| In the Southend Premier Division Rawreth C welcomed Steve Tilson back into the side and his three wins along with maximums from Bruce Kettle and Babul McLeod saw the the overpower Hadleigh Forum A 9-0. The closest Forum came to a win was a 5-set loss for Dave Bassett to Kettle. A second whitewash game in the shape of Thorpe Bay A proving far too strong for a two-man Rayleigh Mill side. Paul Sayer, John Poysden and Mark Stones were in fine form only dropping two legs on the evening to Rob Harris and Steve Maltby. Rawreth A just fell short of a 9-0 victory as they beat Brand Identity 8-1. Yas Mauthoor and man of the match Kevin Read went unbeaten against Simon Jacob, David Jacob and Steve Muth with Zayd Mauthoor being denied his hattrick by a good 5 set win for Simon Jacob. Another 8-1 scoreline this week came in a very good performance from Thorpe Bay B against a good Irons A side. Gurj Bhambra and Keith Willett were in good form to get the better of Dave Bowles, Richard Brown and John Monk and Kieran Skeggs beating Brown and Bowles but losing out in a tight 5-setter versus Monk. Division 1 Leaders Invicta A consolidated their top position with a 6–3 win at home against Hockley C, thanks to a hard-fought maximum from Tony Ayliffe. All three of his successes came in the fifth set, the closest being 11–9 in the fifth against young Aaryan Vatsa. Tony was assisted by two wins from Lee Marson and one from David Barnes. For Hockley, their team of Aaryan, Oliver George and Brian Bissenden each had one success. Brand Identity B keep up the pressure on the leaders, winning 5–4 away at two-man Rawreth E. Yet again Barrie Delf was unbeaten. The home side’s Gary McCarthy and Garry Hartgrove won two each and were left wondering what might have been if only they’d had a third player. Hadleigh Forum B are in third place, despite losing 6 – 3 at home to Mapledene. Steve Woodley was the visitor’s POM with a hat trick. Andy Seaman added another two and Mike Johnston one. For Forum, Mick Tappenden won two and Anthon Ranjit-Singh one .Stanford Le Hope A recorded their first win of the season overcoming Lentern 5 – 4 at home. There were no maximums, but two wins apiece for Saad Abdullah and Pat White, with a single from Peter Weatherall, got Stanford over the line. Ian Cranstone and Peter Lucraft won two each for Lentern A but a Tarun Goel hat trick proved the difference between Hockley B and Canvey A. Home side Hockley also had two wins from David Colwill to thank for a 5 – 4 victory. Ray Wilson was Canvey’s best player, winning two, whilst Peter Cray and Lee McGonagle got one each. Division 2. Just two games to report on again this week but significant for different reasons.The first was the top of the table clash between Wakering and RESSC and if anyone doubted RESSC’s potential to win this league then that doubt has surely been allayed. Their multi-talented team of vastly experienced players brushed aside second placed Wakering 7-2 with only Zac England providing the resistance beating Richard Gill and Ron Coutts. Otherwise, Richard and Ron and player of the match Mike Worship were rarely troubled albeit Mike was taken to five sets by Paul England. With five games played RESSC are now nine points clear of Wakering and already odds on to win the division.The second match was between mid-table Selbourne and bottom of the table Rawreth F. Although still bottom after a narrow 5-4 win they are in fact unbeaten having won just the two games they have played. This in no small part to the machinations of the fixture list which meant they had no games at all for the first four weeks. Rawreth do, in fact, have a potentially strong squad but their players commitments in other leagues will ultimately determine their success in this one. On the night they were forced to field just two players, Alan Dadswell and Mike Hayes, and they proved just too strong for the Selbourne team of Andy Roff, Richard Reibold and Jenne Seibolt. Mike won all his games in straight sets whilst Alan succumbed just to Jenne in five sets. Strange stats in this division then where the bottom team are unbeaten whilst Selbourne, sitting a healthy sixth, have won just one of their six games. Division 3. Hockley ‘D’ visited Invicta ‘C’ in what was described as a really good match with some hard-fought games and emerged as 5-4 winners. A maximum from Jeremy Giffin and a double from Ron Rogerson secured the win for Hockley, but that win was only confirmed in the final game when Jeremy took on Trisha Winter, who was also in search of a hat-trick. In the end, a straight sets win for Jeremy won the match and made it 7 wins out of 7 for his side. Megazone kept up their pursuit of Hockley ‘D’ at the top of the table but had to work hard for their 5-4 victory away at Canvey ‘C’. Amar Al-Soufi and Jonathan Allen each recorded two wins and there was a single win for Graham Back in his first outing of the season. A brace apiece from Trevor Hayes and Che Martin was not quite enough for Canvey. Michael Keeble and, player of the match Steve Lennox, both recorded maximums as Invicta ‘B’ were convincing 7-2 winners over Hullbridge ‘B’, Sarah Ball adding the other point. For Hullbridge, there was a win apiece for Jo Hart and Max Parker, but no luck on the night for Max Mayo Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ could only muster 2 players for their home match with Stanford ‘C’ and a 9-0 defeat was the outcome. The Stanford trio of Andrew Jessop, Vaughan Chambers and David Arnett were too strong on the night and dropped only one set each. Although Forum have recruited several new players this season, this is the second occasion that they have only been able to field two players and, as a result, they are dropping dangerously close to the foot of the table. Finally, a couple of results from matches played earlier in the season, both involving the Rawreth Junior side. In the first, their opponents were Invicta ‘C’, where a hat-trick by Trisha Winter was backed up by 2 wins each for Keith Baxter and Jonathan Gould in a7-2 win. For Rawreth, there was a win each for Ellery Pearson and Mel Jones. Rawreth Juniors other match, against Hullbridge ‘B’, was a much closer affair. With the scores level at 4-4, Hullbridge’s Blake Stewart, (11) took on Rawreth’s Thomas Chan, (13). In a close 3-setter, Blake held his nerve to win 11/9, 12/10, 11/9 and record his first win of the season and, more importantly, win the match for his team. The other points for Hullbridge came from Jeff Gritzman and a maximum from Dan Stewart. Ellery Pearson and Ellis Hartopp both picked up 2 wins for Rawreth. |
