Bucks win promotion

Steve Munson put in a stunning unbeaten performance at Cippenham as Bucks won Division 1B of the County Championships to win promotion to the Premier Division for only the third time in their history.

The Bucks squad comprised six players, all of whom have played for Cippenham Table Tennis Club in the Senior British League and Women’s British League this season. With five wins and two draws from their seven matches, Bucks finished on twelve points, two ahead of second-placed Cornwall. In the match against their west country adversaries, Bucks found themselves 3-5 down but Irish international David Hayes and Gemma Chapman won the last two matches to secure the all-important draw and a share of the points. They then repeated this performance against Surrey to turn 4-4 into 6-4.

The other drawn match was against Glamorgan while wins were secured against Surrey II 10-0, Hertfordshire, Wiltshire and Middlesex II all 7-3 and Surrey 6-4.

Munson won all 13 matches he played while Chapman won 10 of her 13, Hayes 8 of his 12, Caroline Linz 6 out of 13 and Danny Baxter, playing in the difficult number one position, 4 out of 12. Chris Hansell came in for two matches and won 3 of his 4 encounters.

Other players also had important wins. Baxter won an important opening match against Cornwall, while Hansell and Linz, who had a stunning win over Naomi Wilson, both contributed crucial victories in the drawn match with Glamorgan.