What do you get if you cross a Squirrell with a Piglet? A surprising outcome is the answer, as current player of the season Sam Lowman found out this week when he unexpectedly triumphed over the league’s top player Liam Squirrell and then disastrously fell to the left trotter of Dan Piglet for his first loss of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League season.
It was a busy week for Lowman as he first led his Cold Norton C trio to a shock 6-4 win over Mapledene A with a hat-trick of wins including the now infamous 11-9 fifth set victory over the reigning Singles Champion Squirrell. You have to venture back to February 2024 for the last time Squirrell lost a singles match in the Burnham League – he has been that dominant! So all credit to the man of the moment and constant honeymooner Lowman. Squirrell won his other 2 matches in straight sets and partnered up with Steve Muth for the doubles point. For Cold Norton Dave Richardson opened his C team account with 2 good wins against Muth and Peter Barrett. Later on in the week Lowman was out again – he gets out a lot for a recently married man – this time for the Cold Norton B team to whom he is now locked in. The opening match saw another potential Singles Final showdown as Lowman took on the very dangerous Dan Young. Another 5 setter where the momentum bounced around each leg until Lowman won out 11-6 in the decider. At this point Lowman may have relaxed a bit too much thinking the hard work was done – he did beat Tony Bonnici in 3 legs, but in his final encounter came up against the hard-hitting leftie Dan Piglet (handedness not political leaning!). Piglet took the opening set, and Lowman squared up at 1-1 but then Piglet blew him way with a huff and a puff for a quick fire finish. As we remember from Jurassic Park docuseries – ‘nature finds a way’. Young took impressive wins over Ian Wall and Eric Green, and Piglet completed his evening with a notable win over Green and a very close 5 set loss to Wall. But that was all the points for Woodham as bookies favourites Cold Norton took the remaining spoils including the very important doubles Brucie bonus that gave them the win. Mapledene B have surged up the table following their 10-0 whitewash victory over 2-man Stow Maries A. It was all pretty straightforward for the Mapledeners with just one match going to a deciding set where Paul Brown, of Basildon fame, beat Gary Brignall to complete his unbeaten evening. Mapledene duo Glenn Johnson and Keith Willett only dropped 1 set all evening – with these two playing regularly the Mapledene B side may be eyeing up a podium finish.
Division 2 is shaping up to be a proper bunfight with 5 teams fighting it out. Maldon A look to have the strongest squad and continue to rack up the points and are now just behind leaders Mapledene C but crucially with a game in hand. Mapledene unWantedly dropped points this week as they shared the spoils with a Neil Want inspired Cold Norton E. Want hit a hard-earned treble including two 5-setters but was mistakenly dropped from doubles which probably cost his side the victory. Norton’s Dick Wyman chipped in with 2 wins of his own but was unable to get passed the consistent play of Sue Body who was the best of the Mapledene crew. Maldon displayed their ruthless side whilst dispatching a very good Blackwater B trio with an 8-2 victory. Trebles for both Colin Napper and Hamish Innes but they failed to convert this dominance into a doubles point where they somehow fell to the Merv Perriman and Roger Slade pairing. Perriman took the sole singles point for his Blackwater side with a 3 set success over Ross Kirby. Woodham C showed no bouncebackability this week when they lost further ground as they fell to a 3-7 loss against the tricky Blackwater A trio. For Blackwater Neil Freeman was central to the cause as he went undefeated in the singles – although Scott Perry took him well beyond deuce in the 5th set and had his own match points but alas he flunked them and Freeman won out 16-14 and his sigh of relief was heard all across the Blackwater estuary. As predicted Maldon B’s talisman Steve Aspland is now fully up and running and fired off his second treble of the campaign in his side’s 6-4 home victory over Cold Norton D. With Aspland on song it was no surprise that he also won the doubles with regular partner Colin Barrell – its very probable that these two won’t lose again all season. For Cold Norton Terry Hyland had good wins over both Barrell and Garry Eames.
Blackwater C enhanced their formidable status this week as they saw off the challenge of podium hopefuls Maldon D. So in the last 2 rounds of play Blackwater C have trounced their 2 nearest rivals and opened up a considerable runaway lead. They won’t be caught! Gary Smith hit another hat-trick for Blackwater in their 7-3 win, albeit with a tricky 5-setter against the effervescent Tim Huxtable – that match was sure to have been a good 40mins long! Huxtable won his other 2 encounters against Andrea Alleyne and Peter Davenport. That was Davenport’s only loss though as he contributed 2 singles victories to the points haul and he and Alleyne combined for a comeback 5 set doubles bonus. Second placed Blackwater D edged a tight 6-4 scoreline against Woodham D. The wrist-twisting Roger Tiffin took the biscuit in this one with a very comfortable set of 3 victories. Woodham’s debutant Simon Thomas got himself off to a good start with a brace of wins although he must have wondered what he had got himself in for in the opening leg of the fist match of the night that went all the way to 18-16 in his favour. Luckily things sped up after that! The lovable Blackwater E trio had a confidence-boosting 8-2 triumph this week as they saw off the challenge of St Lawrence. Trebles for Deb Ginn and Phil West with Kath Little chipping in with 2 wins for the welcome points haul. The final match of the week ended in stalemate as Maldon E and Blackwater F traded blows but a winner failed to emerge as Keith Thompson took the final point of the night against the until-then-unbeaten John Leavett to even up the scoreline. In a repeat of last year’s encounter the plucky Brian Dixon came out on top against Mike Crumpton to register his first win of this season. For Blackwater Keith Thompson hit another treble as he remains unbeaten this season.
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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer
Burnham & District Table Tennis League
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Pic 1 – Sam Lowman plying his trade at Woodham this week.
Pic 2 – Eric Green and Dan Young battle it out this week.
Pic 3 – A hat-trick for Basildon socialite Paul Brown
Pic 4 – Gary Smith stretching for his treble
Pic 5 – Blackwater D trio – Roger Tiffin, Jacqui Treacy & Dave Benstead
