning his three singles outings.

On Sunday, Crackington hosted a much-changed Budehaven C side but fell to a 7-3 defeat.

Sillifant returned to form with three straight set victories while Steve Dawber and Fraser Salisbury also earned points.

Chatterjea’s solid week continued as he picked up two points for his side.

North Hill C remain favourites for promotion from Division Three after thrashing Helland C 5-0.

Dave Aplin and David Shoubridge each went through the evening without dropping a set.

Bridgerule A remain four points ahead but have played twice more than North Hill.

They beat their B team 4-1 with Alan Quilter maintaining his 100% winning record.

The other match saw Budehaven D record a nervy 3-2 victory over Bridgerule C. 

Nathan Jukes won both of his singles matches as well as the doubles with his brother Ezra.

This week sees the quarter-finals of the Handicap Knockout Cup being played.

At Budehaven, the club’s B team will take on Blisland, while Division Three strugglers Budehaven D welcome Helland A who are top of Division One.

The other ties see Crackington B take on Division Three promotion hopefuls Bridgerule A and Launceston visit North Hill A.

All games are scheduled to start at 7.30pm.