CRACKPOTS B scored their first victory of the season in Division Two of the Whatley Recordon Malvern Table Tennis League.

Two wins apiece for Ted Cates and Stephen Lindner and together the doubles along with a win for Max Davidson gave them the win over Trojans. Dave Backhurst won all three and Dave Huntley one for the visitors. The match went down to the wire with Ted beating Rob Redden in the fifth game of the deciding set.

Crackpots were not so successful when they travelled to Upton. Ted and Stephen again won two each but two wins for Matt Jones and Roger Davies and one for Peter Quy enabled the home team to win narrowly. Match of the night saw Roger and Matt beat Ted and Stephen 6-11, 18-16, 6-11, 14-12, 13-11 in the doubles.

David Smith was in inspired form for Juniors but his three wins and one for James Clarke were not enough to prevent Wombats from winning and going top of the table.

Tony Birch and Richard Brewer won two each and Steve Glazzard one. The pivotal moment again came in the doubles with Tony and Richard beating David and Bill Newson 13-11 in the fifth game.

Broadheath Belters came from 5-1 down against Vulcans to earn a draw. The two unbeaten players on the night met in the final set with Dave Elliott beating Nick Price in the fifth game to complete the come back. Beryl Shammon and Alan Croad each won one for Vulcans as did Roger Bates and John Stalker for Belters.

Nick didn't play in Vulcan's match with Trojans and two wins apiece for Beryl and Alan were not enough as Dave Backhurst and Dave Hayes both won two and Rob Redden one for Trojans. The two Daves also won the doubles. This was a tight match with five sets going to a deciding game.

Three wins for Mike Bellfield and two for Ken Hipwell earned Travellers a draw against Ledbury Exhaust in another tight match between two of the sides challenging for promotion. Stewart Moss won two and Ray Cooke and John Meredith one each. The doubles was again a key factor in this match with John and Ray beating Mike and Ken 12-10 in the fifth. Three other sets also went to a deciding game and a draw seemed to be a fair result.

RESULTS: CSSC Trojans 6, YMCA Vulcans 4; Upton Ripples 6, Crackpots B 4; YMCA Vulcans 5, Broadheath Belters 5; Ledbury Exhaust 5, MP Travellers 5; Manor Park Wombats 6, Juniors A 4; Crackpots B 6, CSSC Trojans 4.

ABBEY College, with two good, but not easy, wins over Police and Abbeydowne and a very creditable draw with Logics have put themselves into third position in the third division.

Cyrus Wong and Henry Chan each won seven singles and Henry Hung won four. Abbeydowne, without their best player, were unlucky to lose all their sets in the match with Logics because Roy Holland lost two of his in the fifth game and one of those was by 11-13 in the fifth. Peter Dennis won two singles and Roy one against Logics and together they won the doubles.

John Hunt won all his sets for Logics and the doubles with Derek Craddock, who won a singles set, to secure the draw against the College and they were joined by Chris Daniels in winning all their sets against Abbeydowne.

The Juniors B trio of Matt Lang, Anthony Wiseman and Tom James were all unbeaten against both the Manor Park Juniors and the Manor Park Maulers but 12 of the 20 sets required more than three games and 20 games were won by two points.

Police are suffering from injuries and player absence and have drafted in a father and son to swell their numbers. Steve Mulka won a singles against the College but neither he nor his son, James, managed a win against Crackpots although they both took a set to a fourth game.

Ben Salisbury and Jack Higgs won all their sets and Mark Griffiths two against the Juniors C team. Geoff Burford saved the whitewash for the C team.

RESULTS: Abbeydowne 4, Abbey College 6; Abbey College 5, Bromyard Logics 5; Crackpots C 9, Police 1; Malv Juniors B 10, Manor Park Maulers 0; Malv Juniors C 1, Manor Park Juniors 9; Bromyard Logics 10, Abbeydowne 0; Police 3, Abbey College 7; Manor Park Juniors 0, Malv Juniors B 10.