CADET COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

DIVISION 1B, 21 MARCH 2015

 

ESSEX ARE THE DIVISION 1B CHAMPIONS

 

The final round of County Cadet Division 1B matches were played at the Ellenborough Table Tennis Club, Enfield on Saturday 21 March 2015 with three rounds of matches to be played. After the first round of matches at Cippenham only one point separated the top four teams. No team had won all of its matches so Buckinghamshire 1 and Essex led the Table with 7 points each, Bucks with the better sets difference, closely followed by Surrey 2 and Norfolk with 6 points.

 

In the opening round of matches Bucks 1 and Essex had to play one another and the result of this match would go a long way to determining final table positions. Bucks were without their number one player, Ben Naylor-Smith, and Essex were without Zoe Davies who was playing in the Burnham Closed Tournament but had number 9 Cadet ranked Tiana Dennison available. All matches were played on two tables and Essex made a good start with Sam Hume defeating Sam Cartwright 3-0 and Syed beating James Perks -10, 7, 13, 7 in the opening two matches. Gracie Edwards (ranked 35) then had a good win over Shristi Ghosh (20) and with Tiana Dennison and Jack Stockdale (56) having to take five games each to beat Jemma Walker (22) and Shae Thakker (96) respectively the Team raced into a 5-0 lead. Bucks won the next two, Jemma Walker just getting the better of Gracie at 9 in the deciding game and Sam Cartwright (88) defeating Syed Hussain (167) at 8 in their deciding game after Syed had won the fourth game 18-16. Sam Hume beat Shae 3-0, but was four points down at one stage midway in the third game before winning it 13-11. Tiana and Jack won the remaining two matches for an 8-2 win. With matches to come against the bottom two teams Essex were in the driving seat. Surrey 2 and Norfolk both won their matches to stay a point behind.

 

For the second round of matches Essex played Bucks 2 and Joe Walker came in to replace Syed, where they strengthened their leading position with a 10-0 win, Joe winning his matches in the fourth game whereas all the other matches were won 3-0. In the battle for the runners up position Surrey 2 beat rivals Norfolk 6-4 to stay a point behind the Essex team.

 

In the last round of matches Essex played bottom of the Table Bedfordshire and Syed came back into the team to replace Jack. Essex quickly secured the Division title when Gracie beat Rebekah Barry. Syed and Joe both needed four games to beat Kieran Harris, for Syed 15-13 after two match points at 10-8, as Essex went on to win 10-0.. Surrey 2 gained a narrow 6-4 win over Bucks 1 to take the runners up position.

 

Over the two rounds of matches Sam Hume 11 wins out of 12, (only losing to Norfolk’s Louis Moyes who had remained unbeaten), Jack Stockdale 8 out of 10, Syed Hussain 5 out of 10 and Joe Walker 7 out of 10. For the girls Gracie Edwards 9 wins out of 11, Zoe Davies 5 out of 7 and Tiana Dennison 4 out of 4.

 

Mine, and the player’s thanks, to John Dennison for coaching the Team in the Bucks 1 match and to Stuart Gibbs for racing across Essex for coaching the team in the remaining two matches.

 

FINAL TABLE

 

 

Arthur C. Clark

Essex Junior Match Secretary and Cadet Division 1B Organiser.