TANKARD Dental are the Sunraysia Table Tennis winter top-grade pennant premiers after upsetting Mallee Bearings this week.
Wayne Carmichael continued his good form for Tankard, winning his three singles matches, but it was his team’s number two, Jackson Murphy, who proved to be the difference.
Mallee Bearings went in to the match favourites after only losing two of their 15 matches this season and defeating Tankard in their semi-final encounter.
The first match of the grand final featured Bearings’ number three Rohan Reimers, the most improved player this season, up against Tankard number three Paul Kealley.
What a thrilling contest this was, with Kealley racing out to a two-games-to-nil lead and then leading 7-2 in the third.
Kealley looked to have an outstanding win in his sights but Reimers had other ideas and in an amazing turnaround grabbed the third and fourth narrowly and went on to win 13-15 7-11 11-9 11-9 11-6.
The next match was another lengthy five-setter in which Murphy took to the table against the experienced Gavin Carmichael.
It was one of the matches that shaped the result of the grand final.
Murphy started well, taking the first game with some powerful forehand drives. Carmichael fought back to win the second and third narrowly, showing great maturity Murphy then outplayed his opponent to win 11-9 9-11 9-11 11-8 11-8.
Tankard Dental then took a 2-1 lead when skipper Wayne Carmichael downed Mark Dorman in straight sets.
These two have had many finals battles over the past three decades.
Despite being early in the grand final, the first doubles was now crucial for Mallee Bearings and it was Mark Dorman and Gavin Carmichael who were able to reverse a second-semi-final loss against Tankard pair Wayne Carmichael and Jackson Murphy, this time winning in a tight four-set match 11-6 4-11 11-8 13-11.
It made the scoreline two rubbers all.
The next match was the first of a block of three singles and it was Mallee Bearings skipper Gavin Carmichael taking the points in four sets over Paul Kealley.
It meant the Bearings trio took a 3-2 lead.
But at this point Tankard Dental took control of the decider, winning four rubbers in succession to finish the match.
Wayne Carmichael defeated Rohan Reimers as expected, and then it was Jackson Murphy who again played well to control the match against Mark Dorman.
Again, his stinging forehands were a feature.
In a late-season match Murphy had defeated Gavin Carmichael and Dorman, resulting in a win for his team.
In the second semi-final he could not repeat that, but what a time to again score victories over these two far more experienced players.
The second doubles was crucial for Mallee Bearings and their pair of Dorman and Reimers went oh so close, leading 9-8 in the fifth.
However, it wasn’t to be, with opponents Wayne Carmichael and Paul Kealley taking the match 11-9 in the final game.
Tankard held a 5-3 lead with siblings Wayne and Gavin Carmichael taking to the table.
Tankard skipper Wayne took control early and Gavin was never in the hunt/
Wayne enjoyed a resounding victory and in doing so gave Tankard Dental the match 6-3 in a powerful display.
In what has been a long and very successful career, this was Wayne Carmichael’s 14th winter premiership, while for teammates Murphy and Kealley it was their first flag.
Murphy has been a long-time player in pennant 1 and, given his form on the night, it was a well deserved first premiership while this was the first season for Paul Kealley who had offered good support to his two teammates.
Grand final results:
PENNANT 1: Tankard Dental 6 (Wayne Carmichael 3, Jackson Murphy 2) d Mallee Bearings 3 (Gavin Carmichael, Rohan Reimers 1)
PENNANT 2 Weightmans Packaging 5 (Quentin Clark 2, Andrew Jones, Tom Morrison 1) vs Max Miller Carpets 5 (Daniel Jansen, Jeremy Corrin 2) to be completed due to power outage
PENNANT 3: Regional Taxation Services 6 (Shaun Gifford 3, Rodney Galvin 1) d Tankard Dental 3 (Steve Pongrac, Luca Capizzoto, Steve Parker 1)
PENNANT 4: Weightmans Packaging 6 (Glenn Leeson 3, Chelsey Avers 2) d Dunkley Scales 4 (Dianne Hannig 2, Katrina Clifford 1)
