RAMSBOTTOM Cricket Club added to their status as arguably the most successful sporting team in the area when they won the Bolton Table Tennis League Premier Division.

Few eyebrows were raised when the all-conquering trio of Mark Ramsbottom, Mick Moir and Andy Jackson finished top of the pile, as it was the 10th year in a row they have won the title.

It is surely a record which few, if any, team could match on the local sporting scene down the years.

And the bad news for those who perennially succumb to Ramsbottom’s supremacy is that they have no plans to stop playing for some years yet.

Ramsbottom says the key to their success, which has also seen them win the Bury Table Tennis League for the last 11 years, is that they always play the same three players every week.

“Some teams bring in players but we always play the same three of us, always have done,” said the 49-year-old captain.

“We always make ourselves available because we want to win and keep winning.

“We enjoy it and have a laugh, but when we play we’re serious. We’re proud of having won the Bolton League for 10 years on the run and the Bury League for nine and we want to carry on winning them.

“A lot of teams have tried to knock us down. Some have signed top quality players to try and do it but we still win it.

“We’re like the Man United of table tennis. Everyone wants to beat us and we don’t want to let them. We want to keep winning the league every year if we can and I think we’ve got another few years in us yet.”

Ramsbottom pays tribute to the roles played by club chairman Brian Edwards and fellow official Wilton Holt – father of long-time former British number one Andrea – in the team’s success.

“They look after all the administration so we don’t have to,” he said. “Thanks to them we can just concentrate on playing.”

So, who is the best player of the three?

“I think Mike probably edges it,” said Ramsbottom. “He wins the top 10 every year, although I do beat him in tournaments on occasions.”

Moir is the youngest of the three at 29 and the last to join the team.

Ramsbottom and Jackson, aged 45, played in the same team when Moir joined the club.

“We took Michael under our wing,” said Ramsbottom. “Now he’s the best player.

“But we’re a team first and foremost and if one of us loses the others step up and win.”