Southend Summer League
Basildon A are starting to impose themselves at the top of the Division 1 table after chalking up their first maximum of the season with a 9-0 win against Matchpoint A. They now have a five point lead from Hockley A in second place. Ian Wall, Les Hoey and Andy Seaman were pretty much in control throughout although Hannah Harbour extended Seaman to five sets leading 2-1 at one stage, and alongside Stephen Heard they took Seaman and Hoey the distance also leading 2-1 before being edged out. Hoey took the POTM award with two straight set singles wins.
Second placed Hockley couldn’t quite match Basildon’s 9-0 win but were only just behind as they beat Invicta A 8-1. It must have been an early finish as no game went beyond four sets and it was left to Tony Ayliffe to claim Invicta’s consolation point as he beat Sanjay Saptarshi clinching victory with a lengthy 19/17 win in the fourth set. Apart from that Saptarshi, alongside Tim Pang and Tarun Goel raced through their games in emphatic style.
Match of the week turned out to be Hadleigh A against Rawreth where the title favourites scraped a 5-4 win. This was down in no small part to Hadleigh revealing what must be the signing of the summer season in England Vets international John Poysden. No Thorpe Bay team in the summer league so an out of contract Poysden has been snapped up by Hadleigh captain Anthon Ranjit-Singh and he made an immediate impact. In a match which saw four games go to five sets Poysden won all his to claim the POTM award ahead of Rawreth’s Keith Adams. Rawreth started in fine style easing into a 3-1 lead with Deborah Auvache beating Simon Jacob and Adams defeating Richard Jackman plus combining to win their doubles with Poysden picking up his first singles win beating Norbert Fullerton. Rawreth extended this lead to 5-2 with the key match being Fullerton’s five set win against Jackman. Jackman was 2-1 down before winning the fourth 11/3 and then fought back again from 8-2 down in the fifth to level at 8-8 but was eventually beaten 15/13 in a great match. Hadleigh made the score respectable winning the last two matches the evening culminating in a five set thriller between Jackman and Poysden and Fullerton and Adams. The Hadleigh boys found themselves 2-1 down, levelled at 2-2, and at 8-9 down in the fifth an extended 20+ shot rally finally went their way and they won the next two points to clinch the match 11/9.
Whilst that win left Rawreth in third place all the top three sides should be wary of Stanford A who have only played three games so far but whilst they have the unbeaten Mitchell Jones in their side they are certainly capable of creating a few upsets. They beat Basildon B 6-3 this week to chalk up their third win and needless to say Jones was outstanding again winning all his singles and doubles and not dropping a set. Teammate Peter Weatherall also won both his singles but Rob Salvage found it a lot harder going but was unlucky to lose both his singles in five sets. Against Peter Hilton he fought back from 2-0 down to lose 11/8 in the fifth and against Dawn Baldry he did exactly the same this time losing by the closest of margins 12/10 in the decider. Hilton and Baldry then combined to beat Salvage and Weatherall in the final doubles in another five set match. Stanford go into fourth place.
Hockley B picked up their first win of the season against winless Wakering in a classic 5-4 victory. The score ebbed and flowed throughout the evening Hockley finding themselves 2-1 and 3-2 down, then leading 4-3 onlyto be taken to a match deciding ninth game in the final doubles of the evening. Up to that point Wakering’s Barbara Chabior had featured in two five set matches coming back from two sets down against Paul Ogden to win the fifth 11/6 only to see exactly the reverse happen as she lost a two set lead against Brian Bissenden eventually going down 11/7 13/11 8/11 10/12 10/12 in a really tight and entertaining game. Callum Turner took the match honours with his two singles wins against Ogden and Stuart Adshead but wins for Adshead and Bissenden against Jaspreet Singh kept the sides level. The deciding doubles between Ogden and Bissenden and Chabior and Singh turned out to be another exciting match as Hockley fought back from a two set deficit to level the match and then win a really tight fifth set 13/11. A fitting way to end an enjoyable evening.
Team of the Week – Rawreth
Player of the Week – John Poysden
Report by Paul Strutt
Division 2
We are roughly at the halfway point of this Summer League season and, in Division 2, it is Stanford B and Canvey A who are setting the pace.
Both teams have an experienced squad of players to call on, but it is Stanford who head the table with 49 points, from Canvey who have 41 points, but have played a game less.
Basildon C, Invicta B and Stanford C* occupy joint 3rd place with 36 points.
Evolve, Hockley B and Hadleigh B are tightly grouped in mid-table, separated by just 2 points.
Runnymede, Matchpoint C, Hockley D and Canvey B are all awaiting their first win and occupy the bottom 4 places.
As far as individual performances are concerned, a number of players have a 100% singles win record, but it is Stanford B’s Adrian Armstrong who leads the way with a 10/10 success rate. He is followed by Miles Bygrave and Teddy Kent from Evolve and Dave Woolmer from Hadleigh B who have all won 6/6. The other unbeaten players have only played 1 or 2 matches.
Report by Dave Woolmer.