COME BACK OF THE DAY BY MELIHA BAIG

SONY DSCREPORT ON THE JUNIOR DIVISION 2C MATCHES PLAYED ON SATURDAY 21 OCTOBER 2017

At the NETTS Table Tennis Club at the Earls Colne Recreation Club Essex were the hosts to County Champs Junior Division 2C first round of matches on Saturday 21 October 2017. A full Division of eight teams with six teams from East Anglia, Northants the most northern, and two Sussex teams from the south coast. Last season’s relegated teams Sussex 2 and Hertfordshire would be looking to get back to Division 1 as would Suffolk and Essex 2 who both narrowly missed out on promotion last season. All matches were played on two tables.

The Essex 2 team was Abdul Raqueeb, Matthew Stringer, Jared Chelski, Jaz Harvey and ten year old Maliha Baig. At the time of selection Casey and Alana Mansfield’s grandfather was seriously ill and sadly he has very recently passed away. Figures in red brackets are the current Junior Rating points of the relevant players.

In the first round of matches Essex 2 played Cambridgeshire 2 and won the first two matches. Debutant Abdul (420) beat Josh Curry 3-1 while Jared defeated Matthew Pryke (300) 3-0. Jaz (284) beat Chloe Pryke 10, 8, 9 while on the other table Maliha had to play Emily Brown (258). Maliha won the first two games but then Emily gradually got back into the match and although Maliha had a chance to take the fourth game she finally lost -6, -10, 8, 10, 4. Matthew (420) then lost 3-0 to Zach Martillo (722) but Jared was taken to a deciding game by Josh and came back from a couple of points down to win that 12-10 to put Essex up 4-2. Maliha lost 3-1 to Chloe after winning the first game and Jaz lost to Emily 12-10 in the fourth game. Our Matthew beat their Matthew 8, 10, -8, 10 and with Abdul a comfortable win over the much higher ranked Zach a good start for the Essex Team with a 6-4 win.

In the next round Essex played Sussex 3, who only had one girl player. Matthew lost to Billy Keegan (433) 3,12,10 while Jared was taken to a fifth game by Ed Cozens and won that game 11-1. Abdul then beat Mathew Johnson (406) 3-0 while Maliha was involved in another marathon. 2-1 down she won the fourth game to 8 and the fifth game was either player’s to win until at 10-10 Maliha won the next two important points with attacking shots. Two more five game matches, Matthew losing to Ed and Abdul defeating Billy Keegan after getting the second game 18-16 after losing the first. Jared lost the last match after Jaz had beaten Sasha 3-0. A 7-3 win.

Essex met neighbours Suffolk in the third round with both teams leading the Table although Suffolk had the better sets difference. They had not played one another at Junior level for several seasons but Essex had the better record at Cadet level. However the Suffolk players were now ranked higher than the Essex players. Matthew and Jared both lost their opening matches 3-0 to Kian Burgess (865) and Luke Davies-Stokes (525) respectively. Jaz beat Lucy Curtis 3-0 and Maliha put up a strong performance against Holly McGerty (428) in losing 9, 8, 5. After Abdul lost to Daniel Shelley (547) and Matthew his second match, both 3-1, Jaz then produced her best performance of the day with a great -13, 6, 3, 5 win over the higher ranked Holly and not to be outdone Maliha took the first two games off Lucy 6 and 5. The third game did not go according to plan and she found herself 10-6 down. Remembering back to her first round match (did she?) where a two-nought lead was lost now was the time to attack. Four winning points later it was 10-10 and two more attacking points clinched it. A great come back at a crucial stage. I don’t think Lucy could believe it. Unfortunately Abdul and Jared could not achieve the same so Suffolk won 7-3 to retain top spot but Essex dropped to fourth in the Table.

For the last round of the day Northants 2 were the opposition. They were bottom of the Division having only won two sets all day so a maximum win was the target. Eight of the first nine matches were won 3-0, Jared needing a fourth game when he lost the third, and Abdul needed five games to beat Jacob Tattersall in the last match for the 10-0 win.

There is only two points between the top four teams. In the final round of three matches all four teams have to play two of the other three teams so the winner of the Division may not be determined until the very end of the last round of matches. I am not even going to have a guess as to who this may be. The final round of matches will be held at the same venue, The Earls Colne Recreation Club, on Saturday 2 December, with a playing time start of 10.30 am. I will send a reminder round nearer the time as I intend to keep the same team.

CURRENT TABLE              
  P W D L F A Pts
Suffolk 4 4 0 0 31 9 8
Sussex 2 4 3 1 0 34 6 7
Herts 4 3 1 0 30 10 7
Essex 2 4 3 0 1 26 14 6
Cambs 2 4 1 0 3 18 22 2
Beds 4 1 0 3 10 30 2
Sussex 3 4 0 0 4 9 31 0
Northants 2 4 0 0 4 2 38 0

 

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and
Junior Division 2C Organiser.

 

 

ESSEX WIN AFTER A TOUGH DEBUT FOR THE TEAM

SONY DSC

CADET COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS  –  DIVISION 1A, 7 OCTOBER 2017

The first round of County Cadet Division 1A matches were played at the Grange School, Christchurch, Dorset, on Saturday 7 October 2017 with four rounds of matches played. With long journeys ahead of them Daniel Zeffie and Olivia Jones travelled down the previous evening with their parents and coach Kieran Skeggs as did Maliha Baig and her father but by train. Daniel Young and Ben Sivathanu both had the early morning alarm call for the three hour journey. For all these players it would be the initiation to County Championship representation for Essex. A tough time for the team was expected as the three top ranked Essex Cadet players were unable to play. All matches were played on two tables. Red figures in brackets are the current ranking points of the player.

For their first match they had to play Dorset 1. For the opening two matches Daniel Zeffie (346) played Jack Trafford (837 and the highest ranked player Essex would play all day) and lost 3-1 whilst on the other table Ben Sivathanu (328) had to play Jordan Pang (322) with the match going the full distance before Ben lost 7, -11, -6, 8, -10 after having game points to win the second and last games. Maliha (280) then made the match score 1-2 when defeating Jess Moggeridge (240) 8, 5, 8 but Olivia (84) lost to Sophie Bargsai 3-1 after winning the first game. Sadly that was the only match that Essex won although Olivia’s match with Jess went to five games and Daniel Young (348) lost narrowly to Jack 7, 10, 11. Matt Stanfield (489) beat both Daniel Young and Ben.

For the second round of matches Essex had to play Devon who had been relegated from the Premier Division last season and intent on going straight back up after thrashing Middlesex 9-1 in the first round. Maliha and Olivia were no match for Gemma Kerr (957) and Mari Baldwin (933) losing all four matches easily 3-0. Daniel Zeffie achieved the only Essex win, a hard earned 8, 9, -13, 11 over the much higher ranked Jakub Piwowar (596). Daniel took a game off both Herbie Sage (714) and Oliver Cornish (566) and Ben managed one from Jakub.

For the next round bottom team Essex met the team just above them in the Table, Sussex 2, who had lost 8-2 to Surrey 2 and 7-3 to Middlesex. This was a real close match. Daniel Young beat Allessio Marocco (583) 13-11 in the fourth game after losing the first but on the other table Ben lost to Sam Watts (467) 3-0. Olivia had a marathon match with Ellesse Trangmar (119) ending in a nail biting 12, 6, -8, -2, 9 win whilst Maliha beat Sasha O’Halloran (98) 3-0 and went on to beat Ellesse 3-0 as well. Olivia had another stamina sapping match with Sasha but this time the nail biting did not work, Olivia losing the last three points and the deciding game 8-11. Daniel Zeffie’s match with Jacob Evans (615) also went to a deciding game which he lost -10, 6, -10, 8, -8 while Ben’s 3-1 win over Allessio was his first of the day. At this stage the match score was 5-3 to Essex. Daniel Young then lost 3-0 to Jacob and it was left to Daniel Zeffie to beat Sam 3-1 and gain Essex two precious points with the 6-4 win. Well done to the boys and Olivia for all winning matches against higher ranked opposition.

In the days final round the opponents were Glamorgan 2. At the time I knew that they had lost their two previous matches both 6-4 but what I did not know was that it was the girls who won the four in each match. Fortunately this match followed the same pattern. The boys won their six against Harry Jones (214), Evan O’Connor (193) and Elliott Jones, Daniel Young needing a fourth game in both his matches and Ben a fourth against Evan while Maliha and Olivia were no match for Lauren Stacey (363) and Grace Clemment.

For the remaining matches the Division has been split in to two halves, Essex, Surrey 2 and Middlesex 2 will play one another on 11 November at Earls Colne whilst the western half of the Division, Devon, Dorset 1, Glamorgan 2 and Sussex 2 have yet to agree a date and venue for their matches.

A great come back after the first two tough matches and a pleasing start to their hoped for Essex careers. Also thanks to coach Kieran Skeggs for mastering the task of watching matches on two tables at the same time and giving the players advice accordingly. I hope he enloyed his day as much as the players. I think a draw with Middlesex or Surrey (or both) will be sufficient for the team to avoid relegation bearing in mind that Sussex and Glamorgan both have to play Devon and Dorset.

CURRENT TABLE
P W D L F A Pts
Devon 3 3 0 0 26 4 6
Surrey 2 4 2 1 1 21 19 5
Dorset 1 3 2 1 0 20 10 5
Middlesex 2 4 2 0 2 18 22 4
Essex 4 2 0 2 14 26 4
Glamorgan 2 3 0 0 3 12 18 0
Sussex 2 3 0 0 3 9 21 0

 

 

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and Cadet Division 1A Organiser.