The Harold Wilcock Hard Bat Memorial Tournament is held annually in memory of the late Harold Wilcock who was a keen exponent of the 'hard bat' style of play that dominated table tennis prior to sponge being allowed between bat and rubber.

It's a unique tournament in that all players play with exactly the same equipment, and it usually draws a good number of entrants.

The key element is that it's a fun event - but at the same time it is competitive.

This year the event drew 22 players, who were split into six groups of three, and one group of four, with the top two from each group going through to the main draw knockout stage, and the remaining players playing a consolation event.

The group stages, round of 16, and quarter-finals were played as the best-of-three sets, and semi-finals and final as the best of five sets.

The consolation matches were all the best of three sets.

In the groups there were no great upsets.

In the round of 16, winners of groups A and B had a bye to the quarter-finals.

Malc Lewis had a fabulous win over last year's finalist John Magnall 11/8,7/11, 11/8.

Becky Taylor defeated Amit Lanin 12/10,11/6, while Neil Ronan beat Jon Taylor-Burt 11/7, 11/9, and Brian Crellin overcame Keith Herrington 11/2, 11/6.

Finally, Chris Holmes calmly saw off the tenacious challenge of Malcolm Lambert 10/12,11/9,11/3, and Dan Levine defeated Geoff Ball 11/9, 10/12, 11/6.

In the quarter-finals, Scott Lewis beat Levine 11/7,11/4, and Crellin trounced Holmes 11/6,11/5.

Malc Lewis maintained his good form with a notable victory over Taylor 11/8, 11/6.

Duncan Alexander was then pitched against Ronan.

The latter did well to take the first end 9/11, but was then pegged back by the highly ranked island player 11/7, 11/6.

In the semi-finals, it was another instalment of son versus father with Scott edging past dad Malc 11/8, 11/6, 11/13, 11/5.

In the other semi, Alexander managed to see off Crellin in a close match 4/11, 11/9, 12/10, 11/7.

The final was yet another enthralling contest between top players Scott Lewis and Alexander.

The former was seeking revenge over Duncan after his island team colleague pipped him in the final of the divisionals competition earlier this season.

Those who witnessed this match may have thought these two were playing with their own bats, such was the quality of attacking play - even with the very basic hard bats provided.

Lewis plays with short pimples on his forehand in league play, so this may just have given him an edge in this match, but either way his play was incredible, and he pulled through 11/7, 11/13, 11/6, 11/5.

In the consolation event, Mike Levine overcame Tom Taylor-Burt in the quarter-finals and Margaret Forsyth beat Darren Shaw.

Liav Lanin beat Geoff Burchill, and Martyn Howard defeated Anil Paul.

In the semis, Levine beat Forsyth 11/7, 7/11, 11/7 and Howard beat Lanin 11/6, 11/4.

In the final of the consolation event, Levine beat Howard 5/11, 11/6, 11/6.

Thanks must go to Kevin Drewry for kindly arranging and coordinating another successful tournament.

KEN MITCHELL