Alkisti, and John Malone found themselves in the heat of battle in the British league last weekend, though neither of them knew they would be 24 hours previously. My team were struggling to get a full squad out, there is a hefty fine at that level for non compliance of fixtures, so John and Alkisti came to the rescue and travelled with me to Preston. Alkisti played well, but unfortunately was outclassed at this level. John won two out of four, playing well, his wins were however against players from a team who were struggling to put a side out too, so sorry John, no ranking points I'm afraid. john then found out what it is like to play against a Chinese professional, and I have to say he acquitted himself well.

How TT balls are made?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fK5PkRsRfLI

Its 1 minute 30 sec into the clip though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6-wQWf4ziiw#!

 who is this 'Andy Wigginal' guy?

The Haig cup competition was held at Crusaders Lincoln (Lincolnshire inter town men) and some fantastic TT was played in a tight four team league of some real quality, the teams being Lincoln (Myself John Malone and Dan Rimmer) Grimsby (Sean Ward, John Hancock and Ben Anderson) Gainsborough (Paul Johnson, Clive Mitchell and Jimmy Wynne, and Grantham (Paul Cameron, Terry Willson and Danny Cox) 

The competition was split between Lincoln and Grimsby who were both unbeaten going into the last round of matches, Lincoln coming out decisive winners with a 7-3 victory. 

Individual averages

                                                      Played     won                  %

Andy Wignall    ( Lin )                       9              9            100

Dan Rimmer      (Lin)                         9              7            78

Paul Johnson     (Ga)                         9               7            78

John Hancock   (Gr)                          9              7            78

Sean Ward           (Gr)                         9              6             67

Ben Anderson    (Gr)                         9              5              56

John Malone       (Lin)                       9              4              44

Clive Mitchell     (Ga)                        9              4              44

Danny Cox           ( Gra)                     9              3               33

Paul Cameron     (Gra)                      9              1               11

Terry Willson     (Gra)                      9              1               11

Jimmy Wynne    (Ga)                        9              0               0

A good comeback after a 4 year absence for John Hancock, beating Paul Johnson, and some exceptional play from Dan Rimmer, particularly in taking three rubbers out of a very strong Grimsby side. I just managed to fend off the youth once again with some lucky play (wink)

Results

Lincoln 7  Gainsborough 3

Grantham 2 Grimsby 8 

Gainsborough 2  Grimsby 8

Grantham 1 Lincoln 9 

Grantham 3  Gainsborough 7

Lincoln 7  Grimsby 3 

fantastically entering the Lincoln scene is Eric.  He's Chinese, and quality, I played him a practice game best of five, and just came out a winner close in the 5th game. Basically, this guy is quality.