Match Report:Teams:
England:Men: Liam Pitchford, Paul Drinkhall, Andrew Baggaley, Daniel Reed, Sam Walker
Women: Joanna Drinkhall, Kelly Sibley, Tin Tin Ho, Hanna Hicks, Karina Le Fevre
Australia:Men: William Henzell, David Powell, Kane Townsend, Chris Yan, Heming Hu
Women: Jian Fang Lay, Sally Zhang, Miao Miao, Vivian Dederko, Melisa Tapper
Format: Mens and Womens matches played on separate tables, 2 singles folowed by doubles, followed by singles, followed by doubles. Mens and womens team scores added together for overall winner.
In the morning the players got to practise on the tables and by 12:30 they'd finished and taken to have some lunch. One of the tables was removed and the courts set up for their final position. Bill Thornton's table tennis stall had also arrived and I invested heavily in some testing equipment - plastic balls, 2 sheets of the same rubber but in black and red (Adidas P5), two sheets of the same rubber with different sponge hardness (Tibhar Grip S and Grip S Europe) - for obvious testing reasons - and a sheet of Tibhar 1QXD 2.1 red - because that's what I use now on my forehand. One of the advantages of attending these type of events is that you get to rummage through bargain bucket rubbers. These were one off stock which Bill doesn't carry normally so there was no commercial reason to list them on his website. As a result each sheet cost me £10. When you're making unpaid testing videos, you have to watch your costs
Attachment:
tn_practise session in the morning.JPG [ 191.37 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
Mens match:Henzell v Drinkhall 11-13; 6-11; 12-14
Attachment:
tn_william henzell aussie no1 serving to paul drinkhall.jpg [ 180.4 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
Two very tight games. Notice in the photo how low they keep with knees bent. Henzell, had leads and game points in the first and third game but couldn't quite put Drinkhall away who played with good control and power to see him home. Solid display by Drinkhall who was a lot more careful with the ball than when I last saw him. Very few cheap points given away. You could see Henzell was disappointed to lose 3:0 having had good leads in two of the games. Didn't quite seem match sharp - but then he's peaking for the Commonwealths not this match.
Yan vs Pitchford 11-6; 8-11; 2-11; 6-11
Attachment:
tn_chris yan vs liam pitchford1.jpg [ 224.97 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
Yan surprising took the first game 11-6 and it was no fluke, he was 9-2 up at one stage. I don't know if Pitchford underestimated him or was taking his time to work him out. Second game was a close affair until near the end when Pitchford pulled away - as better players seem to be able to do. Next two games were more straightforward for Pitchford but Yan definitely has some weapons and potential.
I couldn't film any of the matches for our league so didn't take a camcorder. This was the only footage I took of this game - it's done with my small photo camera with no tripod. It's converted to flv video format. There are no scores or names added. All I've done to the footage is top and tail it with a quick title to show the start of 2nd game and third game but it will give you an idea of what it was like. I didn't film the first or last game.
[photobucket]http://vid686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/pathfinderpro/England%20v%20Australia%2020-07-2014/pitchfordvyan.mp4[/photobucket]
Powell/Yan vs Baggaley/Drinkhall 11-6; 8-11; 12-10; 18-20; 6-11
Baggaley/Drinkhall are Englands top doubles pair. They were under real pressure in this match. Drinkhall played brilliantly when a couple of match points down in the fourth game. Big big game that. Aussie's should have won it but failed to put away some chances courtesy of Drinkhall's counter hitting. The English pair held it together to win through in 5. Best match of the day. As before here's some video of the match - I didn't record the last game - I went and operated a score board on the womens match. I recorded this because you seldom get to see doubles matches recorded and played these days. I think it's worth watching just for the footwork and the low camera angles gives a good idea of the spin, speed and height the ball is being played at. Sometimes that aspect is flattened when the camera is high and looking down at the table - this is more of a "self record angle".
[photobucket]http://vid686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/pathfinderpro/England%20v%20Australia%2020-07-2014/doubles.mp4[/photobucket]
Powell v Baggaley 9-11; 10-12; 8-11
I didn't see this, I'd taken over from a scorer on one corner of the womens match. What I did so though was a pumped up Baggaley fighting hard and when he won, he made sure he shook everyone's hands from umpire to score board people - not all the players shook the scorer board peoples hands. That was a nice touch as we had some young kids keeping score on some of the boards.
Townsend/Hu vs Reed/Walker 8-11; 7-11; 11-4; 9-11
Attachment:
last mens doubles.JPG [ 213.6 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
This match was the last one to finish. Some very quick powerful rallies, very even and good to watch. A very good win by the English duo rounded off an excellent team performance for the men.
Although it the score board said 5:0 to England, this was the tighter and more competitive of the two matches (Men / Women) and some good experience gained for the all the players, and importantly momentum for the England men to carry in to the commonwealth games - table tennis starts today with the team events. And whilst the players were playing, the tabletennis England guy, was typing up his report to make sure their website was up to date quickly.
Attachment:
tn_Behind the scenes at Table Tennis England.JPG [ 177.14 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
Womens match:I thought this would be the better, closer match with more contrast in styles and variety but as it turned out the games themselves were more one sided ie games were won by bigger margins, even if three of them went to 4 ends. The exception was the first match.
Zhang v Sibley 9-11; 11-9; 11-9; 11-8
I've never seen Zhang before and I was busy watching Henzell v Drinkhall but from glancing over I could see Sibley started well but then started to overhit and make some mistakes at crucial times. Her body language and reactions showed she wasn't happy with the way she was playing and despite having a big lead in the second game, it turned in to a surprising loss for Sibley -surprised me anyway - but Zhang played a good solid match.
Tapper v Drinkhall 1-11; 5-11, 8-11
Tapper seemed young and inexperienced and a little nervous. Drinkhall has added some aggressive shots to her arsenal. Last time I watched her, she used to chop and chop and chop and oaccasional step in and hit a backhand - solid, or forehand topspin, not so solid. Today Drinkhall did a number on Tapper. Tapper couldn't handle the excessive backspin on Drinkhall's chops. She dumped a lot of forehands in to the net or got anxious and tried to hit through the spin and made mistakes by hitting long. After the first game, it seemed that Tapper had been told to loop the ball and push the ball and loop the ball and push the ball but she couldn't do that consistently and Drinkhall was picking her off with some comfort. Drinkhall won at a canter - certainly playing better than I've seen in terms of all round game and weapons and still solid when defending.
Miao/Zhang v Drinkhall/Sibley 5-11; 12-10, 11-3, 11-8
Drinkhall/Sibley are the English number one pair. Today though, when Drinkhall defended, the Aussies were able to attack and Sibley isn't a defender so she was taken out of her comfort zone having to fed off Australian attacks. With Sibley slightly off form and carrying the disappointment of her singles defeat the Aussies were in control of this match for most of the time once they benefited from a fortunate net at a crucial time in the second game. Australia ran out 3-1 winners.
Miao v Tin Tin Ho 11-6; 11-9; 11-7
Attachment:
tn_jens lang talking to miao miao.jpg [ 195.24 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
I was looking forward to this game. Tin Tin Ho had come with a reputation as an up and coming star - a justified repuation - and I'd watched Miao Miao closely in the practise session because she uses short pimples on her backhand and her footwork anticiapation and movement was really fast. But the match turned out to be similar to Tapper v Drinkhall except this time it was the Miao Miao who had the experience and controlled the games. Tin Tin is a pen holder, Miao uses medium pimples on her forehand and short pimples on her backhand. She'd recently changed her rubbers (Jens Lang told me this earlier in the day. I'd been watching her practice and her right index finger was pointing up the back of her bat which isn't coaching text book style. I'd asked Jens Lang about it.) but I couldn't see what she'd changed to and Jens Lang didn't know it's name.
Being an up to the table blocker and hitter / counter hitter and very fast and mobile on her feet Miao Miao gave Tin Tin Ho all sorts of problems. Quite often Ho would top spin long so I don't know if the skidding flatter ball with less spin from Miao Miao was throwing her timing off or if she couldn't adjust her bat angle in time because of the speed of Miao's hits and drives and blocks. Whatever, Tin Tin Ho didn't seem to be able to cope with Miao's style - this time - and although Tin Tin Ho had a lead in the second game Miao always looked like she had something in reserve and ran out a comfortable 3:0 winner. At only 15 Ho has youth on her side and in time she'll surpass Miao but she's still learning and this would be invaluable experience for her. Nice girl by all accounts too - when she's not playing table tennis she's out with her school books studying.
Dederko/Tapper v Sibley/Ho 8-11; 5-11; 11-9; 5-11
Attachment:
tn_womens doubles warm up.jpg [ 180.93 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
I'd been dissappointed with Sibley's body language in her two defeats to date but in this one she was really supportive of Ho, encouraging her to play the right shot and seemingly telling her not to worry if she did that and made a mistake - I'm not brilliant at lip reading! After the Aussies surrendered a lead in the first game, Sibley and Ho took control. Tapper was still nervous and I felt for her a little bit. But then I thought what I'd do to be able to play for my country and travel the world - sympathy gone! Dispite the Aussie's winning the third game - which I was pleased to see for Tapper - England never really looked in danger and gave the English women's team something good to finish on with a 3-1 victory in their doubles.
Final Match Score 3:2 Australia win. Suprisingly England didn't play either Hanna Hicks or Karina Le Fevre and Australia didn't play Jian Fang Lay. I'm not sure if that anything to do with the draw for the commonwealth games team event but it was still a very good win for the Australian women which would boost their confidence and a valuable learning experience for the English women and an indication of what they still need to work on in the short period of time they had left.
Final overall score 7:3 England. After winning the trophy the England team posed with Jill Parker (nee Hamersley) who'd been presented with a special award on her retirement from involvement in the England setup - an England shirt signed by all the players and staff.
Attachment:
tn_Jill Parker award1.jpg [ 177.06 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
And the England camp celebrated their victory. Don't any youngsters, or seniors copy this. Tables are meant for playing on, not standing on.
Attachment:
tn_tell em to get off the table jim.JPG [ 187.92 KiB | Viewed 2923 times ]
As Jim Clegg had pulled this all together and it was hosted and bank rolled by UCLAN - our league who'd provided the barriers and staffing to help set up the courts, work on the day and take them down again along with the UCLAN staff put the things away - you can see us doing that in the background of the photo above whilst England celebrated. Jim also used a guy who played in Preston years ago and regularly sets up table tennis courts - measurements placement etc - for events like this and the Blackpool league provided the tables - same type that were being used in Glasgow. Contacts are everything when organising this type of event.
I didn't see or here too much about how it went from an organisational point of view, but there was a good turn out - easily 3 figures and our league members were less than a third of that turn out and there were lots of families there with mums, dads and kids which was great to see.
It had been a long day - got there at 10:30 and the everything was put away by 18.10. But it had been enjoyable, and that's what it's all about.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
