National Interclub Championship 2025
Congratulations to Leamington taking the Team Champions Trophy with 18 points both ahead of Ireland and Prested Hall on 11.
James Holden took the Singles Title for Leamington and Ireland won the Doubles with Richard Rajne and Roy Rogers.
Finals
Doubles Final Prested Hall (Hawkey/Moreton) v Ireland (Ramjane/Rogers) 5/6
A tough final match between two on form pairs. Ramjane took most of the play for Ireland when at the serving end with Rogers making small cameo appearances. But Hawkey and Moreton were able to keep more of the serve than Ireland had faced in earlier rounds forcing Rogers more into the open and reducing Ramjane's control when receiving. This led to a tight affair with both sides trading games. But Ramjane and Rogers were able to win their final visit to the hazard taking the crown 6/5.
Singles Final Manchester (Smith) v Leamington (Holden) 5/6
A close final between two closely matched player with less that 1 handicap point difference. The early edge went to Holden of Leaminton taking a 4-2 lead before Smith fought back levelling to 4/4. A perfect length slow serve restored the Leamington lead in the 9th game before Smith restored parity with a force onto the sedans to conclude the 10th 5 all and a deciding game. Holden forced to the hazard early managed to see out the victory with a force of his own that Smith had no choice but to defend but failed to return. A packed Dedans enjoyed an emotional final.
Semi Finals
Heading into the semi finals Leamington remain unbeaten with 14 team points. With Prested losing their singles player in a quarter finals they are now uale to catch the defending team champions.
SF1 Doubles MMTCC (Cherry/Tippetts) v Prested Hall (Hawkey/Moreton) 5/6
A competitive match that went to the wire an saw victory secured by a backhand into the winning gallery from Ian Hawkey
SF1 Singles Manchester (Smith) v LRTA (Evers) 6/4
The first singles semi final saw a spirited comeback from Kate Evers from 5-1 down saving 3 match points before Pablo finally converted his early advantage.
SF2 Doubles Leamington (Devis/Compton) v Ireland (Ramjane/Rogers) 3/6
The Leamington pair put up a valiant fight but the power of Richard Ramjane supported by Roy Rogers proved too strong and took Ireland through to the final.
SF2 Singles Leamington (Holden) v Wales (Spiers) 6/5
Dogged resistance from Holden overcame the power of Spiers in a close match giving the Leamington team an additional two points for their already unassailable lead.
Quarter Finals
QF 1 Doubles Manchester (Cunliffe/Sprowell) v MMTCC (Cherry/Tipetts) 0/6
The home team with junior Tippett's were too good for the visitors and also had the advantage of not partying in Leamington last night.
QF1 Singles Manchester (Smith) v MMTCC (Hobson) 6/2
By chance the first singles quarter final saw the same two teams on court again with the spoils this time going to Manchester. The handicap proved too much for MMTCC's Hobson on this occasion
QF2 Doubles Prested Hall (Hawkey/Moreton) v Hardwick House (Mawson/Nicholls) 6/4
The Essex pair were too strong for Hardwick
QF2 Singles LRTA (Evers) v Hardwick House (Tanner) 6/5
Kate Evers kept the LRTA hopes alive with a win over lucky loser Gordon Tanner in a well fought contest
QF3 Doubles Leamington (Devis/Compton) v Scotland (Lambdon/Moug) 6/4
The Scotland pair faced a stiff handicap challenge agains the Leamington who took an early 3/0 lead before Scotland overturning the deficit to 3/4. Despite Moug demonstrating that it is possible to hit the Winning Gallery off the tambour the Scotland attack stalled with leamington taking the remaining games.
QF3 Singles Leamington (Holden) v Scotland (Marks) 6/5
Leamington remain unbeaten after Holden's recovery from 5-4 down surviving 3 match points to claim the tie 6/5
QF4 Doubles Ireland (Ramjane/Rogers) v Jesmond Dene (Brennan/Harrison) 6/3
The alliterative Irish [Roy Rogers, Richard Ramjane and Dany Dawson] doubles pair continue their good form overpowering the Jesmond duo.
QF4 Singles Wales (Spiers) v Prested Hall (Pike) 6/4
Defending singles champion Pike wasn't able to repeat the feat this year falling to the hard hitting Spiers representing Wales.
Evening Session
The Evening session saw the conclusion of Group C and Moreton and Group A at Leamington.
In Group A the USA team failed to register a win in the singles but did beat Manchester in the Doubles. James Holden took a clean sweep in the singles for Leamington with Manchester’s Pablo Smith in second place. Gordon Tanner’s third place was sufficient for him to tie with MMTCC and earn a coin toss to decide the second lucky losers spot which he won.
Manchester were runners up in the doubles with Hardwick taking third place and a lucky losers spot.
At Moreton in Group C Prested Hall were able to complete a clean sweep in the doubles but the singles group was a closer affair. Each player won a set with Prested Hall and the LRTA winning two but Kate Evers games record gave her the edge and top spot over Prested’s defending singles champion Josh Pike in second. John Miller was the unfortunate player in fourth for Jesmond with Scotland’s Chris Marks in third claiming one of the lucky loser spots in the quarter finals.
In the doubles Jesmond Dene and Scotland were both able to claim wins to finish second and third with Scotland claiming a lucky losers spot. The unlucky pair were MMTCC2.
In the team competition Leamington lead the way with 10 points ahead of Prested Hall on 7.
Saturday Afternoon Session
The second session of the day saw first matches for group C at Leamington in which Scotland, Prested hall and the LRTA all racked up wins at the expense of Jesmond Dene and one against Prested. In the doubles Pressed Hall won two and Jesmond earned a win. This group will finish at Moreton this evening.
The afternoon's action at Moreton saw the conclusion of Group B with Wales taking two singles wins to complete the whitewash of the box. MMTCC had a second win to take second place and MMTCC2 earned a win for third an will now wait to see if that is enough for a lucky losers place. In the doubles Ramjane and Rogers completed the clean sweep to take top spot for Ireland. MMTCC once again took second with 2 wins and MMTCC2 eventually got a win for third spot. Wales took the wooden spoon in this group.
The Morning Session
Group A started at Moreton with the USA suffering from jet lag losing two singles and doubles matches.We hope their body clocks will be better prepared for the evening session at Leamington where they face Manchester.
In both singles and doubles Manchester, Leamington and Hardwick all picked up wins keeping the box very tight and everything to play for at Leamington.
Group B playing at Leamington saw MMTCC 1 & 2 score singles wins and the first team doubles pairing were able to back this up with a win. Unlike the second pairing. Wales have a singles victory and a doubles defeat while Ireland secured tw0 doubles wins to take to this afternoons session at Moreton
