Mapledene A have taken the Burnham & District Table Tennis League by storm these last few weeks setting out a stall that has installed them as title favourites at all the local bookmakers. This week was their best yet as they blew away the opposition from Stow Maries with a comprehensive 10-0 turnover. Not overly surprising though given the trio of Reece Seddon, George Reeves and Babul Mcleod. Woodham A racked up an impressive 6-4 victory over Cold Norton A to maintain their unbeaten season so far. Fielding new signing Chris Penrose certainly helped the cause as he recorded a very straightforward debut hat-trick and then combined with captain Dan Piglet for a tight doubles point. These 4 Penrose points and Piglets brace of wins was enough to get the revitalised Woodham A over the winning line. Not so much luck for the Woodham B side who travelled to Champions Fambridge with a depleted side following a very late withdrawal. Fambridge were just far too strong and won all 7 matches to add to the forfeited singles for a comprehensive 10-0 win that helps them on their march towards a championship showdown. The evening started ok for Woodham as David Penrose took Paul Sayer to deuce in the opening leg of the first match – but that was about as good as it got for the Woodham duo. Hard-hitting Gurj Bhambra was the evening’s player of the match on countback – but well deserved for his all-round attacking masterclass. Mapledene B were surprisingly held to a draw against Cold Norton C. Simon Jacob took all his singles for Mapledene, whereas his wingmen Colin Chatfield and Keith Willett couldn’t quite display the form of last season as they could only chip in with a single win each. Perhaps Jacob should have been allowed to play in the doubles as his non-selection seems to have been an expensive oversight as the Cold Norton pairing of Kim Shead and Arron Chadler won that one very comprehensively to effectively secure the draw. Shead was the best of the Cold Norton boys with two excellent wins over Willett and Chatfield.
Maldon B’s ascent to the pinnacle of Division 2 was thwarted this week by their very own C team as the teams played out a tight 5-5 draw where half the matches went to 5 sets. This one went to the very last games in which the C team’s talisman Steve Aspland beat Ciaran Whelan in 4 sets to take a 5-4 lead going into the final match. In the ‘Battle of the Colins’’, the B team’s Colin Napper took a decisive 2-0 lead against the C team’s Colin Barrell. But fortune favours the brave and Barrell came out fighting for the next two legs to even up the match and silence the B team’s travelling supporters. In what should have been a tense deciding leg Napper rolled over the Barrell for a quick 11-2 leg and squared the overall match. Aspland’s victory gave him his second hat-trick on the bounce as he plays his way back to last season’s incredible form. This stumble allowed the rejuvenated Woodham C to take the hot seat as they overcame the challenge of Maldon D to record an 8-2 victory. The returnees were out in force as both Graham Briggs and Chris Hancox laid down relatively unchallenged hat-tricks to set up the win. For Maldon both Chris Ravenhill and Shirley Carroll came away with the prized scalp of Adi Kamma for their two points. Cold Norton D were looking to bounce back from last week’s whitewash defeat but it looks like the memo only reached Dave Hancox – perhaps he forgot to pass it on – as Dave racked up all 4 of his teams points on the night with the help of Terry Hylands in the doubles. Stow Maries C relied on teamwork for their 6-4 victory as each of their players was able to record 2 singles wins with only the bubbly Rod Maclennan getting close to hard-hitting Hancox as he took their match to a deciding 5th leg. In the final Division 2 match of the week Woodham D scored a surprise win over podium hopefuls Blackwater A. New recruit Mal Henstock provided a debut hat-trick to help lead the team to a Dusty Bin 3-2-1 victory, with Gus Heath winning 2, and Alex Wilson chipping in with a fine singles triumph over the very tricky Merv Perriman.
St Lawrence kept up their charge for the Division 3 title with a tight 6-4 win over nearest rivals Woodham E. St Lawrence’s Steve King maintained his fine form to see his team over the line with his third hat-trick of the season. King’s unbeaten run leaves him the only player in Division 3 on a 100% win rate. For Woodham E it was the sartorially elegant Chris Crooks that caused most problems with 2 good singles wins, and there was a welcome return to competitive sport for the Dark Horse that is Mitch Davies. Davies got off to a flying start but faltered at the second match and then tailed off towards the end of the evening as the pace got too much for him. Blackwater D showed great bouncebackability after a crushing opening week defeat. Teamwork was the key as their trio of Jacqui Treacy, Chris Rolison and David Smith all won 2 singles apiece, and Rolison and Treacy combined for the doubles for a 7-3 triumph in the match versus Maldon E.
Pic 1 – Fambridge’s hard-hitting Gurj Bhambra in action this week
Pic 2 – Maldon C’s talisman Steve Aspland
Pic 3 – Mapledene’s George Reeves
Pic 4 – Paul Sayer (Fambridge) versus David Penrose (Woodham B)
Pic 5 – Cold Norton’s Charles Sweeney versus Woodham’s hat trick hero Chris Penrose
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