THE new Malvern Table Tennis season has started, again under the sponsorship of Brewin Dolphin Securities, with the two new teams in division three meeting in their opening match.

The Hop Pickers from Ledbury, two of whose players are returning to the league after a break, just scraped a win by 6-4 over a team from the coaching sessions, Poolbrook Lieutenants.

Nick Haggar won three, Geoff Fletcher two and Andrew Hepworth-Smith one for the Hop Pickers and Craig Preece two and Tom James one for the Lieutenants, with Craig teaming up with Alasdair Maxwell-Stewart to win the doubles.

When old adversaries Crackpots B and CSSC Nomads met, Ted Cates and Stan Ginn won all their singles and Ted played with Alan Forsdike to win the doubles. Ian Backhurst, Geoff Davies and Rob Redden each won a set for the Nomads.

Dukes Way Dynamos and Manor Park Allsorts ended their match with the very last game giving each team two points.

Alex Lindner started the season in the same form as he ended last year by winning all three sets and James Mulka and Lizzy Gorton chipped in with one win each.

For the home team, Collette James and Vivian Tolley each won two singles and Collette played with Charlie Burford to win the doubles.

In the singles, Geoff Burford was unlucky to end up without a win as he lost two sets by 9-11 in the fifth game and his first two games with Alex went 11-13 and 10-12 against him.

RESULTS: Hop Pickers TT Club 6, Poolbrook Lieutenants 4; Dukes Way Dynamos 5, Manor Park Allsorts 5; Crackpots B 7, CSSC Nomads 3