This week saw Lentern take over top spot in Division 1 thanks to a 6 – 3 home win over the previous leaders Rawreth Megazone C. It was an unfortunate slip by the visitors, as they were only able to field two players and so fall to second place. Veteran John Tendler was again POM for Lentern. Ian Cranstone and Wayne Farmer completed their team. For Rawreth, Gary Hartgrove won two and Colin Clements one.
Stanford A are now in joint second place. They handed out an 8 -1 hiding to visiting Hockley C. POM Peter Weatherall and Derrick Pearson both had an unbeaten evening, whilst Dave Hancock had one slip-up, losing to Hockley’s Brian Bissenden.
Invicta A slipped down the table courtesy of a heavy 7 – 2 defeat away to Brand Identity B. Adam Jackman excelled to take the POM award with a maximum, with Jenny Harrison and Barrie Delf adding two wins each. Steve Marr got both Invicta’s wins. There is a school of thought that says the banana cake and gingerbread with apple, kindly provided by the home side during a tea break, may be Brand’s most effect weapon yet!
Rawreth Megazone D recorded an excellent 7 – 2 away win at RESSC. Mike Hayes was undefeated and colleagues Jake Nelson and Charlie Kauders Boothby recorded two wins each. Bob Skews played a skipper’s innings for the home side, taking both their victories.
After the first six rubbers of the match between Hadleigh Forum B and Mapledene, it looked like a runaway victory for Mapledene – they were winning 5 – 1. However, Forum rallied and took all the remaining ties to go down by the narrowest of margins, 5 – 4. No single player was unbeaten. There were two wins each for Mapledene’s Mike Johnston and Andy Seaman, and for Forum’s Paul Fawell. Forum’s Mick Tappenden and Tony Jacks won one each as did Anthon Ranjit-Singh on his return to his former club.
Canvey A’s Ray Wilson turned in a POM performance in his side’s 6 – 3 home win over Hadleigh Forum C. Ray was assisted with two wins from Peter Cray, and one from Lee McGonagle. Two of Forum’s wins came from Satwant Gill and the other from Mark Everard.
After just four weeks there is a huge 24 point gap between top of the table Basildon A in Division 2 and bottom of the table Basildon B. Basildon A, Matchpoint A and Wakering are all unbeaten whilst Basildon B, Rawreth Megazone E and Hockley D are yet to record their first win.
Basildon A took advantage of the fact that rivals Matchpoint were without a game and demolished their clubmates in the B team 8-1 to take over at the top. It was fairly straight forward for the A team of Arun Joy, Szymon Jarka and Stephen Walters, the only downside being Jenne Seibolt’s defeat of Stephen to prevent the whitewash.
Matchpoint B failed to close the gap on the leaders as they fell to a narrow 5-4 home defeat to Stanford B despite a Player of the Match performance by young Alex Deacon. The first five games were closely contested with three games going the distance, the other two games going to four sets and it left Stanford 3-2 ahead. The remaining games were shared two apiece Rob Salvage and Chris Crooks recording braces and John Handscombe providing the other point. Ben Murray got Matchpoint’s fourth.
Wakering stay in fourth place after a 6-3 win against Hockley D. Callum Turner completed a perfect hat trick, not dropping a set, and he was supported by a brace from Zac England and one from Paul England. Only three matches went beyond three sets and all those involved Paul who lost in four to Ben Cook and Tony Molisso but beat Paul Strutt in five despite surrendering a two set lead. Hockley’s other point came from a slightly surprising straight sets win for Paul Strutt against Zac.
It must have been a late night at Rawreth Megazone as their match featured four five set matches and a further two four set matches. Runnymede stormed the first four started by Andrew Humphris five set defeat of Richard Kidd and eventually ran out 6-3 winners. Andrew completed his hat trick and was supported by Tina Hutchinson with two wins and one for Anne Adlington. Richard got two wins for Rawreth and there was one for Amar Al-Soufi.
Canvey B recorded their first win of the season edging out Invicta B 5-4 despite a hat trick for Invicta’s Barbara Chabior. The Islanders quickly recorded a winning 5-2 lead before losing the last two games. Two wins each for Kevin Walsingham and Des Duffield and a single for Tony Westwell did the damage for Canvey whilst Sarah Ball got Invicta’s other point.
Team of the Week – Canvey B
Player of the Week – Callum Turner
In Division 3 a good team performance from Hockley E saw them edge a close match against Stanford C. Two wins each for John George and Gary Beck plus one for Hannah Harbour ensured a 5-4 win for their side. For Stanford there were two wins apiece for Randy Santiago and Player of the Match Mark Farley, but a blank night for Karen Kempster on her debut.
Trevor Hayes maintained his unbeaten start to the season in this division with a maximum as Canvey beat Rawreth Megazone F. Teammates John Saunders and Peter Parker chipped in with a win each and the result was a 5-4 win. For Rawreth there were two, hard earned five set wins for Ethan Nunn and a brace for Jan Thorpe.
After three successive 9-0 victories Matchpoint C came down to earth with a bump when they took on an experienced Stanford D side. Hat tricks from Andrew Jessop and Player of the Match Vaughan Chambers plus two wins for Peter Moxham meant a comfortable 8-1 success for the away side. Matchpoint’s only success came from Max Mayo’s win against Peter.
With a 9-0 win over Evolve, Invicta C have taken over at the top of the table. The experience of Trish Winter, Jon Gould and Keith Baxter proved too much for the young Evolve side who are finding it tough going at the moment but will surely improve as the season unfolds. Keith took the Player of the Match award as he continued his 100% unbeaten record.
