Rawreth A have strengthened their grip on the Division 1 title of the Southend Summer League after beating Basildon B 7-2 this week. This puts them 12 points clear of rivals Basildon A who do have a game in hand and, of course, meet Rawreth in the final game of the season. A 9-0 win for Basildon would leave them just three points behind and everything to play for.

Having pushed the A team all the way last week they would have been hoping that the B team  could do a similar job against Rawreth but their team of Kim Shead, Russell Mills and Norbert Fullerton gave little away. Racing into a 3-0 lead Lin Roff held them up beating Mills in straight sets but they had to wait until the final match of the evening to get another when Roff and Andy Seaman combined to win a gruelling five set doubles against Shead and Mills 15/13 in the fifth.

Basildon B’s defeat has left the door open for Hockley A who move into third place after beating Canvey A 6-3. Andrew Murray and Terry Giddens started the evening well for Canvey edging out Stuart Adshead and Brian Bissenden in a five set doubles but Hockley then won the next five games to put them firmly in charge. Murray then beat Bissenden in their only singles win of the night before Jo Hills and Giddens won the final doubles against Bissenden and Joseph Odegbami. Odegbami claimed two singles wins for Hockley and Adshead and Bissenden one each. They are now two points clear of Basildon B and have a game in hand.

Stephen Heard was in fine form for Matchpoint A as he led them to only their second win of the season 6-3 against Stanford A. He won both his singles and doubles and received tremendous support from Hannah Harbour who also won both her singles plus one doubles. Sarah Ball combined with Heard for her doubles point. Pat White and Adrian Armstrong both got the better of Ball and White and Rob Salvage also got a point in the doubles.

Hockley B look extremely likely to finish their season without a win as they lost 9-0 to Hadleigh A. Paul Strutt and Richard Kidd almost gave them a winning start but lost in five sets to Neal and Todd Barker and Kidd went to five sets again against Todd but went down 14/12 in the decider. Apart from that it was very much plain sailing for Hadleigh Berti Makoli making up their winning team and taking the player of the match honours. Hockley stay bottom of the division and Hadleigh move up to fifth.

Team of the Week – Matchpoint A

Player of the Week – Stephen Heard

Report by Paul Strutt

Fifty years ago George Meakin, while visiting relatives in Belgium,
decided to look for a club in order to play a game of table tennis.
He found TTK Schoten, in a town on the outskirts of Antwerp,
where he was made to feel extremely welcome. The rest is
history.
Over the many years since, despite George’s passing, firm
friendships have developed, nurtured by bi-annual visits involving
George’s beloved Windsor TTC (of Clacton-On-Sea, Essex) and
TTK Schoten.
During the weekend of 7th, 8th and 9th June, Windsor TTC once
again welcomed their friends from TTK Schoten, for the latest in
the series of visits. The 17 Belgian guests stayed with their host
families. This included Jenny Higgins, George’s daughter.
Over the course of a long weekend, the table tennis players and
friends enjoyed both singles and doubles tournaments, a disco,
karaoke and a friendly game of snooker, as well as much
socialising, eating and drinking. Gifts including a Friendship
trophy were exchanged. 
New friendships were made and old friendships renewed. It has
been a wonderful example of people from different cultures and
countries coming together, thanks to their mutual love of the
game of table tennis. Windsor Table Tennis Club will hopefully
travel, as invited, over to Schoten in two years’ time.

Report by Sharon Gowlett

The race for the Division 1 title took a major turn this week as whilst one contender, Rawreth A, cruised to a customary 9-0 victory the other, Basildon A, found themselves in their toughest match of the season so far against, somewhat ironically, their own B team. The narrow 5-4 win for the A team means they are now five points behind their rivals who they must play in the final match of the season next week. They will need to beat them 6-3 as a minimum to pip them to the league title.

The form book would have pointed to a comfortable win for Rawreth when they played Invicta A but they received an unexpected bonus when their opponents could only field two players. That made their progression even more straightforward and resistance was limited to Tony Ayliffe’s five set battle against Peter Barrett. Ayliffe lost the first two sets  12/10 11/9 but then fought back winning the next two sets by the same scores to set up the decider. Unfortunately for Invicta Ayliffe couldn’t maintain his form and wilted,  losing 11/2. The defeat leaves Invicta in eighth place in the league.

Basildon A’s possibly title deciding match with their B team saw a stunning start by the underdogs as they won the first three matches and then led 4-1 with the A team’s title aspirations apparently in tatters. Garry Hartgrove then led the comeback beating Peter Hilton quickly followed by wins for Lee Marson and Rob Burton and sealed by Burton and Hartgrove winning the final doubles. Dawn Baldry and Peter Hilton both won one singles for the B team and two doubles wins for Baldry and Lin Roff and Baldry and Hilton.  The result lifts the B team into third place two points above Hockley A who have a game in hand. The A team will be hoping that Les Hoey and the unbeaten Ian Wall will be available for the crucial final match.

Stanford A welcomed back their talisman Mitchell Jones for their match against Hadleigh A and he provided another match winning performance winning both his singles and doubles and with a single point provided by Derrick Pearson they clinched a 5-4 victory all decided by the final doubles. Hadleigh’s points came courtesy of singles wins for Berti Makoli, Martin Turner and Todd Barker and a Turner/Barker combination in the doubles.

Matchpoint A finally picked up their first win of the season and they did it in style beating Canvey A 8-1. Three of the first four games went to five sets but that left Matchpoint 3-1 up and they cruised through the remaining matches conceding just two sets. Hannah Harbour was the star of the evening finishing unbeaten but team mate Debbie O’neill matched her all the way but did have contend with a strong performance by Kevin Walsingham who pushed her to five sets. Canvey’s consolation point came courtesy of Lee Mcgonagle who came back from 2-1 down against Dan Stewart clinching the decider 11/7.

Team of the Week – Basildon B

Player of the Week – Hannah Harbour

Report by Paul Strutt

The Southend Summer League is building to an exciting climax with three weeks to go. The main contenders, Basildon A and Rawreth, are separated by just one point and are due to meet each other in the final week of the season in what should prove to be the title decider. Currently Rawreth have the lead and interestingly their progression, and Basildon A’s, could be influenced by Basildon B who have to play both teams.

The top teams were in fine form this week handing out 9-0  thrashings to Invicta A and Hockley B alike. Basildon A were the first in action against Invicta and their team of Ian Wall, Les Hoey and Charles Yeung were in no mood to give any encouragement to their opponents. Tony Ayliffe took a set off Yeung and Malcolm Henstock and David Barnes took a set off Hoey and Yeung in the doubles but the only other game that was remotely close was the doubles between Ayliffe and Henstock and Wall and Yeung. The Wall/Yeung combination somewhat predictably took the first two sets but the Invicta pair fought back admirably winning the third set 11/7 and then edging a nerve wracking fourth set 15/13. Unfortunately for them Wall and Yeung were not to be denied and won the decider 11/8.

Rawreth’s win against Hockley B followed a similar format with their team of Andrew Halling, Debbie Auvache and Dale Gutteridge giving little away to their opponents. In the doubles Paul Strutt and Amar Al-Soufi took a set off Halling and Gutteridge and Al-Soufi and Paul Ogden did the same against Auvache and Gutteridge but it was a singles match that turned out to be the closest Ogden extending Gutteridge to five sets. Ogden had a clear advantage going 2-1 up after losing the opening set but Gutteridge fought back well to take it to a decider and clinched the match 11/8. Hockley remain winless.

Neal Barker, Todd Barker and Berti Makoli were in fine form for Hadleigh as they won 7-2 against Canvey A. Neal Barker remained unbeaten all night, Makoli won both his singles and a doubles and Todd Barker won one singles and a doubles with his Dad. Andrew Murray did best for the Islanders winning his singles against Todd Barker and then combining with Lee Mcgonagle to beat Makoli and Todd Barker in the doubles.

Hockley A moved into third place after a 7-2 win against Matchpoint A. Sanjay Saptarshi took the player of the match honours remaining unbeaten on the night and he was backed up by two singles wins for Eamonn Hall and one from Stuart Adshead. Hall had to fight hard though for his win against Debbie O’neill the match going to five sets before Hall won the decider 11/4. Stephen Heard picked up a point for Matchpoint beating Adshead and then combining with O’neill they beat Adshead and Hall in straight sets.

Team of the Week – Hadleigh A

Player of the Week – Neal Barker