Yorkshire put in a commanding performance to secure the O-60s County Championships Premier Division title on their return to the top division after a two-year absence. Cheshire were the runners-up.

The closing weekend of the Premier Division took place at Milton Keynes Table Tennis Club over the weekend of 8-9 March.

After Rounds 1-3 at the weekend session in November, Yorkshire and Cheshire headed the table with unblemished records but both Leicestershire and Kent were in hot pursuit, only two points behind – hoping for a runners-up medal or better should Yorkshire and Cheshire slip up.

The bottom two places were held by winless Lancashire and Bedfordshire. But Essex and Surrey knew that they needed further points to avoid the drop.

So, all to play for both at the top and at the bottom as the matches unfolded in Rounds 4-7 at the second weekend.

Round 4

Yorkshire got their weekend under way with a match against Bedfordshire. Yorkshire were without highly ranked Ivan Lewis who had played a key role in their promotion from Division One last season. But Ivan’s replacement, Phil Bell, acquitted himself well in a 10-0 win for Yorkshire. Elsewhere, Cheshire kept the pressure on Yorkshire with a 7-3 win over Surrey. Leicestershire and Kent kept their hopes alive with wins over Lancashire and Essex.

Round 5

Yorkshire continued to show their intent with another 10-0 demolition, this time over Essex. Cheshire beat Leicestershire 6-4, despite a fine maximum from Chris Rogers (Le). Jan Johns’ (Ch) win over Karen Smith (Le) proved decisive.

Kent stayed in the hunt with a 6-4 win over Lancashire. Diccon Gray’s (K) two singles wins were vital for Kent. Surrey secured a vital win over Bedfordshire to make themselves safe for another season in the Premier Division.

At the end of the first day’s play, not much had changed. Yorkshire and Cheshire still led the way with Lancashire and Bedfordshire pointless at the bottom of the Division.

Round 6

Yorkshire continued as they left off with an 8-2 victory over Lancashire. But their performance was bettered by Cheshire with a 9-1 win over Kent. This defeat put Kent out of the hunt. Leicestershire beat Surrey and Bedfordshire lost to Essex. The two losses by Lancashire and Bedfordshire confirmed they would both be relegated.

Round 7

As anticipated, the final round brought a title-winning decider between Yorkshire and Cheshire. Yorkshire’s superior sets ratio meant they could take the title with a draw. Cheshire needed a win.

In the event, Yorkshire’s dominance of the division continued as they raced to a 7-0 lead, including a fine 3-0 win by Janet Adams (Y) over the previously undefeated Jan Johns.

Tony Worthington (Ch) avoided a whitewash for Cheshire by beating Phil Bell, but Yorkshire won the rest to finish the match 9-1.

Elsewhere, Leicestershire beat Kent to take third place. Essex beat Surrey, and Lancashire drew with Bedfordshire to give the bottom two teams their first points in the competition.

The standard of play was extremely high over both weekend sessions and amply demonstrated that in our sport men and women can exhibit a high level of skill and athleticism – irrespective of age. And this was particularly on show when men and women combined in mixed doubles to impressive effect.

Here are some of the superb individual performances by men and women in both singles and doubles:

• Chris Rogers (Le) was undefeated in all 14 singles he played over the two weekends.
• Jan Johns (Ch) and Janet Adams (Y) both won 6 of their 7 singles matches
• Chris Rogers (Le) & Richard Heyes won 6 of their 7 men’s doubles
• Chris Rogers (Le) & Karen Smith won 6 of their 7 mixed doubles
• Janet Adams (Y) won 13 of her 14 mixed doubles (with various Yorkshire teammates)

Chris Rogers played in 28 individual matches over the two weekends – and won 26 of them. Likewise, Janet Adams played in 21 individual matches – and won 19 of them. These are impressive performances given the highly competitive nature of matches in the Premier Division.

The full set of results, player averages and final divisional table are on the County Championships website. Click here to see the final table. From the table, you can click on the links to navigate to more detailed information.