Essex Press Office

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

Junior Match Secretary Arthur Clark Reports on the Junior County Premier matches played on Saturday/Sunday 27th/28th March 2010

The second round of Junior Premier County Championship matches was held at the Wood Green High School, Wednesbury on the weekend of Saturday/Sunday 27/28 March with two matches on Saturday afternoon and two on Sunday. After the first round of matches at Cippenham back in October the Essex First team were in fourth place, three points behind the leaders Sussex 1 and Kent 1. Following the team problems of the first round matches Jared Patel was available and Luca Mariano brought into the team to replace Oscar Selfridge who withdrew because of school work commitments.

With the rearranged Junior Division 1A first round of matches taking place at Draycott and Long Eaton Paul Collier and Paul Mulley took over the management of the team until I was able to arrive. It did not look as though much management was required with our players Jared Patel, Matthew Mulley, Luca Mariano, Nicole Sydorenko and Evangeline Collier eager to take on and thrash the Yorkshire team 10-0. Only Luca needed a fifth game to overcome Reece Lo 11-9 in the decider with Jared being taken to four by James Atkins and Edward Fambely and Edward also took Matthew the same distance,

The second match against Hampshire had reached its halfway stage when I arrived from Draycott with Essex 4-1 up, Hampshire not being the force they had been over the last three years. Evangeline had lost to Tressa Armitage 9, 11, -4, 6, Tressa ranked 250 points above her and Tressa was also later to beat Nicole 3-1. Matthew beat Pierce Strelsh 3-0 and Jared and Luca both had 3-1 wins over Jonathon Evans and Kieran Wells respectively. Evangeline had a marathon battle (in time as well as points) with Becky House before winning 10, 10, -12, 10 and no doubt glad it did not go to a fifth game. At the end of the day Essex were still in fourth place.

After the loss of an hour’s sleep with the clock change, and possibly more following the late evening meal would the players be awake enough for the morning match. More so was the decision of which girls to play in the match against Devon, who were struggling against relegation. With the Senior team having no ladies for their Sunday matches the two second team girls, Ify Okafor and Ella Patel had also travelled from Draycott to Wednesbury so there were four girls between the two teams. With the Senior team still in second place in their Division the decision was made that the first team girls should play for the Senior team who would be playing a Cleveland team including England number one Paul Drinkhall. In the match the boys won their six matches easily enough, only Luca needing a fourth game against Ben Snow and Matthew, having lost the first to Ben 15-13 taking the next three games 2, 6 and 7. For the two girls Ella was closest to a win losing 12-10 in the fifth to Naomi Jackson after being 2-1 up and Ify had a game point to go 2-1 up over the highly ranked Victoria Smith. Match Result 6-4 to Essex. With the results of matches on the other tables a bigger decision now had to be made. The Essex Senior team had suffered a heavy defeat to Cleveland and were therefore out of the running for second place. In the Junior room Essex had moved up to third place and had a strong boys Sussex team to play who were one point above them in second place. Sussex only needed a draw but if Essex could win they could achieve the runners up position. Essex’s girls were ranked above the Sussex girls so on paper a close result would be expected with the result in doubt. To their possible disappointment the first team girls were recalled from the Senior team and Ify and Ella transferred to Senior team to play Derbyshire.

In the opening match Matthew had to take on England number 17 Da Shuai Zhang. A fighting performance from Matthew in taking the third game and 7-2 up in the fourth there were hopes of a deciding set. But Da Shang fought back to take the set to 9. Luca then had to play the rapidly improving Mark Scutts ranked 450 points below him but could not make the rankings tell, losing 5, 4, 11. With Essex hoping for a share of the opening boy’s matches 0-2 down was disappointing. However Nicole got Essex back in to the match with steady defence and the occasional counter attacking shot to beat Helen Rutherford 6, 10, 6. Jared couldn’t get his game going against Helshan Weerasinghe losing to three 4’s. Evangeline went 2-0 up against Chelsea Furnival with controlled attacking play but was then pegged back in the next two games 8 in each as mistakes set in. With more coaching advice from Nicole Evie took an early lead in the fifth game and with Chelsea now making mistakes under pressure went on to win 11-5. Matthew then with the determination and attacking play he had shown playing Da Shuai completely dominated the match with Mark, winning 7, 8, 8 to square the match at 3-3. Evie took the first off Helen 11-2 but surrendered the second with five consecutive mistakes after leading 10-7.She put that minor blip behind her winning the next two games 6 and 8 to give Essex a lead in the match for the first time. Jared took the first off Da Shuai to 4 but could not contain the power of the shots being rained at him in the next three games, losing 7,7,8.With the shoreline at 4-4 Sussex needed to win just one of he remaining two matches whilst Essex needed both. Nicole put the pressure on Sussex by comfortably defeating Chelsea with an 8, -8, 6, 3 win, Chelsea losing her way totally in the fourth game. Thus the final match would decide the destiny of the Runners Up medals. Helshan powered his way through the first, winning 11-4 but Luca fought back to win the next two 8, 9 which included some terrific back of court attacking rallies by both players. With all the matches completed on the other tables it was great to see so many staying to watch the match. With news of what was at stake there were also players and spectators from the Senior’s Hall watching, one of which was heard to say ‘this is better than anything we have seen in our hall’. The game to win a match is always the hardest to get and this match proved the point. Helshan built up an early lead from the attacking rallies and was the more consistent player in this game eventually winning 11-6. Thus everything to play for in the deciding match and who would crack first. From 2-0 down Luca powered his way to a 5-3 lead at the change round with some magnificent forehand counter attacking play. Helshan then hit back with the help of his time out to set up an 8-6 lead but Luca then countered this with his coach’s time out to bring the score to 9-9. Two more counter attacking rallies with Helshan’s final shot in each missing the end of the table by millimetres sent the Essex supporters into ecstatic applause and whoops of joy. A great team performance following their return to the premier division and congratulations to all the players who played on both weekends, the coaching advice between themselves and their team spirit. Afterwards I learnt that this was the first time that Luca had ever beaten the higher ranked Helshan so his win was even more satisfying for himself.

Whilst all this was going on in the Juniors hall Ella and Ify were plunged into the deep end in the adjacent Seniors hall. With instructions of ‘don’t worry, go for it. Clive will give you advice’ neither looked out of place in the elite company, Ella taking a game of Jane Vickers whilst Ify had a game point to go 2-1 up against Daria Dzierbicka before missing out 6-11, 11-8, 12-14, 9-11.

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary.