The top two teams in the Premier division both delivered big wins in week 12 of the season keeping the difference between them at the top of the table at a meagre 2 points. First off we had Rawreth B seeing off Stanford A 9-0, a result which doesn’t truly justify the great games played on the night with the game of the night coming as Dan Zeffie and Vivvan Babbar went toe to toe with the Rawreth man coming out on top 11-9 in the 5th. Thorpe Bay A were in even more miserly mood as they beat Invicta A 9-0 without dropping a game all night.
Elsewhere there was another man of the match performance for Liam Squirrell who took 3 wins for Rayleigh Mill against a Rawreth A team of George Reeves, Eric Green and Kim Shead. Unfortunately for the Millers that was all they had to show from the evening as Rawreth won the remaining 6 games against Rob Harris and Steve Maltby.
The closest game of the week came as Hockley A travelled to Brand Identity and came away with a good 5-4 win. Matt Stringer doing most of the damage for Hockley with three wins, albeit all coming in 5 ends, and Sanjay Saptarshi chipping in with a good two wins against Adam and Richard Jackman, Saptarshi just falling short against Simon Jacob.
Division 1 leaders Hockley B suffered a shock defeat this week at home to Canvey A. Despite another hat trick from their star player Joseph Odegbami, Hockley succumbed 5 – 4. A good all round team performance by Canvey that had two wins each for Peter Cray and Bob Skews, and one for Ray Wilson, means that the leaders have slipped to within catching distance.
Second place Hockley C took full advantage of this slip by winning 8 – 1 against visiting Stanford Le Hope B, effectively closing the gap to the leaders to only two points. Not for the first time this season, Elliot Brackenbury took the Player of the Match prize, not dropping a set the whole match. Team mate Will Evesham was also unbeaten. Rob Salvage managed to overcome veteran Tim Pang to collect the visitors’ only success.
Rawreth C’s large squad is playing dividends as they consolidated third place with a fine 7 – 2 win against Hadleigh Forum B. Yet again Paul Brown was the Rawreth star. Michael Tappenden managed both wins for Forum overcoming both Michael Rigg and David Gatheral. A special mention should be given to Forum’s Jan Thorpe who has returned to our sport this season in Division 3 however, he wasn’t disgraced by his performance in this Division 1 match whilst playing up.
Struggling Basildon B put up a spirited fight against visitors Mapledene, only going down 5 – 4 in the last rubber of the evening. Mapledene’s Lin Roff took the POM accolade, although her two wins were matched both by team mate Andy Seaman and the home side’s Kieran Wood and Chudi Ukpaka. However, Mike Johnston’s single victory was the deciding factor in giving Mapledene the win.
Hadleigh Forum C could only find two players this week. It was no surprise then when visitors Wakering A won 7 – 2. Xi Wei won all his games, although the home side’s Paul Fawell took him very close. Xi’s colleagues Barbara Chabior and Mick Grout won one contest each, but neither could overcome Paul who got both his side’s points.
The top four teams in Division 2 were all in action this week playing each other but there was no change in their league positions as a result.
Leaders Wakering held off third placed Hockley D winning 6-3 and second placed Matchpoint B won by the same score against Canvey B.
Wakering’s win was, as is usually the case, founded on the back of Callum Turner’s performance and he didn’t disappoint with a hat trick. He did, however, drop two sets to Howard Collins eventually winning 11/2 in the decider. Turner was backed up by Mike Grout who also returned a hat trick although he too was taken to five sets by Collins. Collins did eventually get a point for Hockley beating Paul England, you guessed it, in five sets. Brian Bissenden and Paul Strutt followed Collins example both also winning against England.
Matchpoint’s win against Canvey followed a similar pattern with John Lott and Hannah Harbour again providing two hat tricks to ensure the win but they did meet some stern resistance Harbour having to twice survive five set battles against first Terry Giddens and then Trevor Hayes. Lott had to withstand just the one five set match against Giddens but it was quite a match Lott winning the first two sets 11/8 12/10 before Giddens battled back winning the next two 11/9 11/9. The deciding set threatened to go on indefinitely until Lott edged it 18/16. Canvey’s points came courtesy of wins for Giddens, Hayes and Des Duffield all against Colin Barham.
Basildon C’s form in recent weeks has shown a marked improvement with two wins in their last three games and they made it three out of four games after a 6-3 win against Matchpoint C. The evening didn’t start well however as they lost the first two games but then won the next six in succession to turn the match on it’s head and secure the win. Andy Roff was the man behind the win winning all his games and he was backed up by two wins from Dave Walton and one for Victor Galben. Samuel Morgan provided two wins for Matchpoint and took Roff to five sets whilst Zachary Samuels beat Galben for the other point.
The other team at the bottom of the table, Runnymede, turned things upside down in the race to avoid relegation by hammering Invicta B 8-1. The win drops Hockley E (without a game) to one but bottom, moves Runnymede above them but, more importantly, drags Invicta and Matchpoint C into the race. Basildon C remain bottom on 25 points but just two points separate the next four teams Hockley 29 points to Invicta B 31 points. Runnymede’s win was led by the always reliable Tony Millward with a perfect hat trick, Steve Wisbey with his first hat trick of the season and Andrew Humphris with a brace. Andrew St. John got the consolation point for Invicta.
Miles Bygrave produced a stand-out performance when his Evolve ‘A’ side travelled to take on the Division 3 leaders Invicta ‘C’. Not only was he unbeaten on the night, but he inflicted the first defeat of the season on Invicta’s Harry Venables. This came in the final game of the match, described as ‘a thrilling 5-set finale’. It was a shame that his individual efforts were not rewarded with a victory for his team, but it was not for the want of his teammates trying. In particular, Nova Narayanan who was on the wrong end of close 5-setters against both Harry and David Barlow. 6/3 the final score in favour of Invicta.
Second placed Hockley ‘F’ kept up their pursuit of Invicta at the top of the table, as they recorded a 7/2 home win over Hadleigh Forum ‘D’. A perfect maximum from Ross Collins saw him deservedly take the Player of the Match plaudits, and he was ably assisted by his skipper, Gary Beck, who was also unbeaten. For Forum, there was a win each for Douglas Brown and Jan Thorpe.
Canvey ‘C’ entertained Matchpoint ‘D’ and a close match ensued. Steve Kemp was the hero for Canvey with a 9-set hat-trick, well supported by John Saunders who added a couple of wins. For Matchpoint there was a double for David McHattie and a single win each for Tina Cook and Gary Crouch.
Ehsan Khan, with a win over Karen Kempster, was the only winner on the night for Evolve ‘B’ when they took on Stanford ‘D’. Marin Winter and Andrew Jessop both recorded maximums, and Karen won her remaining games to complete an 8/1 win for the away side.
Reports by Duncan Taylor, David Barnes, Paul Strutt and David Woolmer