Next week sees the start of the Tesco Express Northumbria Summer league in which twenty nine teams are playing in four divisions. Last year’s champions, Cramlington Stingers start with a home match against Cramlington Eagles ( previously Venture Portraits) who finished in third spot last season. St.Chad’s who were last season’s runners up have a strong squad this time round and they commence with  a home match against newcomers Whitehouse Lane A. The Whitehouse Lane side is made up of  the players who represented Byker B in the Winter League, Adam Curran, Steve Dickinson and Dean Eadington and they should do well in their new surroundings in the Summer.

North Fire have the services of Dale Aitkenhead during the summer season and they entertain newly promoted Newton whilst the other promoted team, Cramlington Lions visit Seaburn Dene for their first match.

In the second division North Shields YMCA will be looking for a quick return to the top flight and they get their campaign off to a start by entertaining Whitehouse Lane B who have come up from the third division. Blaydon will be a force to be reckoned with in this division but they will be tested in their first match by Old England Jacks who have come back into the league this term. Newcastle Community take on Mortimer A.

Whitley Chapel and Cramlington Dragons have moved up into the third tier and both start with away matches, against Sacriston A and Old England Crocks respectively. Saints entertain Cramlington Tigers and Cramlington Casuals meet Sacriston B.

NESLC, who narrowly missed promotion from the fourth division last year, are favourites to win that division this time round and they should get off to a good start when they entertain the Durham side, Lanchester. The other match at this level sees the two Cramlington teams, Dynamos and Ravens up against each other.

The season is now complete and congratulations to all division winners and to the handicap cup and division four league cup winners. A summary of the ups and downs is as follows:

                                                  Winners                           Runners Up

Premiers Division              NESLC Legends                  Cramlington Casuals

Division One                     Cramlington Trojans              Byker B

Division Two                      Newcastle Community A      Blaydon B

Division Three                   Newton C                            Old England FATTS

Division Four                     Cramlington Swifts              Cramlington Lions

Division Four Lge Cup       Cramlington Jaguars            Cramlington Lions

Handicap Cup                   Newcastle Community A     Byker B

                                                  Relegated

Premier Division                Seaburn Dene and Blaydon A

Division One                     Old England Jacks and Matfen

Division Two                      Old England Crocks and Cramlington Spartans

Division Three                   NESLC Codgers and Cramlington Magpies

Representative side

The Cadet team finished in a creditable top half position in the National Cadet League Northern section.

Northumberland Closed Tournament

The winners and runners up were as follows:

                                        Winner                             Runner Up

Open Singles                     Dave Robson                     Graeme Barella

Womens Singles               Lynsey Storey                  Kit Robinson

Veterans Singles                     Eddie Smith                          Dave Robson

Handicap Singles              Ellis Cooper                     Dave Craddock

Doubles                           Graeme Barella/               Nigel Rodgers/

                                                  Adrian Barnes                   Steve Robinson

Band 1 Singles                 Ryan Richardson              Graeme Barella

Band 3 Singles                 Moise Coulon                   Alan Hedley

Band 4 Singles                 Pauline Long                    Angus Poole

Junior Singles                  Ryan Richardson                      Adam Curran

Cadet Singles                   Dean Richardson              Jack Quinn

Under 13 Singles               Jack Quinn                      Arran Kent

There were no entries for Band 2 Singles.

Tesco Express Summer League

This will start on 21^st May and 29 teams will take part in four divisions.

The Chinese team, Newcastle Community A have won the Tesco Express Northumbria League Handicap Cup for the second year running, being the first team to do so since Newton A in 1997. They met Byker B in the final and ran out 5 – 2 winners after at one stage being all square at two all. The first match on was between Terry Kwong and Adam Curran.  Kwong had an eight point start but this was not enough to stop the young Byker player from taking the first end but Kwong did take the second before Curran narrowly won the decider at 21 – 18. Next up was the Chinese top player Rixian (Ken) Hu who did not need his three point advantage over Steve Dickinson, winning 21- 13, 21 -6. Ben Yu then had to give two points start to Dean Eadington and this turned out to be a very close encounter with the Chinese player just edging home 27 – 25, 21 – 18 to give his side the lead. The best match of the night followed when Hu took on Curran and he again had a three point start. After falling behind in the first game he came back strongly to win it 22 – 20. Curran, however, was in no mood to be beaten and the next two ends went his way after some excellent play to level the match score.

Kwong then defeated Eadington but needed three ends to do so and Yu did likewise against Dickinson to give the Chinese a 4 – 2 lead. Eadington was the next Byker player to come to the table to play Hu but he was unable to save the day for Byker and the Newcastle team retained the trophy.

Ellis Cooper won the Handicap Singles in the recent Northumberland Tournament when he defeated Dave Craddock in the final. In the Junior tournament the under 13 event went to Jack Quinn who beat Arran Kent in his final match.

With the Winter League now complete a number of teams are looking forward to the start of the Summer League on 21st May.

Dave Robson, who plays for Cramlington TTC in the Tesco Express Northumbria League, is the new Northumberland County Champion. He claimed the title in the County Closed by defeating Graeme Barella (NESLC) in the final of the Open Singles. After coming through his group Robson defeated Geoff Salter, Jim Stamas and Steve Penman to set up a meeting with Barella in the final. He took the first game with an 11 – 3 scoreline before Barella got into his stride to fully extend him in the second which went Robson’s way 16 – 14. Barella then took the next two games but Robson won the decider 1 1 – 5 to claim the title and the Alan Morpeth Memorial Cup. On his way to the final Barella put out Phil Prady then the holder and favourite Eddie Smith  before disposing of David Graham in the semis.

The Womens’ title went to Lynsey Storey who won a round robin event with Kit Robinson taking second place. 

Robson also got through to the final of the Veterans Singles but found Eddie Smith waiting for him  and all out to make up  for losing his Senior Title.  Robson did push him close but Smith won a tight match 11 – 6, 11- 8, 10 – 12, 13 – 11. Ryan Richardson won the Band 1 event with victory over Barella in the final, the Band 3 was won by Moise Coulon who defeated Alan Hedley whilst the Band 4 winner was Pauline Long with success against Angus Poole.

The Fun Doubles went to Barella and Adrian Barnes with victory over Nigel Rodgers and Steve Robinson.

The County Junior Tournament saw Ryan Richardson win the Norman Moore Memorial Cup for the third successive year, beating Adam Curran in the final. Ryan’s brother Dean claimed the Cadet Title and the Harry Dignan Cup for the third time with victory over Jack Quinn and Quinn  beat Christopher Jeffery to win the Under 13 event.

If you are not currently playing table tennis but are reading this item out of interest for the game why not take a trip to the Sporting Club Cramlington on Saturday 28 April where you can observe the Northumberland Table Tennis Closed Championships. There will be around 45 players competing at various standards and an opportunity for you to see the game in a live situation, and at no cost. Spectators are welcome any time during the day.

Teams in the Tesco Express Northumbria League 2011 to 2012 have now completed all their fixtures and the league tables are available.   Among  the matches completed last week were some from the Premier Division and third divisions. Additionally the final of the Division 4 League Cup took place.

View the Final league tables

In the Premier Division NESLC Legends found themselves short of a player when Eddie Smith and Marc Cotton played the team’s outstanding fixtures against Cramlington Casuals and Cramlington Stingers. Legends lost 4-6 to Casuals but managed a draw against Stingers thus consolidating  their position as top team in the Division with Casuals ending in second place.

In Division 3 Cramlington Knights played out a 5-5 draw against Ouston B. John Morton won his 3 matches which with 2 wins from Angus Pool made up the Knights score for the match. Mike Lyons and Neil Rodgers each won 2 games plus the doubles to ensure the points were shared equally between the two teams.

The tightest match of the week was the League Cup final which saw a Cramlington Lions team of Jim Broadbent, Ken Brown and Terry Duff competing against their Club companions    Mick Sursham, Wally Ray and Allan Mann for Cramlington Jaguars.   Mick Sursham, Wally Ray and Allan Mann. In a drawn match Broadbent won his 3 with the other 2 games coming from Brown and the doubles combination of Broadbent and Brown. Jaguars proved stonger in the singles with Ray and Mann each winning 2 games and Sursham gaining one victory. Jaguars had drawn their game the semi finals and progressed to the final on a count back. The count back was necessary again in the final and again Jaguars had the best ends won record to make them the winners of the Division 4 League Cup.

The Tesco Express Northumbria Table Tennis League for 2011 – 12 is almost completed with only a few outstanding games and the Handicap Cup and Division 4 League Cup finals to be completed.

The semi finals of the Handicap Cup saw Byker ‘B’ at home to Ouston ‘A’ and Newcastle Community ‘A’ hosting Cramlington Casuals.

The Byker team of Adam Curran, Steve Dickinson and Dean Eadington proved too strong for the Ouston team securing a 5-3 victory over  Allen Tarn, Peter Scott and Norman Badger. After 4 games the scores were level then Byker took the next 2 games to put pressure on their opponents. Badger kept Ouston in the match when he beat Eadington in 3 ends but Dickinson ended the match in Byker’s favour with over Scott.

Ken Hu, Paul Cheung and Ben Yu fought a tight match against Ryan and Dean Richardson and Moise Coulon in the Newcastle Community V Cramlington semi final.  The first game saw Hu beating Richardson D. In the second game Cheung lost to Richardson R. Victory came to Newcastle Community in the third when Yu defeated Coulon. And so it continued with each team taking it in turn to win. With the score at 4-4 all rested on the final game, Hu against Richardson R, and the alternating cycle continued with Hu taking the game and Community emerging winners with the overall score of 5 games to 4.

The 4^th Division League Cup semi finals were contested between Maccabi and Cramlington Jaguars and Cramlington Lions against Cramlington Ravens.

Maccabi were only able to field 2 players, Harold Young and Derek Marcus, but still held Mick Sursham, Wally Ray and Allan Mann to a 5 all draw.   On a count back of ends won Jaguars are through to the final.

The Lions against Ravens resulted in a victory for Lions. Jim Broadbent, Ken Brown and Terry Duff have already taken the Lions to the runners up position in Division 4 and Jack Quinn, Tony Quinn and Christopher Jeffrey found them too strong.

Cramlington Trojans and Byker ‘B’ in Division 1 have been neck in neck throughout the season and both their games against the other have resulted in 5-5 draws. Trojans finally confirmed first place when their team of Phil Prady, Paul Baines and Akshay Pabary defeated a North Fire ‘B’ team of Barry Hill, Mick Bull and Bob Atwell by  6 games to 4. Baines was man of the match for Trojans with 3 victories followed by Prady with 2 wins. Bob Atwell proved the mainstay of North Fire with 2 victories plus the doubles with Hill. The close competition is evident in the final points tally of 148 for Trojans and 142 for Byker.

The Northumberland Closed will be held on Saturday 28th April 2012 at Sporting Club, Cramlington. Those wishing to enter who have not yet submitted their entries should contact Nigel Coe immediately.   The Junior tournament will be held on Friday evening 27th April, also at Cramlington and entries for this one are to go to Alan Hedley by 23 April.