A very comfortable victory for Academy A. Fielding their top players they were always going to be too strong for Tackleway B. That said, Roger Pingram played exceptionally well on the night, displaying all his best trickery and guile to overcome former Hastings champion Dave Butler. With his combination rubbers, Roger pulled out his full repertoire of shots - from his beautifully angled-bat counter hitting he was often able to absorb Dave’s huge power loops while throwing in some fabulous flat chop smashes of his own to hold on for a close but three straight win.

Roger also took talented teenager Matt Davis to five sets and Rose Rainton (22 times Hastings champion) to four.

Mike Funnell found the class gap a bit too much and one deuce set and an 11-9 reverse was about as close as he got.

Division two stand-in Jacob McCarthy gave a very good account of himself in his first topflight match. He really went for it against European over 50s doubles champion Rose Rainton, exchanging loops and smashes with parity before going down - after taking the third set - in the fourth. A great performance from the 20-year-old who surely has a bright future in the game.