Essex County Table Tennis Association

A Good Weekend for Middlesex’s Curtis Welsh

The third BATTS One Star Junior Open Tournament of season 2012/13 was held at the home of BATTS Table Tennis Club, the Norman Booth Centre, Old Harlow on the 11/12 March. There was a massive entry, 142 all told, which meant reluctantly that Consolation events for those players who failed to finish in the top two places in their Groups could not be held for the U16, U15 and U13 Boys events. Players entered from as far away as Cheshire, Sussex, Beds and Norfolk as well as four of the Greenhouse Centres.

Saturday morning started with the Under 16 Boys event, originally eight Groups of five players and one of four. With two players not arriving the one player hoping for an on the day scratch entry could be accommodated. All the top seeds in their Groups were winners except one, Samuel Lowman (E) who lost to Cheshire’s Joe Howard. Number one seed Jamie Dignum (Mi) reached the final without dropping a game, defeating James Knudsen (E) in the quarter final and Jay Ghazi Timms (Mi) in the semi. It wasn’t as easy for No. 5 seed Curtis Welsh in the bottom half, 10, 10, -8, 5 against George Mills (Mi), 2, 8, 7 over No. 4 seed Jake Henley in the Q/F and -8, 3, 10, -8, 5 over No. 2 seed Rijul Roychoudhury (Mi) in the semi. In the final, after letting a 2-0 lead and three match points slip he finally beat Jamie 7, 9, -13, -4, 6.

For the Under 16 Girls three Groups of four but the number three seed failed to arrive. In Group one all matches were won 3-0 with top seed Charlize Uy (He) untroubled. In Group two the seeded Juliette Mousserie  (Sy) lost her opening match to Jennifer Crapnell (E) 7-11 in the decider and Jenny went on to win the Group. Emily Wood (E) was the winner of Group three. In the semi’s Juliette defeated Charlize 8, 4, -10, 6 and Jenny beat Emily 9, 4, 14. Thus Juliette and Jenny met for the second time, another fine match ensued with Juliette just gaining revenge for her earlier defeat 12, 9, 12. In the Consolation final Sarah James (E) beat Lauren James (E) 8, 10, -7, -9, 9.

For the Under 14 Boys event there should have been twelve Groups of four but one seed withdrew before the weekend and another failed to arrive together with four other entrants. The two players left in one Group were moved to fill other Group spaces, so eleven Groups started. Nine seeds won their Groups with James Knudsen (E) losing to Joe Howard (Ch) and Jay Ghazi Timms losing to Max Aldous (He). With the quirks of different ranking points for Cadets and Juniors this season Curtis (now the No. 2 seed ahead of Rijul Roychoudhury, Jake Henley (He) and Jay Ghazi Timms) and Jamie reached their second final of the day. Curtis again beat Rijul in the semi, this tome -8, -10, 8, 7, 9. Another cracking final with Curtis just nicking it 9, -5, -7, 11, 11. The Consolation event was won by Nick Radia (He) over Tharujan Sivarajah (E) 6, 4, 7. Nick beat Arman Khan (Mi) and Tharujan beat colleague Hamza Rehman (both 3-1) in the respective semi’s.

There were originally two Groups of four and one of five in the Girls U14 event but with one absentee there were three Groups of four. Charlize and Juliette won their Groups but No. 3 seed Talia Banin-Reid lost to Katherine Shaw (Sk) in her Group. For the second time in the day Juliette beat Charlize, only this time it was the final and the match much closer 9,-10, 6, -9, 5. In the Consolation event Sarah James was triumphant for the second time, this time beating Catherine Maltby (Mi) -11, -7, 12, 8, 4

Sunday’s events started with the Under 13 Boys and Girls events. Thirteen Groups of four and one of five in the Boy’s event and the non arrival of seven players enabled three scratch entries to be accepted. Only three seeds failed to win their Group, Kian Burgess (E) to James Kelly (Ca), John Dignum (Mi) to Daniel Shelley (Sk) and Naphong Boonyaprapa (Nk) to scratch entry Kidi Martin Paulo. At the KO Stage  Eren Guzco (a scratch entry inserted in the space created by the absent No. 2 seed) and No. 3 seed George Coulson (He) reached the final where Eren won 9, 7, -9, 7. In the semi’s George beat No. 1 seed Naphat Boonyaprapa (Nk) 9, 3, 9 and Eren beat Kai Ghazi Timms (Mi), No. 4 seed 8, 9, -9, 7.

In the U13 Girls event there were three Groups of four players. The three seeds, Amelia Chan (Mi), Ruth Marsden (K) and Georgina Lister (Ca) all won their Group. In the semi’s Amelia beat Zoe Davies (E) -4, 5, 6, -5, 7 and Ruth beat Emily Smith (E) 11, 4, -6, 7. In the previous round Emily had defeated Georgina -5, 6, 9, 5. In the final Amelia won 8, 6, 9. In the Consolation event Sarah James won her third Consolation event of the weekend by defeating Nabilan Rifat  (Mi) 4, 3, 3 in the final.

There were three events in the afternoon. The Under 11 Open, two Girls and 14 boys forming four Groups of four, the U15 Boys, seven Groups of five and the U15 Girls, originally a round robin of six players but with three of the U13 Girls wanting scratch entries hurriedly reorganised into a Group of four players and a Group of five with subsequent KO Main and Consolation events.

It was good to see so many U11 entrants but with some players playing in their first Tournament event ETTA ranking points not necessarily a good guide which showed when the number 2 and 3 seeds failed to win their Groups but at least they went through to the main event by being runners up. Top seed Kai Ghazi Timms (Mi) had to come back from 2-1 down in his last Group match against Samuel Hague (Ca) to win his Group and in the Q/F he then had to face Naphong Boonyaprapa (Nk), the No. 3 seed, who had lost to Liam Smith (K) in his Group. Kai won 9, 17, 7 and went on to reach the final by beating Oliver Salmon (Ca) 5, -11, 5, 5. Meanwhile in the other half Liam went on to reach the final after a mammoth semi battle with Samuel Chesterman (Ca) 7, 8, -12, -4, 9. Earlier Samuel had defeated No. 2 seed Thomas O’Sullivan (He) in his Group and County compatriot Samuel Hague -7, -8, 10, 3, 9 in the Q/F. In the final Kai won 10, 5, 3. In the Consolation final the third and fourth placed players in Group two met again and again it was Casey Mansfield (E) who emerged the winner -10, 9, 6, 7.

In the U15 Boys event three of the seven seeds failed to win their Group, Jay Ghazi Timms, GBolohan Hassan (Mi) and George Coulson but all three went on to reach the quarter finals. Jay lost to Curtis Welsh 8, 4, 3, GBolohan to Claudiu Andrei (Mi) 10, 11, -8, -7, 7 but George beat Joe Howard (Ch) -9, 7, 6, 5 for a semi final match with top seed Kleber Silva (E). Kleber won this 9, 5, 3 and Curtis the other semi -9, 4, 2, 9. The destination of the trophy was always in doubt in an exciting final with Kleber pulling away in the later stages of the decider to win 8, -5, 10, -4, 8.

In the reconstituted Girls U15 event there were three way ties in both Groups. Jess Jarvis (E) won Group 1 but Georgina Lister (Ca), Ruth Marsden (K) and Emily Smith (E) each beat one another. On games countback Emily was declared the winner so finished second in the Group. For Group 2 the tie was for first place. Games countback made Zoe Davies (E) the winner, Jenny Crapnell the runner up and relegated top seed Viona Fejzullahu to the Consolation event.  In the KO semi finals Jenny beat Jess -7, 5, 6, 8 and Zoe beat Emily, her League compatriot, 8, -4, -1, 10, 5. In a very close final Zoe beat Jenny 10, -9, 9, 10. In the Consolation final Viola had an easy win over Sarah Menghistab 3, 4, 2.

Another enjoyable weekend for all the players and a hectic two days for me. It was unfortunate that with the BATTS policy of running Consolation events wherever the Schedule permits for those players who do not finish in the top two places in their Group and gives the lesser players a chance of winning some honours Consolation events for the Boys could only be held in the U11 and U14 events. To have staged Consolations for the other three Boys events would have meant a very late evening finish.

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary
Member of the BATTS Organising Committee

The Essex Junior Closed was held at BATTS Harlow on Saturday, 13 April 2013.

The day started with three events, the Under 13 and 18 Boys Singles and the Under 15 Girls Singles. The U13 event, a round robin of five players, saw top seed Rahul Jindul (Mossford) losing the first match of the Group to the unknown Jack Stockdale (Romford) 7, 6, -7, 9. Jack went on to win all the rest of his matches 3-0 to win the event and Rahil did similarly for second place. Closest match saw Clark Pollins (Mossford) beat Casey Mansfield (Harlow) -8, -6, 6, 12, 9.

In the U18 Boys event the expected four Groups of six players turned out to be three Groups of five and one of four due to the non-arrivals. Three of the seeds won their Groups although James Denyer (Clacton) and Luke Jones (Harlow) dropped games on the way. Patrick Gilbert (Braintree) did not drop a game but Navdeep Panesar lost to Sidney Dorn (Southend) 9, 9, 9. who in turn lost to James Knudsen (Harlow). Sidney won the Group on count back by virtue of his win over Navdeep. There was a three way tie in Group One for the runners up position, secured by James Ashley (Mossford) on games count back. In the KO Stage James Denyer had to come back from 2-0 down, on deuces, to beat Patrick Gilbert in the semi final and defeat Luke 7, 7, -7, 7 in the final. Luke had beaten James Ashley (Mossford) 6, 6, -9, 6 in his semi.

The Under 15 Girls event was contested by six players. The top seed Jessica Jarvis (Harlow) was fully extended in her final match against second seed Gracie Edwards (Clacton), winning -5, 6, 10, 14 to top the Group. Gracie had needed to win this match to set up a three way tie after losing a thriller with Zoe Davies (Southend) -10, -9, 5, 6, -8 who finished runner up in the Group. Gracie had also been taken to a decider with Emma Knudsen.

Next events on were the Under 18 Girls and Under 15 Boys. Jessica and Gracie produced a similar match to that in the U15 event with the same result to finish first and second respectively. The other two players in the Group, Lauren James (Colchester) and Rebecca Lowman (Burnham) went the full distance in their match with Rebecca coming back from 2-0 down to win -3, -5, 6, 10, 9.

Top seeds James Knudsen and Sidney Dorn won their Groups in the Under 15 Boys Singles event with Ryan Gooday and Daniel Berry (both Chelmsford) the respective runners up. Only one match in the two Groups needed a fourth game. In the final James beat Sidney 6, 9, 4 after Sidney had come through his semi with Ryan by the strange scores of 4, 2, -2, -6, 4.

The last events were the Restricted Open, an event changed from Boys/Girls events to Open because there were only two girl entrants and the Under 13 Girls. In the Girls event Gracie and Zoe played one another in the last match of the Group to decide the winner and runner up positions, another five gamer like earlier in the day only this time Gracie won the decider 11-3. Chloe Andrews (Colchester) will be pleased with her third place following wins over Emma Knudsen (Harlow) and coming back from 10-5 down in the decider to beat Emily Smith (Southend) 12-10.

The Under 18 Restricted event was reconstituted from three Groups of six to two of six following the non appearance of six players. There were equal first’s in both Groups. In Group 1 Luke Jones lost to Ryan Gooday 12, -5, 4, 10 but by beating Paul Hume (Clacton) by the narrowest of margins 10, -9, 12, 14 he took top spot. By losing to Paul and Ardeshir Motavali (Mossford) Ryan finished fourth in the Group. In Group 2 Patrick Gilbert lost to Benjamin Matthews (Southend) 3-1 but by beating Adam Cuthbert (Colchester) 3-1 he took top spot in the Group.

Adam had earlier beaten Ben 3-0 and Ben had also lost 3-0 to Wiktor Delimat (Chelmsford) 3-0. Patrick and Luke then both won their semis 3-1 against Paul and Adam respectively  and as often happens with the last match of the day it went the full distance with Patrick winning -9, -10, 7, 6, 9.

Thanks to the BATTS personnel who were on hand to present the winners medals, Club Secretary Neil Brierley, Club Treasurer Sharon Head and BATTS Head Coach Aad Kwakkelstein.

Arthur C. Clark
Junior Match Secretary and Tournament Organiser.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2012/2013
CADET DIVISION 1B – FINAL TABLES
TEAM	P	W	D	L	GAMES F	GAMES A	SETS F	SETS A	Pts
WARWICKSHIRE	6	6	0	0	152	67	45	15	12
NORFOLK	6	5	0	1	149	70	44	16	10
ESSEX	6	3	1	2	133	98	38	22	7
OXFORDSHIRE	6	3	0	3	112	103	32	28	6
WORCESTERSHIRE	6	1	1	4	76	137	20	40	3
SUFFOLK	6	1	1	3	75	145	16	44	3
CAMBRIDGESHIRE	6	0	1	5	70	147	15	45	1

The second round of Cadet County Championships matches for Division 1B was held at BATTS Harlow on 16 March 2013 with five rounds of matches, each match played on two tables. After the first rounds of matches, played in their respective area halves of the Division, Essex, Norfolk and Warwickshire were equal with 4 points each from their two matches,

The first round of matches saw the playing of the remaining matches between the four south east Counties. Suffolk and Cambridgeshire fought out a draw. Harvey Dinkele was unbeaten for Suffolk, two four game wins with half of them deuces, and Charlotte Boston unbeaten for Cambs, the full distance over Natalie Wills and 20-18 in the fourth over Katherine Shaw. Norfolk’s boys strength showed in their 7-3 win over Essex, two of their boys ranked higher than the Essex boys and with Essex’s James Knudsen overcoming Louis Moyes 13-11 in the decider, both players on the same number of points. All the girls had one win each.

The teams from Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire had by now arrived to play their remaining four rounds of matches. Warwicks had a comfortable 9-1 win over Suffolk, only Natalie Wills offering any serious resistance, beating Olivia Fletcher 8 in the deciding game after being 2-0 up and losing 7 in the decider with Millie Bradshaw. Oxen, who sadly only had one girl, the other being away on a weekend school activity trip, lost 3-7 to Norfolk. They would have been delighted with Josh Selby’s 3-1 win over the much higher ranked Naphat Boonyaprapa. The highest ranked girl in the room, Kristelle Brook, won her two matches for Oxen but she was made to work hard for the second win by Mollie Patterson who only lost 11-9 in the fifth game. Worcestershire, bottom of the Table, would have been pleased with their draw with Essex when Alex Tomlinson beat Sam Hume 12-10 in the decider in the last match. For Worcs George Carroll remained unbeaten whilst Gracie Edwards won her two matches for Essex

After the short lunch break Norfolk beat Worcs 10-0, only three matches requiring more than three games. Significantly Rosanna Brocklesby came back from 2-0 down to win the last two games 14-12, 18 -16 to defeat the much higher ranked Holly Bilsborrow whilst Naphat similarly came back from 2-0 down to defeat Alex. Essex narrowly defeated Oxen 6-4, five of the matches needing a decider. Jenny Crapnell inflicted Kristelle’s only defeat by any of the other County’s girls coming back from 1-5 down at the turn round in the decider only to see Kristelle save two match points and then have a match point against her before winning 13-11. Essex’s Sam Hume was the only boy to win both his matches. Warwicks kept the pressure on Norfolk with an 8-2 win over Cambs, Cambs only wins coming against Milly Bradshaw.

The fourth round of matches would go a long way towards determining the winners and runners up of the Division when the two unbeaten teams, Norfolk and Warwicks clashed. Six matches went the full distance and the last round of matches was well under way by the other four teams before this match finished. The opening two matches were shared, Oscar Moyes coming back from 2-0 down to beat Lee Dorning while Ross Brown lost 3-0 to Sam Coombes. Norfolk won both the girls matches and with Louis Moyes beating George Alison in the decider of a hugely fluctuating match (2, -2, 3, -7, 5) Norfolk were 4-1 up. However Warwicks hit back with Lee beating Ross 3-1 and winning both girls matches late in the respective deciders to bring the match score 4-4. Sam beat Louis 3-0 and George had to come back from 2-0 down in his match with Oscar and save a match point in the fourth game to get Warwicks the 6-4 win. On the other tables Worcs beat Cambs 7-3 to move off the bottom of the Table and Oxen beat Suffolk by a similar score. For Worcs George Carroll, Chris Message and Alex Tomlinson won all their matches whilst Georgie Lister was unbeaten for Cambs and Suffolks only win on the table was achieved by Harvey Dinkele over Kavan Warrender.

With Norfolk having completed their fixtures they would have to wait to find out if Essex could defeat Warwicks in the day’s last round of matches to enable them to take the title on Sets difference. Essex did there best with Jennifer Crapnell and Gracie Edwards winning the four girls matches but George Alison,  Lee Dorning and Sam Coombes won their six matches (five would have been enough) to get Warwicks promoted to the Premier Division next season. Meanwhile Oxen beat Cambs 8-2, they won all the matches played, whilst Suffolk enjoyed their only win to move off the bottom of the Table by beating Worcs 6-4, Katherine Shaw instrumental by winning her two matches although George Carroll also won his two for Worcs.

Arthur C. Clark
Essex County TTA – Junior Match Secretary

The second round of Junior Premier County Championship matches was held at Wednesbury, on the weekend of Saturday/Sunday 02/03 February with two matches on both Saturday and Sunday. After the first round of matches last November the Essex team were second bottom and it was felt that they needed two wins from their four matches to avoid relegation from the Premier Division.

 However Essex’s problems started well before the first point was played. Jared Patel advised of his unavailability for the Sunday matches a week beforehand and the problem would be how to get him back home on the Saturday evening. Armagan Huseyin advised Keith Williams that he was available all weekend and thus was duly selected. Late on the Wednesday evening I was advised that Brandon Crouchman would not be able to play at the weekend so frantic phone calls were made to have a full team each day and avoid a fine for shortage of players as Essex had been last season. By the Thursday evening the team was sorted, Anil Patel would transport four players to Wednesbury on the Saturday morning and return Jared back home on the Saturday evening. Rob Bates would transport Charlie up to Wednesbury on the Saturday afternoon to enable him to play the two Sunday matches and then return with one of the other Essex players after the Sunday matches were completed. Thus the Essex Team would be Jared Patel, Ryan Williams, Armagan Huseyin, Ella Patel and Jane Li on the Saturday with Charlie Bates replacing Jared on the Sunday.

 Their first match was against Middlesex, runners up after the first round of matches at Cippenham. Although Ryan took the first game 13-11 off the opposition No. 1 Gabriel Achampong he lost the next three. Armagan lost his first two games against Danzel Wright 6 and 7 and then fought back to take the next two 9 and 5. 9-7 up in the decider and four points later the match was lost. Ella then played the lower ranked Zahna Hall. Losing the last five points of the first game after being 8-6 up she found herself 2-10 down in the second. Amazingly she won the next ten points and then won the next two games to 6 to put Essex on the scoreboard. Jared then beat Sam Cowan 3-1. Jane took the first game off Heba Feredj and although leading in the latter stages of the fourth was unable to take her match to a decider. Ryan lost to Danzel 3-1 although having won the second he had led in the latter stages in the third game. Jane lost 3-0 to the higher ranked Zahna and Jared, having taken the first game off Gabriel 11-8 lost the next three although leading in the latter stages of all three. Ella lost the first two games to Heba, won the next two, saving the fourth from 8-6 down but lost the last five points of the decider from 8-6 up. Armagan lost the last match 3-0 to Sam for an 8-2 defeat.

 The late afternoon match was against Yorkshire, now a point above Essex having drawn their earlier match with Sussex. Essex made a great start winning five of the first six matches. Jared came back from two down to beat defender James Hobson, Armagan beat Matthew Stephens 3-1 and although Jane lost to the higher ranked Nicole Finn, Ryan continued the run with an excellent 3-1 win over the much higher ranked Abhijay Misrah although he failed to convert one of five game points when losing the second game 17-15, Ella beat Kate Nixon 3-0 and Armagan beat James in five, having lost the first game 11-3 and losing 12-10 in the fourth after leading late on. The next two matches were lost, Jane to Kate 3-0, and Jared to Abhijay after leading 5-3 at the turn round in the decider. It was left to Ryan to secure an Essex win 11-7 in the decider with Matthew but Ella was unable to extend the Essex lead when losing to Nicole after she came back from playing for her Senior Team in the other hall, Ella failing to go 2-1 up in the third game after leading 10-8. Essex were now a point ahead of Yorkshire with bottom placed Warwickshire looking doomed to relegation.

Sunday morning’s opponents were Kent and Essex were soon 2-0 down, both Armagan and Charlie losing 3-0 to Luke Savill and James Smith respectively. Things got worse when Ella lost to the lower ranked Evie Foster 12-10 in the decider after being 9-7 up. Ryan gave the Essex Team some hope by defeating Jack Davies 3-1 and although Jane succumbed 3-0 to the much higher ranked Daniella Gray she had fought back from 10-6 down in the second game and let a 7-4 lead in the third slip. Armagan was 2-1 down to James before fighting back to take the decider 11-5 but Jane lost 3-1 to Evie. Ryan also lost 3-1 to Luke, letting a 10-7 lead in the second slip and nearly did the same in the third after leading 10-3. Ella should have beaten Daniella 3-1 when leading 8-6 and failing to convert three match points. She was never in contention in the decider. Charlie made the score line look better with a 3-0 win over Jack. The bad news for Essex was that Yorkshire had beaten second placed Lincs 7-3 and thus we were back in relegation position. We therefore had to beat bottom placed Warwickshire in the last match and hope that Yorkshire lost to leaders Middlesex.

 Things looked grim for Essex when they went 2-0 down, Ryan losing to Matthew Outhwaite 3-1 after taking the first game 12-10. Charlie put up a great fight against Jesse Kindrick-Hill, ranked 250 points above him. Winning the first game to 9, in the second he pulled back a 0-6 deficit to 7-7 only to lose 8 which was also the loss score in the third from 8-8. He won the fourth 11-4 and led 7-4 in the decider before Jesse’s Time Out changed the game and Charlie shots to clinch one of his two match points just missed the end of the table. Jane and Ella won all their matches against Holly Thompson and Milly Bradshaw 3-0. Armagan and Ryan both lost 3-0 to Lawrence Sweeney as did Charlie to Matthew. The draw was achieved when Armagan came back from 2-0 down to Jesse, saving two match points in the third to win it 13-11 and taking the last two games 9 and 7. However the draw was not enough to prevent relegation as the Yorkshire-Middlesex match was still in progress with Yorks leading 4-2 and already a better sets difference. Other years 5 points has always meant safety but this year had we have beaten Warwicks, their three boys were all ranked more than 100 points above the Essex boys, 6 points would not have been enough as Yorks ended up drawing with Middlesex who claimed the Title by 1 point from Sussex

 Jared 2 wins out of 4. Ryan 3 out of 8, Armagan 4 out of 8, Charlie 1 out of 4 Ella 4 out of 8 and Jane 2 out of 8.

 Looking back at the weekend’s matches the equal second bottom teams Yorkshire and Glamorgan strengthened their teams over those that played in the November rounds of matches and thus avoided relegation. So the win over Yokshire was a good one. Overall Teams were stronger and more equal in strength than previous years with no 10-0 results. Girls wise most teams had their top two players (all except Warwickshire were in the top 30 in the Ranking List) and Jane was 33.

 Thanks must go to the players themselves for coaching one another.

Final Table

 Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary.

County Junior Secretary Arthur Clark reports:-

The first round of Cadet County Championships matches for the south eastern part of Division 1B was held at BATTS Harlow on 1 December 2012 with two rounds of matches, each match played on two tables before Senior Premier County matches took over for the rest of the weekend.

 To give the lesser ranked players the experience in playing for the County the top three ranked girls were not selected having already played in the County’s Junior Teams this season and neither were the top two boys. Thus the team was James Knudsen, Sidney Dorn, Oliver Hicks, Jessica Jarvis and Jenny Crapnell and they rose to the occasion with help and advice from coach Stuart Gibbs by not losing a set in their two matches.

 Their first match was against Cambridgeshire. Sidney and Oliver started with 3-1 wins over David Leek and James Kelly and Jessica then had a 3-1 win over Georgie Lister, but after two easy games lost the third 12-10 and came back to scrape the fourth 13-11. Meanwhile on the other table a nervous Jenny lost her first two games 9 and 8 which she felt perhaps she should have won but after winning the last two points of the third game confidence regained to lead all the way in the last two games to take them 7 and 8. James won his first match 3-0 and his second 3-1 and with Sidney, Jenny and Oliver allwinning there remaining matches 3-0 it was Jessica the last player to finish her match having the same trouble with Abbie that Jenny had had earlier. She eventually came through -14, 4, -8, 10, 3 for the 10-0 win

 Their second match was against Suffolk who had just lost 9-1 to Norfolk. James and Oliver both lost their opening game and took the next three comfortably. Jessica beat Elsie Mason 3-0 and Sidney beat Harvey Dinkele, ranked 75 places above him, 3-0 whilst Jenny was involved in another marathon, this time with Katherine Shaw. Losing the first game 12-10 she finally took the second 17-15, a game both players had equal chances to win, and the third, coming back from 8-0 down to take nine consecutive points and close it out 11-9, losing the fourth 11-8 and finding everything going her way in the decider to win it 11-3. Oliver then had an even closer match with Adam Reeve, saving four match points to win 11, 8, -12, -9, 14. The last four matches were all won although James struggled to beat Harvey, ranked 80 points below him, -9, 8, 15, 9.

 Essex lead the current table with 4 points having a superior sets aggregate than the unbeaten Norfolk Team

 The north west half of the Division (Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire) play their first round matches at Coventry on 8 December and all teams gather at BATTS on Saturday 16 March for the final rounds of matches. Essex’s first match will be against Norfolk whose boys are all ranked above the Essex Trio.

 Arthur C. Clark
Junior Match Secretary 

The first round of Junior Premier County Championship matches was held at the Cippenham Table Tennis Centre on the weekend of Saturday/Sunday 10/11 November with one match Saturday afternoon and two on Sunday. Having just escaped relegation last season, this season has started as a repeat of last season.

Currently second bottom in the Table the fight against relegation will be a tough proposition but there are five other teams in a similar relegation fight.

 The opening match on the Saturday afternoon was against last season’s winners, Sussex. The first two matches were quickly lost 3-0, Alex Holland and Brandon Crouchman to Jack and Josh Bennett respectively.

Ella Patel then beat Emma Sheen 3-0 and brother Jared came back from 2-1 down to beat Daniel Barna  to make the match score 2-2. Emily Godfrey lost to England No. 9 Lois Peake 3-0, Alex to Josh 3-1 and Emily then won her match against Emma, ranked only four places below her 3-0 to bring the score 3-4. The battles of the two number ones in the next two matches went against the rankings, Jared ranked four places and 150 points above Jack lost 11-8 in the decider whilst Ella , ranked eight places and 570 points below Lois beat her 8, -9, 6, 8 for an excellent win. Alas Brandon lost the last match to Daniel 3-0 so a 6-4 defeat.

 Sunday morning’s match was against newly promoted Glamorgan who had beaten Yorkshire the day before and included the Jenkin’s siblings in their team. There was never more than one match in the scoreline throughout except at the final result. Jared beat Callum Evans 3-0 but Brandon lost 3-1 to Jac Jenkins, beaten for speed. Jane renewed the Essex lead with a 3-1 win over Beth Roberts but Alex let a 10-6 lead in the third game slip to lose to Chris Griffiths. Ella renewed the lead again with a 3-0 win over Suffi Jenkins but two matches later the lead transferred to Glamorgan, Brandon had lost 3-1 to Callum and Jane 3-0 to Suffi. Jared squared the match score again, after two easy games against Chris he came back from 9-2 down in the third to agonisely lose 11-9 and nearly lost the fourth, letting an 8-5 lead slip, saving a game point and finally winning 12-10. Ella was all at sea at the start of her match with Beth, saving four game points in the first before losing 12-10, and losing the second to 7. After coach Brandon made a few play suggestions, the next two games were won 3 and 4 but first game fallibilities returned in the decider and it was with relief to the rest of the team when she scraped home 11-9. Alex managed to muffle the flair of Jac to win 10, 5, 5 for a much needed 6-4 Team win.

 The afternoon match was against the other promoted Team, Lincolnshire and they look to be the favourite title contenders ahead of Middlesex. The opening match between Jared, ranked 9 and Tom Jarvis, ranked 11, was a real cracker. Jared won the last two points to take the first game. missed a game point in the second, then lost it, game points to both players in the third with Jared finally squeezing home in the fourth of a really close encounter 9, -10, 15, 9. Difficult to follow this match and Brandon almost did after winning the first two games against England No. 29 Matt Leete 12 and 9. Nothing went right for Brandon in the third and the turning point of the match came at the end of the fourth game. At 9-8 up Brandon served off the end of the table, then saved a game point. At 11-10 up Brandon’s apparent winning forehand shot was somehow retrieved by Matt only for the retrieval to gain the finest of edges on the far side of the table. Brandon lost that game 14-12 and in the decider everything went Matt’s way. Jane then lost to England No. 24 Olivia Churchill 3-0, Alex was no match for No. 7 ranked Adam Harrison and Ella, ranked 17, lost 3-0 to Emily Ross having failed to convert a 10-8 lead in the second game. Brandon having lost the first two games easily to Tom did much better in the third losing it 12-10. Next on, the match between Jane, ranked 31 and Emily ranked 29 and a titanic match this proved to be. Jane lost the first 11-0, won the second 12-10 and the third 11-8, lost the fourth 14-12 after being 9-7 and 10-9 up and after the Time Out at 9-5 went on to win 11-6. Sadly Jared was no match for Adam, losing 3-0, Ella could not make her higher ranking over Olivia tell, losing 3-1 although she had one chance to take that match to a decider, and Alex could not take the last match to a fourth game

 The next round of matches is at Wednesbury on the weekend of 2 and 3 February 2013. Such is the closeness of the Division this season that any two of the bottom six teams having a bad second round of matches could be relegated.

Jared 4 wins out of 6, Alex 1 from 6, Brandon 0 from 6, Ella 4 from 6, Emily 1 from 2 and Jane 2.from 4.

 Current Table

                               P          W         D         L          F          A          Pts

Lincolnshire     3          3          0          0          21        9          6

Middlesex        3          2          1          0          21        9          5

Kent                 3          2          0          1          16        14        4

Sussex            3          1          1          1          14        16        3

Glamorgan      3          1          0          2          14        16        2

Yorkshire         3          1          0          2          13        17        2

Essex              3          1          0          2          12        18        2

Warwickshire  3          0          0          3          9          21        0

 For the Junior Second Team Division 1A was geographically split into two halves. A southern half of Bedfordshire, Essex 2, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire 1, and a northern half of Cheshire 1, Cleveland, Shropshire and South Yorkshire.  To reduce travelling the Counties agreed to play the first round of matches at venues in each half and meet at a central venue for the final round of matches. Thus BATTS Harlow was used for the southern half matches on Saturday 10 November and Widnes for the northern half matches on Sunday 11 November. The Essex Team for the day’s three rounds of matches would be James Denyer, Charlie Bates, Samuel Lowman, Stephanie Cross and Tiana Dennison

 The first match was against Northants 1 who quickly took a 4-0 lead. James lost to Alex Ramsden, ranked five places above him, Sam 3-0 to Aiden Smith, Tiana 3-1 to England No. 23 Nicole Bird and Charlie 3-2 to Miles Chan after being 2-1 up. Stephanie chalked up the Team’s first win with a comfortable 8, 4, 3 win over Bhavika Mistry, ranked only four places below her and two matches on Tiana did the same only this time it was 9, 9, 9. In between Sam had lost 3-0 to Alex. James then lost 9, 5, 10 to Miles and Stephanie, having pulled back a 2-0 deficit to Nicole lost the decider 11-4. In the last match Charlie also pulled back a 2-0 deficit and then went on to win the-match 7, -8, 10, 9, 8 against Aiden so a 3-7 defeat.

 The second match was against Bedfordshire. James’s opening match was against Isaac Beevor, ranked 16 places above him which he lost 9, 9, -5, 14 whilst on the other table Sam lost 3-0 to Alex Meade. Beds only had one girl, Rachel Sayer who lost to Tiana 3-0 and later on to Stephanie with similar game scores. Charlie took the first game off Josh Robinson, ranked 31, but lost the next three and with Sam and James both losing 3-0 to Isaac and Josh respectively Essex were 5-3 down. With Stephanie’s win and Charlie’s 3-1 win over the higher ranked Alex Meade a draw was achieved.

 The third match was against neighbours Hertfordshire. Charlie lost to Luke Walsh, Ranked 24, 3-0 whilst on the other table Sam gained his first win of the day with a 9, -6, 7, 11 victory over Michael Bailey. Stephanie lost 12-10 in the fourth game to Sofie Tofalides and James came back from 2-1 down to beat Jack Josephs 10, -9, -8, 9, 6 to make the match score 2-2. With Tiana losing 3-0 to Annabelle Gibson and Charlie defeating Michael 3-1 the match score became 3-3. Sadly the last four matches were all lost, three of them at 3-0 and James unluckily to Luke -5, 13, 8, -4, 10.

 Their next round of matches is at Wellingborough on Saturday 6 April where it looks as though two wins from the four matches are needed if Essex is to stay up in Division 1.

 With the match scores now received from the northern half matches the Table is:-

                                    P          W         D         L          F          A          Pts

Northamptonshire 1    3          3          0          0          21        9          6

Cleveland                    3          2          1          0          19        11        5

Cheshire 1                   3          2          1          0          19        11        5

Hertfordshire               3          1          1          1          16        14        3

South Yorkshire          3          1          0          2          15        15        2

Bedfordshire               3          0          2          1          12        18        2

Essex 2                       3          0          1          2          11        19        1

Shropshire                   3          0          0          3          4          26        0

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary.

The Essex Junior ranking List has been published for this season and can be viewed via the following link –  Essex Junior Ranking List 2012-2013.

The first BATTS One Star Junior Open Tournament of season 2012/13 was held at the home of BATTS Table Tennis Club, the Norman Booth Centre, Old Harlow on the 27/28 October. Despite the weekend being the start of the half term holiday and Greenhouse holding their Closed Tournament there was a reasonable entry.

All the Girls events were Round Robins and for the Boys, Consolation events for those players who failed to finish in the top two places in their Groups. One remarkable fact, and I cannot recollect it happening in any previous BATTS Junior Tournaments, all the scheduled entrants for the Sunday Under 13 and 15 events turned up to play which is more than can be said for the Saturday events where a number of seeded player withdrawals on the day in the Boys events caused a hasty reconstitution of the first round Groups in both Under 16 and 18 events.

 Saturday morning started with the Under 16 Boys and Girls events. For the Boys only three Groups, one of six players and two of five players scheduled, three players having withdrawn during the previous week. Both seeds in Group 2 failed to turn up but with one extra player whose Entry Form is still in Royal Mails possession we started with three reconstituted Groups of five players. The two original Group top seeds, Jamie Fisher (He) and James Knudsen (E) won their respective Groups but the new top Group seed Ben Brown (Ca) only went through as runner up to Samuel Horscroft (also Ca) on a three way tie count back with Luke Rhys Jones He) There was also a three way tie for second place in Group 3 which went to Paul Munns (Bd). Samuel beat James 3-1 in the semi final of the KO event and Jamie -5, 6, 2, 9 in the final.

The Consolation event was won by Mateusz Mikosk (He) 6, -9, 10, 6 over Joshua Poland (E), similar scores to those he achieved over Joshua in the tie for third place in Group 1. Mateusz had earlier won his quarter and semi finals 3-1 whereas Joshua had to go the full distance to win his semi over Alex Waller -4, 10, 5, -5, 9.

 The afternoon event was the Under 18 Boys event, three Groups of five and one of four became four Groups of four following the withdrawal of the top two seeds. A hurried reconstitution of the Groups gave four new top seeds with barely 30 ranking points between them. All four, Charlie Bates, Jordan Gabriel(Nk), Charlie Bates (E), Jack Anthony (Sk) and Shane Clark (Mi) won their new Groups, only Charlie needing a fifth game decider against Jamie Fisher. These four players all reached the KO semis and produced two cracking matches in their different styles. Charlie beat Jordan -5, 11, 7, 7 whilst Jack defeated Shane -8, 10, -13, 5, 4. In the final Jack always had the edge winning 7, 6, -6, 5

Matusz Mikosz reached his second Consolation final of the day but in a one-sided match lost to Jamie Fisher 1, 5, 4. The losing semi finalists were Oliver Gregory (E) and Ben Brown.

 In the Under 16 Girls event only four players entered. Jessica Jarvis (E) won her three matches and Zoe Waxkirsh won a nail biting last Group match -7, 11, 8, -11, 8 against Ema Gadzhova (He) to secure the runners up position.

 There were also four entrants for the Under 18 Girls event and Ema’s request to join the Group was met and became fully justified when she finished as the runner up, losing only to Group winner Jessica 7, -5, -9, 4, 9. Jessica also had a tough match with Zoe, winning 10, 7, 10.

 Sunday’s events started with the Under 13’s. As stated above all the entrants turned up to play. Four Groups of six boys, each Group played on two tables. The four top seeds, James Smith (K), Louis Moyes (Nk), George Coulson (He) and Anthony Close (He) all duly won their respective Groups. James and Louis did not drop a game between them, whilst George dropped just the two in beating Rhys Evans (He) -9, 5, -10, 7, 8 and Anthony lost to Oscar Terrell (E) 3-1 and just squeezed past Jamie Liu (Bk) (more later) 9, -6, 10, -10, 11 to win his Group on count back. James continued his 3-0 wins right through to the KO Final which he won 8, 8, 4 against Louis. Louis, however, had a really tough semi only beating Naphat Boonyaprapa (Nk) 9, 3, -10, -3, 9, whilst James’s semi was much easier against George Coulson.

 In the U13 Consolation event Sam Hume (E) reached the final after coming back from a 2-0 deficit against Richard Chenery-Woods (Sk) to win -7, -0, 6, 4, 8. In the other half semi Kai Ghazi Timms (Mi) overcame Oscar Terrell (E) 9, -9, 5, 7 but lost 7, -9, 8, 8 to Sam in the final.

 The afternoon Boys event, the Under 15 Singles, there were seven Groups, three of six players and four of five players. Marcus Hensher was the only top seed not to win his Group after losing in five games to Sam Liu (Bk) but by beating the Group winner Kevin Fang (He) also in five went through to the main KO event as the runner up on count back in the three way tie for first position. The other Group winners did not have it all their own way either. Jay Ghazi Timms (Mi) needed five games to beat James Knudsen (E), James Smith dropped his first game of the day when winning 3-1 over Sam Hume and Andrew Chapman (Sy) five games to beat George Coulson. Jordan Ingles, Oscar and Louis Moyes won their Groups by winning all their matches 3-0. In the KO James Smith was dominant again, but only after a titanic quarter final battle with George Coulson 6, -8, 11, -11, 6. In the other half Jay Ghazi Timms had a tougher time in reaching the final after beating Joshua Poland (E) 7, -6, 8, -9, 9 in the first round and Andrew Chapman 5, 11, -7, 9 in the semi. Jay was no match for James in the final losing 2, 6, 7.

The sensation of the day came in the Consolation event.  In the top half Anthony Close comfortably reached the final with 3-0 wins in all his matches whilst young Jamie Liu, who only finished fourth in his Group, won all his matches 3-0 over Jia Hao Gu (He), Sam Hume, James Knudsen and elder brother Sam 10, 10, 10, (but to be fair to Sam he appeared to be suffering a slight foot injury) to reach the final to play Anthony whom he had lost to -8, -6, 8, 8, 5 in their earlier Group match. This was the second time that day that two players from the same Group had reached a final. After the first game which Jamie finally won he was “on fire” winning the next two games 3, 4 for a jubilant celebration. Jamie is only eight and a half years old so when did an eight year old player, if ever, win a Cadet Ranking event, even if it was a Consolation event?

 Both the Under 13 and Under 15 Girls events attracted seven entrants and both were played as Round Robins. In the U13 event Tiana Dennison (E) won all her matches and only Zoe Davies (E) managed to take a game off her. Shristi Ghosh (Mi) had also won all her matches until the last match in the Group for both of them and had to give best to Tiana. 9, 5, 7. Gracie Edwards and Zoe Davies (both E) finished third and fourth.

Tiana was also to the forefront in the Under 15 event but lost to Ema Gadzhova 6, 9, -11, 8 so she finished runner up in the Group. To win the Group Ema ‘s toughest match was against Jessica Jarvis (E) and she came through late in the fifth -8, 9, 9, -10, 6. Jessica finished third and Shristi fourth.

With the withdrawals on Saturday a finish an hour ahead of Schedule was achieved, whilst on Sunday with everyone attending, and despite some players disappearing at the end of the day without umpiring after they had lost, thus causing a delay in starting the next match, and they and others know who they were, we still finished the last two finals spot on Schedule.

 Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary

Essex Junior Secretary Arthur Clark reports:-

The Essex Junior Assessment Trials were held at BATTS, Harlow on the weekend of 08/09 September. The Under 18 Boys event was played on the Saturday with the Under 13 and Under 15 Boys events and all the Girls events played on the Sunday. There were only two boys entered in the Under 11 event so their ranking would be determined by the match they would play in the Under 13 event. There were ten tables in play on both days.

The Under 18 Boys event results would form the basis of selection for Essex’s two junior teams. With 38 entries, 8 less than last year, the players were divided in to six groups of five players and two groups of four players based roughly on national rankings. With four withdrawals on the day and one scratch entry we then had three groups of five players and five groups of four players. Unfortunately this meant that some Groups were much weaker than I would have liked. In the first round of matches all the seven remaining Group seeds came top of their Group, the one casualty being Jermaine Fearon who had been promoted to fill the vacant space. Players taking advantage of the weaker Groups included Clacton’s Sam Hume, Elliott Attrill and Tom Burton, Mossford’s Josh Dye and Colchester’s Josh Sidki. Closest match in this first round was that between Amar Kalsi (Mossford) and Sam Hume, Sam winning 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10. The second round involved four Groups of eight players and one of three. The Group of fourth placed players involved three Cadet players, two of whom would play one another the next day. James Knudsen (BATTS) won this Group but only after coming back from 10-8 down in the decider against Oliver Hicks (Braintree) to win 12-10. Oliver was to finish runner up in the Group. The other Cadet, David Fanimoh (Eastbury) (he came fourth in the Group) had an even closer match with James, losing 15-17, 12-14, 9-11. James had also squeezed through 11-9 in the decider with Kelvin Olano (Clacton) whilst Oliver beat Kelvin 11-8 in their decider. In the Group of third placed players Zach Harrington (Braintree) was the winner although he had lost 9-11 in the decider with Mossford’s James Ashley. In the Runners Up Group Jermaine Fearon won all his matches comfortably with Ryan Broom (Mossford) the Runner Up. The first round Winners Group always looked to be between the top three ranked players on the day and this is how it proved. The match between the top two players went the full distance with Ryan Williams taking the last three points in the decider with Alex Holland, the edge at 8-8 being the catalyst in the slightly higher ranked Alex’s loss. Third placed Charlie Bates (Southend) took Ryan to a decider but then had one of those games where nothing would go right for him. It seemed there was a big gap in standard between these three and the rest of the Group where finishing positions confirmed last season’s Cadet Ranking positions.

Sunday morning’s events were the Under 13 Boys and Under 18 Girls. For the Boys there should have been two Groups of five players but one player did not attend. With little or no ranking points for any of the entrants the Group format was achieved by dividing the Club/League entries between the two Groups. Rahul Jindal (Mossford) and Sam Hume were the two Group winners and with Rahul beating Thomas Nguyen (Chelmsford) 3-1 in their match this decided the Under 11 rankings. Rahul also beat Club mate Jaspal Channa 11-8 in their decider. Sam’s wins were much easier in his Group and he went on to win the second round Group without dropping a game in any of his matches, Rahul finished second and Thomas third.

The Boy’s afternoon event was the Under 15’s with 29 cadets in attendance from 31 entries, thus five Groups of five players and one of four. The top four seeds all won their Groups, dropping only two games between them. Sixth seed Daniel Rhodes (Colchester) finished a runner up whilst fifth seed Ryan Gooday (Chelmsford) finished third but an umpiring error in his match with Tom Wilkin (which both Ryan and myself missed) should have relegated him to fourth on count back. Ryan took advantage of this error by winning all his third placed Group matches. The error relegated Tom to fifth place where he then could only finish a runner up in that Group. In the Runners Up Group Daniel finished third to Sam Hume and Dylan Dixon (Mossford). In the winners Group Ryan beat Kleber Silva (Eastbury) 11-4, 12-10 11-6 to win the Group with Kleber the runner up, James Knudsen third.

The Girls retained occupation of Tables 9 and 10 all day. Firstly it was the Under 18 event with seven players after Shannon Rolfe (Southend) withdrew on that morning. Only Cheridan Thompson (Mossford) and Emily Godfrey (Southend) could take a game off Jane Li (Colchester), the Group winner, and Emily’s only lost games were to Jane. Jessica Jarvis (BATTS) finished third and Shannon Conway (Eastbury) fourth.

The under 11 Girls event was between three evenly matched players. Emma Knudsen (BATTS) had to come from 2-0 down to beat Emily Smith (Southend). Gracie Edwards (Clacton) then managed to beat Emily 3-1 to set up the Group decider which Emma won 11-7, 10-12. 7-11, 12-10, 12-10.

Zoe Davies (Southend) was to have a busy day and I had rescheduled her matches in the Under 18 event so that she could start her matches in the Under 13 event before the U18 finished. Her first match was against Gracie which she won 12-10 in the fifth but found the rest of her matches much easier, winning them all 3-0. Gracie and Emily met again and this time the result was reversed, 14-12 in the decider to Emily. There was an even closer match between club mates Sarah James and Vanessa Fernandes (both Eastbury) which Sarah won 16-14 in the decider. With three equal second placed girls count back made Gracie the runner up, with Emma third and Emily fourth.

The afternoon event was the Under 15’s and this event started before the Under 13’s finished. Twelve entries in two Groups but Clacton’s Lucy Barton withdrew a couple of days beforehand. In Group 1 only one match needed a fourth game, Jessica dropping it to Jenny Crapnell (Chelmsford). Jane Li won the Group with Jessica second and Jenny third. In the other Group six matches went to a fourth game and one to a decider, Gracie getting the better of Shannon Conway 11-6. Shannon, who was seeded 2 in the Group also lost to Emily Wood (Chelmsford) who went on to finish runner up in the Group. The Group was won by Stephanie Cross (BATTS). The second round of matches was played with winners and runners up in the top Group, third and fourth placed players in the second Group and fifth and sixth placed players in the other Group The top Group was won by Jane Li and Stephanie found herself 2-1 down to Jessica before taking the next two games to secure the runners up position. Jessica beat Emily 3-1 for third place. Jenny won the second Group and Gracie avenged her earlier defeat by Zoe to finish runner up. Shannon, the number three seed for this event finished fourth.

In the to be issued Essex Junior Ranking List in a couple of weeks or so those players who did not turn up on the day and did not subsequently give a valid reason will probably not be ranked. Those players who were off injured or who gave an acceptable valid reason for absence will be considered for ranking and ranked as appropriate.

Pre Season warm up - Essex - Herts Friendly @ BATTS

Junior and Cadet County friendly matches between Essex and Herts have been a regular fixture for a few years now. Organised Herts Secretary Nelson D’Lima and played at Barnet TTC. This year BATTS was the host club on Saturday 30 June.  Matches were for players who have never been selected to play for their County in County Championship matches and played on County Championships format. Each match was played on two tables.

 Results were:

 Essex Cadet v Herts Cadet        Lose 4-6
Essex Junior v Herts Junior       Lose 4-6
Essex Cadet v Herts Junior        Lose 3-7
Essex Junior v Herts Junior       Win 9-1

 Herts Teams

 Junior:   Jack Josephs, Chris Clifford, Luke Jones, Lucy Salter, Chris and Luke shared the absent Girl’s matches.

Cadet:   Ethan Walsh, Jordan Ingles, Tom Black, Matthew Appleton, Jonathon Evans (Matthew and Jonathon played the girls matches.

 Essex Teams:

Junior:   Liam Williams, Keiran Skeggs. Patrick Gilbert, Sarah Austin (last minute reserve who played for Essex 2 years ago), Shannon Conway.

Cadet:   James Knudsen, Ryan Gooday, Jennifer Crapnell. Emily Wood. Dylan Dixon (Mossford) was unavailable to play so Jenny and Emily shared his matches.

 In the Herts v Essex Cadet match Herts Ethan and Jordan won both their matches, Tom beat Jenny 11-9 in the fifth but lost 11-9 in the fifth to Ryan and Matthew beat Emily in five. For Essex Jenny won both her ‘girls’ matches and Emily beat Jonathon in five.

In the Herts v Essex Junior match Herts Jack and Chris won both their matches and Luke and Chris won their ‘girls’ match. For Essex Shannon and Sarah both beat Lucy and Patrick and Keiran both beat Luke.

 In the Herts Junior v Essex Cadet match Jack won his two and Chris his three matches. Luke won two but lost to Ryan 11-8 in the fifth. Emily and Jenny both beat Lucy.

In the Herts Cadet v Essex Junior match Ethan was the only Herts winner, defeating Liam 12-10 in the fifth. Matthew and Jordan came close losing 11-9 and 14-12 in the fifth to Shannon and Patrick respectively.

Interesting fact! – Although Herts beat Essex 3-1 on Sets won the score was 20-20.

 A good afternoon enjoyed by all the players and spectators with some excellent matches and potentially future County players.

 Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary
9 July 2012