Sussex No.1 Ritchie Venner regained his status as the king of the county when he retained the prestigious Seaman Cup at Horsham.

It is the tenth time he has won the trophy, which is contested by the top eight Sussex men.

In the final, Venner countered the vicious top spin created by Worthing's Peter Bartram to win 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7.

Earlier, Bartram scorched past Worthing team mate Andy Walker 11-5, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10 in the semi-finals, while Venner beat Crawley's Fawzi Yousif 4-0.

Top seed Sally Weston, playing on her home tables, crashed to defeat in the final of the Nicholls Cup for the top eight Sussex women.

The winner of the trophy for the fourth time was Sussex champion Rose Rainton who, like Venner, has not played her best table tennis in the second half of the campaign.

In a thrilling final, Rainton surged through the first two games 11-7, 11-9, before the Horsham girl bounced back to win the third game 12-10.

But Rainton was not to be denied. She missed an easy smash in the fourth game but went on to win the decider 11-7 after Weston had taken an early lead.