Essex Press Office

Reported by Steve Kerns
Press & Publicity Officer
Essex County Table Tennis Association

Essex Senior Match Secretary John Andrews reports from BATTS. See the Final table here.

As seems to be the norm these days for County matches all teams in Senior Division 1B agreed to play at a central venue. After a little debate because of distances involved Essex hosted the event at the newly refurbished BATTS venue in Old Harlow. It looked a tough division on paper with Cornwall, Devon 1&2, Essex 2, Glamorgan, Hertfordshire, Middlesex 2 and Sussex 2 taking part. Devon 1 were Premier division champions just a few seasons ago so were looking for a quick return to the top division and Cornwall have been close to promotion for a couple of years. Maintaining our status in the division whilst giving some players experience of playing in a tough senior division was the Essex goal.

The culmination of the weekend was going to be quite dramatic but not involving Essex unfortunately. 7 matches were scheduled for the weekend so it was a tough schedule for the players. Essex turned out a strong squad, Clive Carthy, Martin Kubrt, Matt Spero, Barbara Izyk (Sunday only), Gill Locke (Saturday only) and Evie Collier. With the exception of Gill all these players have had outings for the Essex Senior first team in the Premier either this season or in recent years.

Our first match was against Middlesex 2 and a long match ensued which was to be the cause of day one running some 50 minutes late by the end of the day. 5 of the 10 matches went to 5, 4 matches went to 4 leaving just one taken three straight with Clive Carthy accounting for Darek Zurowski by the closest of margins 11-9, 11-9, 12-10. Added to Clive's win were Martin Kubrt taking two against Darek Zurowski and James Sprackling, Matt Spero also accounted for James in a five set thriller 15/13 in the fifth. Gill Locke did well, coming from two down against Sarah Horsnell to take the last three 9, 7 and 5. The reverse had happened to Evie Collier against Sarah. Evie took the first two 11/9 and 11/7 and then was unable to stop the fight back from Sarah, losing out 7, 11, 7.

Cornwall were our next opponents. They had been division runners up last year to Berkshire and were no doubt looking for another chance of Premier division Table Tennis. They had accounted for Glamorgan in their first match 8-2 and were quick off the mark against Essex taking the first three matches. However Clive Carthy steadied the ship with a straight sets win against Adrian Noott and this was followed up with fine wins from Evie Collier against Shirley Luckhurst, also three straight and Martin Kubrt in a real battle against Matthew Trevorrow coming through in 5, 11/9, 12/10, 9/11, 9/11, 14/12. So we were back to all square, but Cornwall hit straight back to take the next three matches, not without a fight however. Rachel Trevorrow needing five games to get the better of Evie Collier with a similar five set victory for Darren Reed over Clive Carthy. Matt Spero was to win one final match against Adrian Noott to bring the score to 6-4 in Cornwalls favour. It could so easily have been the other way.

Sussex 2 had been involved in two close matches with Herts and Middlesex 2, losing both 6-4. So Essex started the match confident of a win. Clive Carthy came out of the blocks fast against Rory Scott taking the first two games in no time, 4 and 5. However Clive seemed to tire and Rory roared his way through the next three games 6, 10, 6. Matt Spero levelled the match but not without a fight against Mark Scutts, going the full distance. Sussex took the lead once again with Yolanda King accounting for Evie Collier. Martin Kurbrt then had his third five setter of the day this time against Gary Wilson taking it 12-10 in the fifth. This set up a good run of Essex wins with Gill Locke, Matt Spero, Evie Collier and Clive Carthy all winning their matches to take the score to 6-2 in favour of Essex. Yolanda King stopped the rot for Sussex and it was left to Martin Kubrt to wrap up a 7-3 result for Essex with a win against Mark Scutts.

At this point in proceedings Matt Spero thought he had finished for the day. Clive Carthy took great delight in telling a weary Matt to return for the final match of the day against Devon 2. Matt then showed how weary he was by losing the two matches Devon 2 were to notch up against Essex!

Day 2 saw a change in the Essex line-up with Barbara Izyk replacing Gill Locke. Devon 1 were our first opponents. We slipped to 6-2 although we had chances to take some of the early games with Clive Carthy just losing out in five to Mike Hugh and Evie Collier also losing a close five setter against Sally Smith. Evie played a part in Barbara's first match against Vicky Smith with some well timed advice in a time-out in the fifth set to see Barbara through 11/8. Barbara also accounted for Sally Smith in four games. Martin Kubrt and a refreshed Matt Spero took the other wins for Essex.

Hertfordshire were the next side in the frame. Just two losses here, with Clive Carthy and Matt Spero both losing to Guy Ben-Aroma. There were good wins for Evie Collier and Barbara against Gabriella Hornikova. 8-2 the final score.

We were heading for the final round of matches. Essex were going to finish mid table and our final match with Glamorgan would help to decide if we finished above or below Hertfordshire. Of course Herts would have to beat Middlesex to improve their chances. Of real interest however was the clash between Cornwall & Devon 1. Cornwall were unbeaten and headed the division. Devon 1 had lost to Middlesex 2. Cornwall would be champions and heading for the Premier if they won or drew, a 6-4 loss would also be enough thanks to a better sets difference. Devon needed at least a 7-3 win and then look for games difference to see them through.

Essex first against Glamorgan. Essex often end their campaigns with a draw and so it proved on this occasion with neither side dominating proceedings. Martin Kubrt and Barbara Izyk took maximums including a fine win for Barbara against Naomi Wilson who has a dummy England ranking of 20. Evie Collier also showed a great deal of fight against Naomi going down in four games 13/11, 10/12, 10/12, 10/12. Evie picked up the fifth win to secure the draw for Essex with a four set win against Claire Ford.

Now back to the Cornwall Devon match. Looking at the players respective rankings it would be a close match to call but on paper a draw looked the most likely outcome. Darren Reed got Cornwall off to the best of starts with a 3 set win against Mike Hugh. Toby Mattacott immediately evened things up with a tight 4 set win over Matthew Trevorrow. Rachel Trevorrow then got the better of Sally Smith once again in four sets to take Cornwall into the lead once again. From this point Devon put together a winning streak of 4 matches to take a 5-2 lead and with the exception of the match between Rich Marshall and Adrian Noott they were all 3 straight. Vicky Smith beating Martha Travis, Mike Hugh beating Matthew Trevorrow and Vicky Smith beating Rachel Trevorrow. A critical match now loomed Cornwalls Darren Reed against Devons Rich Marshall. Stopping the Devon run was vital. A battle ensued with Darren taking a 2 sets to 1 lead only to see the win slip from his grasp game 8 in the fourth and game 9 in the fifth. Devon now led 6-2. The next match was also a real battle, Sally Smith against Martha Travis. Sally took this three straight but they were hard fought games 11/9, 11/9, 11/6. Adrian Noott took the final match for Cornwall against Toby Mattacott 12/10 in the fifth. So with a 7-3 win Devon then had to wait for a count back on games to see who had won the division. See the table below for the answer.

Essex Player averages

Clive Carthy - 6 from 14 - 43%
Martin Kubrt - 12 from 14 - 86%
Matt Spero - 6 from 14 - 43%
Gill Lock - 4 from 8 - 50%
Barbara Izyk - 6 from 6 - 100%
Evie Collier - 7 from 14 - 50%

John Andrews
Essex Senior Match Secretary