A CLOSE END FOR THE DIVISION TITLE

 

The final round of Junior Division 2D matches were played at BATTS Harlow on 7 February 2015. At the start of the day the top three teams were equal on points although Berkshire had played one match more with Essex 2 and Bedfordshire a point behind the leaders. With Berkshire having played their boys in an incorrect order in the first two matches they were penalised four sets whilst Surrey 2 and Bedfordshire both gained a point when Sussex 3 were penalised for playing an ineligible player. With Sidney Dorn unavailable Daniel Berry was brought into the team.

 

In the first round of matches the Essex team, Ryan Gooday, Justin Jeffery, Daniel Berry, Zoe Davies and Gracie Edwards played Surrey 2. Any chance of honours quickly disappeared when they were soundly beaten 8-2 by the Surrey team. The boys lost all their matches to Jake Mitchell, Marley Cross and Richard Pelc and it was Zoe Davies who gained the two Essex wins, both 3-0 over Medha Verma and Federica Tazartes. Gracie lost 11-8 in the decider with Federica and, having won the first game lost the next three to Medha.

 

In the second round of matches Essex played joint leaders Berkshire. Once again the team had to rely on the girls for their wins. Zoe and Gracie each beat Katie Shepherd 3-0 and both beat Scarlet Jones 3-1. Justin and Daniel both lost their deciding games with Gus Thomis and Joshua Gallen respectively but the rest of the boys matches were lost 3-0.

 

The Essex team had a bye in the third round and in the last round of matches played bottom of the Table Wiltshire. Each of the boys won one match and Ryan, after going 2-0 up in his match with Shrey Bhardwaj, lost the decider 12-10 but went on to beat their number one Tom Barnett 3-0. For Justin and Daniel they both beat Scott Marshall 3-0. Zoe and Gracie had four easy wins over Constance Hung and Andrea Chan.

 

The Essex team thus finished fourth of the seven teams. Berks will rue the fact that they played their boys in the wrong order in the first two matches on Day 1, this robbing them of the title. For the Boys Berks Gus Thomis was unbeaten in the five matches he played in whilst Surrey’s Richard Pelc and Sussex’s Dexter Sherin only lost two of the twelve matches they each played. For the Girls Essex’s Zoe Davies and Oxon’s Kristelle Brook, a former Peniel schoolgirl, shared top spot, each winning nine of the eleven matches they played.

 

Over the two rounds of matches Sidney Dorn 1 win out of 6 matches, Ryan 4 out of 12, Daniel 1 out of 6, Justin 2 out of 12, Daniel 1 out of 6, Stephanie Cross 5 out of 5, Zoe 9 out of 11 and Gracie 4 out of 6.

 

Final Table

 

Arthur C. Clark

Essex Junior Match Secretary and

Junior Division 2D Organiser.

 

HAMPSHIRE TAKE THE JUNIOR DIVISION 1B TITLE

 

The final round of Junior County Championship Division matches was played at Cippenham on Saturday 7 March. After the first round of matches Essex 1 were in the middle of the Table with two points from two matches with Hampshire leading the Table on six points from three matches. Having played Sussex 2 and Kent back in November they now had to play Dorset 1, Cornwall 1, Devon 2 and Hampshire

 

 

In the first round of matches Essex 1 beat Dorset 1 8-2, the Essex team of Ryan Williams, Sam Hume, Luke Jones, Jane Li and Tiana Dennison the only unchanged team from the first round, but Dorset had to replace their top two players, Hugo Pang and Finn Morgan-Bayliss with Jacob Elliott and Sam Perez-Haynes. Ryan and Luke both won their opening matches in five games, Ryan 11, -6, -7, 6, 6 over Jacob and Luke a much closer 10, 9, -1, -12, 7 over Sam to give the Essex team an encouraging start. Jane and Tiana carried on winning all four of their matches against Lily Cherry and Emma Blatchford comfortably. Zac Dowling (ranked 51) was responsible for Dorset’s wins over Sam (213) 9, 9, -10, 7 and Ryan (63) 3-1.

 

In Round 2 Essex 1 and Cornwall 1 drew their match, Harry Nicholls (100) and Carl Baldry (72) unbeaten for Cornwall, Carl only just in defeating Sam Hume 11-9 in the decider and Ryan 11-8 in their decider from being 2-0 down. The match result determined by Dominique Wiilliam’s (50) matches, a 9 in the fifth win over Tiana (27) and an 8 in the decider loss to Jane (22). Both girls beat Paige Baker 3-0. Sam clinched the draw in the last match when defeating Dylan Tynan 3-0 easily. Luke had also beaten Dylan 3-0 but had lost to Harry 11-6 in the decider.

 

For the penultimate round of matches Essex played bottom of the Table Devon 2 and emerged with an 8-2 win. Ryan lost both his matches, three very close games with Joshua Millman and 9-11 in the fifth game with Jordon Bone (70). Sam also went to five games with Jordan but everything went right for him in the 11-4 decider. Luke also had a good win over the much higher ranked Joshua winning it 15-13 in the fifth game. This result meant that both Devon 2 and Cornwall1 were relegated and enabled the Essex team to draw level on points with Kent in second place. With the other two results these also ensured that Hants had won the Division with a match in hand.

 

That match in hand was against the Essex team. With Hants playing three of the top five ranked boy players in the Division (Ben Cawston, Jimmy Yeung and Arthur Caltabiano) and the top ranked girl it was unrealistic to think that Essex could finish runners up. This proved to be the case with a 9-1 defeat. However the Essex players played well with Hants only winning two matches 3-0. Jane was the Essex winner defeating Katie Holt -6, 4, 14, 10. Against Amy Blagbrough (15) Tiana went 2-0 up with most of her attacking shots on the table but sadly unable to maintain the momentum.

 

Ryan 1 out of 8 and not having played much since Xmas due to exams, Sam 4 out of 8, Luke 5 out of 8, Jane 7 out of 8 (second highest girl) and Tiana 5 out of 8.

 

Final Table

Arthur C. Clark

Essex Junior Match Secretary and

Junior Division 1B Organiser.