The famous Times headline of yesteryear, Small earthquake in Peru: not many dead, has its
Braintree Table Tennis League equivalent in the first round of the team and restricted
knockout cups.
In addition to a number of byes and two concessions, splitting the three divisions into two for
the cups produces a number of predictable mismatches when two teams of a different
standard face up to each other.
Hence Netts A’s 8-0 win over Black Notley D and Notley A’s 8-1 against their own E team in
the team knockout – although Paul Nicol deserves credit for stretching James Hicks to 11-9,
9-11, 13-15, 11-9, 11-6 in the first and likewise Lawrence Grantham for overcoming Adam
Clift in the second.
Rayne A 5 Notley C 4 looks interesting until one consults the scoresheet to find that Rayne
had only two players and so had to concede four sets.
Paul Lucas and Adi Kamma won the five in straight games.
Notley B’s 7-2 win over Sudbury Wanderers was closer even though Wanderers’ successes
were both in doubles.
Sudbury’s A team, Nomads, featured in the closest match of the round, just getting the better
of Liberal C 5-4.
The singles were shared 3-3, Aron Jordan unbeaten for Nomads and David Razzell for
Liberal, but it was two doubles wins that took Nomads through.
The 6-3 win for Rayne E over their own C team appears something of a surprise, but one
explained by the fact that Matthew Brown was playing for the E team and that the C team
only had two players.
In the restricted cup, division three champions Netts D took all nine against Yeldham
Whitlocks B, as did Rayne F against Notley H and Notley I declared at 6-0 against Netts E.
Netts F took a 2-0 lead against Notley G but got no further.
There was still time for James Howard, 2023 cadet singles champion, to score a good win
over the experienced Ken Wilding in only his second competitive outing.
The one close match was Notley F’s 5-4 win over Sudbury Strollers, decided with a win by
Graham Chinnery and Mel Cooch in the final doubles.
Earlier Strollers’ Natalie Dodd showed what an important signing she will be by scoring a
three-straight win over Chinnery, beaten only twice in the league last season.