Danbury Table Tennis Club Championships – Club Championships 2025

Danbury Table Tennis Club is one of the largest Clubs in Essex and has recently held its annual Club Championships and Tournament.  As with every year the Club Tournament throws up plenty of unexpected victories as the players all know their team-mates strengths and weaknesses.

The first competition to be concluded was the Handicap Singles Cup where players receive a points handicap depending on their abilities and official rankings – the idea is to produce an even playing field.  After several rounds of play our two finalists emerged and it was no surprise that Ian Wall and Eric Green had made the final as they are both very successful handicap proponents across various county organisations.  A big nod though to the Wyman family as Dick Wyman took Green to deuce in the final set in their quarter-final encounter, and grandson Oscar Wyman went one better and defeated Arron Chandler at the round of 16 stage.  In the final itself, despite some brilliant counter-hitting from Green, Wall had a little too much on the night and was crowned Champion.

At the Finals Night itself the first set of matches were the Open Singles semi-finals.  The first match was between our two giant killers, as player of the tournament Arron Chandler had knocked out top seed and holder Ian Wall at the quarter-final stage, and Sanjay Saptarshi had bested another top seed in Eric Green in a tight 5 setter in his quarter-final.  The match itself was a cagey affair with Saptarshi struggling to adapt to the pimples and variety of shots from Chandler.  Chandler was just too good on the night and came through for his first Singles Final.  In the second semi-final seeds 2 and 3 met as Keith Adams took on his team-mate John Poysden.  Familiarity didn’t help Poysden in this one as he struggled to get going in the first leg as Adams dominated, and even though he came out fighting in leg 2 and took an ‘unassailable’ 8-1 lead he still managed to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory to go 0-2 down.  In what turned out to be the winning set Adams was just too consistent in the 3^rd leg and marched onto the Final.   The Final was a great match-up, very much David v Goliath stuff.  Adams came out strong and steady and made minimal mistakes, with Chandler a bit more erratic, even though at times his play was exceptional.  Adams took the first 2 sets for a comfortable lead and Chandler needed to buck his ideas up if he wanted to stay in this match.   That he did, cutting out some of the unforced errors and pushing Adams all the way with thoughtful positioning and shot selection, combined with some phenomenal defending form distance.  Chandler found himself with game point at 10-9 but couldn’t secure the winning margin, and this happened for the next 3 match points until Adams squared up at 13-13 and then on his first Championship point Adams smashed a winner that took him to glory as he lifted the Peter Linnett Cup for the 3^rd time.  A worthy Champion!

The Restricted Singles Final went all the way to a fifth and final leg before a champion emerged.  This year’s protagonists were Denis Crapnell and Peter Hance.  Players with very different styles that led to a tactical battle as they each tried to play on the other’s perceived weaknesses.  Hance took the opening leg when really it was there for the talking by Crapnell but he capitulated in the final crucial points. This only served to steel the Crapnell focus and he rattled off the 2^nd and 3^rd legs to take the lead.  Hance played a bit more open in the 4^th set and this suited his style more than his opponents and he was able to square off the match and take us into a deciding winner-takes-all 5^th leg.  Hance continued where he left off and switched ends with a 5-2 lead, and this even extended to 7-4 before Crapnell braved up and began to push his player around the court and force him out of position and this ultimately won him the match as Hance off-balance could not get his shots where he wanted and Crapnell came from behind to secure a famous victory.

The Drawn Doubles Final for the Pat Dukes Cup was an interesting match up as Arron Chandler & Peter Harverson took on Bruce Kettle & Dave Marsh.

So what do you get if you combine the most improved player in the Club, and the most in-form player of the tournament? Red hot favourites, I guess. However, despite their odds-on starting position Chandler & Harverson needed to overcome the trickery and doubles mastery of Kettle, with Marsh having the simple role of just getting the ball back!  This one was all about who faced who in the doubles combinations.  The first leg was a bit cagey as the players sized each other up looking for weaknesses in the combinations but Chandler & Harverson came through eventually at 15-13.  The combination in the second leg favoured Chandler & Harverson as Kettles fantastic serves were less effective when Chandler was receiving, and they quickly rattled off this one for a 2-0 lead.  The third leg was all about Kettle as his service against leftie Harverson was too dominant and the leg was swiftly over following a final flourish of winners from Marsh.  Back to their favoured combination in leg 4 and Chandler & Harverson made few errors to finish off the leg and be crowned Doubles Champions.    

Our newest competition is the Hardbat Singles where players are restricted to provided plain bats with no additional rubber – it completely changes the game back to a bygone era.  At Danbury we have some very talented hardbat proponents, and luckily our two most talented made it through the qualifying rounds to set up the Final everyone wanted.  The crowd was not disappointed as Bruce Kettle and Eric Green went about their business with some amazing lengthy rallies of attack versus defence.  Kettle is the master of attack on both wings, Green can retrieve everything and force his returns just over the net to thwart any idea of an easy killshot.  In the opening leg Kettle was at his majestic best, attacking whenever he could with Green playing catch-up on the adjustment back to hardbats.  So first blood to Kettle, but in the second set Green was more accurate and more athletic in his retrieval and the frustrated Kettle became a bit loose with his shots and Green was able to wear him down and dominate the leg to even up the match.  The deciding leg was a closer affair but Kettle was always ahead as his attack was more cautious and accurate than pure power.  With Kettle leading 11-8 (hardbat is played to a sudden-death 15) Green needed to catch up and do it quickly.  Kettle was having none of that and rattled off 4 quick points to take the leg and retain his Hardbat Crown.  A truly awesome watch.

Club Chairman Eric Green also awarded Peter Harverson with the Village Hall Trophy for being the most improved player across the Club this season as evidenced by his massive increase of 709 ranking points.  Green also thanked tournament organiser Dan Anderson for all his hard and efficient work setting up and running the Tournament.

Pic 1 – 2025 Open Singles Winner Keith Adams

Pic 2 – action from the Singles Final

Pic 3 – 2025 Hardbat Singles Winner Bruce Kettle

Pic 4 – Action from the Doubles Final 2025

Pic 5 – Restricted Singles Winner – Denis Crapnell

Pic 6 – Action from the Handicap Final – Eric Green v Ian Wall

Pic 7 – Peter Harverson – Village Hall Cup Winner 2025

Report by Eamonn Hall

• 

Gary Young completed the double in the Braintree Table Tennis League.  He not only won the open singles, but also topped the individual averages, a feat much rarer than might be expected.

It’s only been achieved once in the last 14 years – in 2017, by Brandon Crouchman.

Young finished with a hundred per cent record from eight matches, something that has not been done since Kevin Gowlett in 2014.

He was stretched to four games three times, by Steve Pennell, Adam Buxton and Sam Burrows, and only once to five, by Victor Chan.

For most of the season it looked as if his teammate and predecessor as open singles champion Paul Davison would join him on 100 per cent but he slipped up against Sean Clift with only two matches left.

Paul Lucas, equal first in 2023 and fourth last year, jumps up one place to third.  He lost three times, to Davison and twice to Young.

Matthew Brown in division two likewise waited until late in the season before he lost his unbeaten record.

He had won everything in three or four games before Rev Matthews took the first two games off him – and stretched him to 12-10 in the fourth – at the end of February. Then in his next match lost to Natalie Dodd.

Of those who had played enough matches to qualify, Rev Matthews moved up from seventh to second and Dave Moles from sixth to third.

The averages are notable for the dominance of division winners Sudbury Wanderers, whose players finished fourth, sixth, ninth and eleventh.  In addition, Natalie Dodd, who did not play enough to qualify for this feature, won 11 out of 12.

Richard Fifield, in division three, was the only other player to remain undefeated.

He joined Sudbury Strollers at the end of November and made the division sit up and take notice in his first outing when he won his three singles against league leaders Finchingfield A.

It was the first defeat of the season for John Barrett and the second for Peter Clark and Dave Punt.

Barrett and Clark finished in second and third places with Punt eighth.

Encouragingly, two of the league’s youngest players made the top ten, ten-year-old Ethan Collins and Lucien Nolan-Bradford, 17, sharing fifth place.

Matthew Brown was one of seven players throughout the three divisions to play in every match.  Sean Clift, Joe Meleschko, Karl Baldwin, Ian Shrubsole, Richard Taylor and Alastair Brown were the others.

Individual averages*, last season’s position in brackets (qualification one-third of team’s matches):

Division 1

1 (-) Gary Young 24 wins in 24 sets, average 100 per cent; 2 (3) Paul Davison 48-49, 97.9; 3 (4) Paul Lucas 51-54, 94.4; 4 (-) Adam Cuthbert 23-27, 85.2; 5 (7) James Hicks 42-51, 82.4; 6 (5) Andy Holmes, 30-37, 81.1; 7 (6) Adam Buxton 29-36, 80.6; 8 (2) Maria Boulton 38-48, 79.2; 9 (-) Luke Burridge 22-28, 78.6; 10 (10) Aron Jordan 24-32, 75; 11 (11) Scott Dowsett 29-39, 74.4; 12 (12) Oliver Hicks 27-40, 67.8; 13 (-) Karl Baldwin 33-53, 62.3; 14 (-) Jon Hill 14-23, 60.9; 15 (14) Ken Lewis 28-47, 59.6; 16 (-) Steve Noble 20-35, 57.1; 17 (18) James Mullane 21-37, 56.8; 18 (8) Alistair Hill 13-23, 56.5; 19 (16) Chris Parr 29-54, 53.7; 20 (-) Zach Harrington 25-51, 49.0.

Division 2

1 Matthew Brown 59-60, 98.3; 2 Rev Matthews 48-56, 85.7; 3 Dave Moles 35-42, 83.3; 4 Ian Shrubsole 47-58, 81.0; 5 Alesha Ellis-Austin 41-51, 80.4; 6 Louise Hartshorn 36-46, 78.3; 7 Roy Hooper 42-54, 77.8; 8 Adi Kamma 20-27, 74.1; 9 David Hitchen 17-23, 73.9; 10 Richard Whiteside 31-42, 73.8.

Division 3

1 Richard Fifield 30-30, 100; 2 John Barrett 41-43, 95.4; 3 Peter Clark 33-37, 89.2; 4 Stewart Grant 29-33, 87.9; 5= Ethan Collins, Lucien Nolan-Bradford 17-21, 80.9; 7 Peter Davenport 38-47. 80.9; 8 Dave Punt 32-40, 80; 9 Dave Montgomery 38-48, 79.2; 10 Steve Willis 44-56, 78.6

* Where a player has played for more than one team in the same division, all matches are counted

Report by Ron Fosker

English League Cup Competition (ELCC)   Report by   Mitchell Jones

On Saturday, 10th May, two teams proudly represented the Southend Table Tennis League in the English League Cup Competition (ELCC).

Southend 1 – Zone E (St Neots Table Tennis Club, Cambridge)

Mitch Jones and Liam Squirrell travelled to St Neots Table Tennis Club in Cambridge to represent Southend 1 in Zone E. Their first match was against the Bedford League, resulting in a narrow 3-2 defeat. However, they bounced back in the second match with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the highly regarded Wembley and Harrow League—widely considered one of the strongest leagues in the country.

A standout moment came when Liam defeated Sammy Kaye in straight sets, an impressive feat given Kaye’s ranking is 343 places above Liam. Wembley and Harrow went on to beat Bedford 4-1, leading to a countback scenario. Unfortunately, Wembley and Harrow edged ahead by just one game, meaning Southend 1 finished second in the group and narrowly missed qualification for the national finals.

Southend 2 – Zone B (Wensum Table Tennis Club, Norwich) 

Ian Wall, Kieran Skeggs, and Arron Chandler represented Southend 2 in Zone B at the Wensum Table Tennis Club in Norwich. The opening match saw Norwich defeat Peterborough 5-0. Southend 2 then faced Peterborough, securing a 3-2 victory. In their final match against Norwich—last year’s ELCC champions—Southend 2 put up a strong fight but ultimately lost 5-0. As a result, Southend 2 also finished second in their group and did not qualify for the national finals.

Both teams displayed great skill and determination, and the Southend League can be proud of their strong performances against top-level competition.

Mitchell Jones

13 May 2025

• 

While the well-established Netts A team won the division one title, it was two new teams that took the honours in the second and third divisions of the Braintree Table Tennis League.

Sudbury Wanderers, winners of division two, were in their third season in the league and division three winners Finchingfield A in only their second.

Both dominated their divisions.  Wanderers were 40 points clear, while Finchingfield, the only team in the three divisions to win all their matches, were 29 points ahead.

Wanderers improved from third last year to first, having been promoted from division three in their first season.

The nucleus of their team has remained the same, the duo of Ian Shrubsole and Louise Hartshorn remaining with them throughout the three years.

Both improved their averages impressively this year, Shrubsole from 71 per cent to 81 and Hartshorn from 67 to 78.

They were backed up by new signings David Hitchen, 74 per cent, and Colin Moss, 72.

The race for second place was the closest in the league, only three points separating three teams.

In the end, Rayne E just sneaked home, one point ahead of Black Notley D.

Rarely can a team have relied so much on one player.  Of Rayne E’s 123 points, Matthew Brown was responsible or half responsible for 77.  He played in every match, won 59 singles and shared in 18 doubles wins.

In division three, Finchingfield split their resources after using ten players last season. 

This time they added a B team and, more importantly to their title success, they signed on two highly experienced players for the new A team, Dave Punt, whose league experience goes back to the 1960s, and Peter Clark, who had been in the Netts C team that won division three in a canter three years ago.

:Punt and Clark were joined in the A team by John Barrett, who had won 24 of his 27 sets last season.

This time Barrett lost only twice, both to Sudbury Strollers mid-season signing Richard Fifield.  Clark won 89 per cent, Punt 80 and Ray Bradford 61.

Strollers were heading comfortably for second place before Fifield joined their ranks but his 30 wins out of 30 cemented their position.

He was ably backed by George Berry, Peter Abbott, Geoff Barrett and Tim Matthews, giving the team a 19-point cushion over third-placed Notley G.

Report by Ron Fosker

In the end they didn’t break any records but from very early on it was clear that Netts A were the strong favourites to regain their Braintree Table Tennis League title.

In their first 16 matches, they conceded only 12 sets, three of them when they were forced to field a reserve.

Had they kept that up they would have been the first team since Bocking in 1994 to concede fewer than one set per match.

They faded in the final run-in and doubled their tally over their last four matches but the title was heading their way long before that.

They relied largely on the same three players as last season, when they finished 19 points behind Rayne A, but with the important addition of Gary Young, undefeated in his 24 sets before going on to take the open singles title in the individual championships.

The core three also stepped up, each of them improving their averages.  Paul Davison lost only one out of 49, compared with four last season, James Hicks went up from 75 per cent to 82 and Andy Holmes from 79 to 81. 

They also didn’t need to call on reserves as often.  Last season they used a reserve ten times, this season just four.

Rayne A, by comparison, failed to match the consistency that brought them the title last season and, crucially, did not have the back-up services of 2019 men’s singles champion Lee McHugh to call on.

The crunch came in the first meeting with Netts A, whose 9-1 win set the tone for the season.

The other success story was that of Sudbury Nomads, who jumped up four places to third in only their second season in the top division.

They were able to field their main line-up of Karl Baldwin, Aron Jordan and Ken Lewis more regularly than last season, with Jordan’s 75 per cent return from his 32 sets a major factor.

Baldwin can also reflect on a satisfactory season, jumping from 51 per cent to 62, while Lewis, now 76, showed that age has not yet wearied him, posting an average of 59.6, almost identical to last season.

Liberal C propped up the rest for the second season but they won four times compared with two last season and had the satisfaction of knowing that had the league been calculated on two or three points for a win, they would have avoided the bottom rung.

Next week: a review of divisions two and three.

Report by Ron Fosker

Week 1 Division 2 Southend Summer League

Hadleigh B were 7/2 winners over Basildon D on the opening day of competition.  Two singles wins each here for Colin Barham and Dave Woolmer with Ivan Arabadzhiev adding another win with a close fought 11-9 final set win over Alwine Jarvis.  Michael Elemide was Basildon’s only singles winner with a victory over Ivan.  Alwine and Michael picked up Basildon’s other point with a win in their doubles together.

Stanford C recorded a big 8/1 win over Hockley C whose only success on the night came from Perry Lazell with a 4-set win over Karen Kempster.  Otherwise, it was all one-way traffic for Stanford with Randy Santiago and new recruit Mike Trendell putting in unbeaten performances.

Canvey B hosted Stanford B and it was the away side who left with a 6/3 win.  The 6 singles games were shared but it was the doubles that made the difference with Stanford successful in all 3 games.  Trevor Hayes’ 2 singles wins for Canvey was matched by Vaughan Chambers for Stanford.  

Invicta B did not let the lack of a third player prevent them from getting the better of a youthful Matchpoint B side.  Andrew St John and Mike Keeble won both their singles and then combined to win the doubles to give them a 5/4 win.

The experience of Runnymede’s Tony Millward proved to be the difference when his side took on Basildon C.  Tony came out on top in both of his singles games and both his doubles with partners Steve Wisbey and Andrew Humphris, but 5 sets were needed for both games.  Dave Walton won both his singles games for Basildon.

Week 2

Canvey C crossed the water for their match against Invicta B but were dispatched in double quick time.  The home trio of Mike Keeble, Trish Winter and Brendan Raja were 9/0 winners, dropping just 2 sets on the way.

In contrast, it was a much closer affair as Hockley C entertained Runnymede.  The away side left with a narrow 5/4 win but there were some tight games.  None more so than the meeting of James Evesham and Andrew Humphris.  This game swung in favour of one player and then the other before James got over the line at 11-9 in the fifth set.  Both Ross Collins for Hockley and Steve Wisbey for Runnymede ended the night with 2 singles and a doubles win each.

Basildon C found themselves with only 2 players for their home match against Hadleigh B but managed to pick up 3 points.  A singles win each for Basildon’s Steve Walters and Kieran Wood and a doubles win together saw them restrict their visitors to a 6/3 win, for whom Dave Woolmer won both his singles.

Basildon D proved to be good for Matchpoint B, with an 8/1 victory the outcome.  Sam Morgan picked up the only point for Matchpoint with a win over Michael Elemide.  Despite the convincing scoreline, it was not all plain sailing for Michael and teammates Ross Letham and Errol Anderson, with several games only decided in the fifth set.

The Stanford ‘derby’ was postponed as their venue was not available.

Week 3

Hadleigh B recorded their 3^rd win and top the table, but their match with Hockley C was closely fought.  It seemed at the start of the evening as if Hockley would only have two players, but Gary Beck was summoned from in front of the TV to come and play and he made big impact with 2 singles and a doubles win.  Dave Woolmer was unbeaten in singles and doubles for Hadleigh, and a win for Ivan Arabadzhiev over George Clark ensured a 5/4 win for the hosts.  Ben Brown won Hockley’s other point with a fifth set win over Sineh Ball.

A solid team performance saw Canvey B get the better of Invicta B, 6/3 being the end result.  The Canvey trio of Tony Westwell, Kevin Walsingham and Des Duffield all contributed in both singles and doubles.  For Invicta there was singes win each for Trish Winter and Andrew St John and the pair combined to win their doubles.

Basildon C also visited Canvey this week to play the hosts C team.  For Basildon there was singles win each for Alwine Jarvis, Ross Letham and Anton Kudynuik and the 3 of them made a clean sweep of the doubles.  Steve Kemp was the best on the night for Canvey, winning both his singles.

An experienced Basildon C side got the better of the Matchpoint B juniors but there were good wins for Zachary Samuels and Sam Morgan over Dave Walton and Steve Walters respectively.  Kieran Wood was the leading light for Basildon, winning both his singles and doubles games.  7/2 the score here in Basildon’s favour.

Runnymede were grateful that Tony Millward was in their side when they took on Stanford C, as he won both his singles, and doubles alongside his teammates Steve Wisbey and Steve McQuillan.  However, it was Stanford who were 5/4 winners with Mike Trendell leading the way with two singles wins and a doubles win with Randy Santiago.  Randy also won a singles as did son Jake.

Report by Dave Woolmer

There were some huge wins in the summer league this week with Basildon A, Invicta A, Stanford A and Rawreth all crushing their opponents with ruthless efficiency.

Basildon A got the ball rolling with a 9-0 win against Matchpoint A conceding just one set all night. Les Hoey, Lee Marson and Garry Hartgrove were in impeccable form the only blip during the evening being Dan Stewart edging Hoey 14/12 in his four set defeat. Debbie O’Neil and Hannah Harbour made up the Matchpoint team. First game of the season for Basildon and the perfect start!

Invicta A had lost their opening match last week but bounced back against Canvey A with an impressive 8-1 win. Malcolm Henstock lost to Bob Skews for Canvey’s consolation point but otherwise he, Tony Ayliffe and Paul Sims were always in control against the Islanders. Closest game of the night turned out to be the last one as Sims and Henstock just edged out Skews and Jo Hills in five sets.

Hockley B fell foul of a Stanford A side led again by Mitchell Jones and suffered their second 9-0 defeat of the season. Jones didn’t concede a single set all night although Richard Kidd managed to get to 11/9 in the third set of their match. Rob Salvage won both his singles in four sets against Paul Strutt and Amar Al-Soufi and Adrian Armstrong won both his, but not before he found himself 2-0 down against Al-Soufi before convincingly winning the last three 11/1 11/5 11/4. Al-Soufi did pick up a slight injury in this match which may just have made the difference.

Rawreth A started their season with a convincing 8-1 victory against Hadleigh A. James Elliot was the player of the match winning all his games, closely followed by an unbeaten Russell Mills. The only blot on the copybook was Kim Shead’s defeat to Neal Barker in straight sets. There were some close games in this match but, overall, no game went beyond four sets.

The only match which didn’t turn out one sided was the clash between Basildon B and Hockley A. Despite losing the opening doubles Hockley just kept their noses in front leading 2-1, 4-2 and 5-3 before losing the final doubles of the evening. Despite the closeness of the match score the individual games were far from that all but two games going beyond three sets. Longest game was Stuart Adshead’s five set victory against Dawn Baldry and Adshead and Sanjay Saptarshi both won all their singles whilst Baldry and Peter Hilton both got the better of young William Evesham. The win keeps Hockley top having played three games.

Team of the Week – Basildon A

Player of the Week – Garry Hartgrove

Report by Paul Strutt

The Rayne club have captured two of the knockout cups in the Braintree Table Tennis League while a Netts team took home the handicap cup for the fourth year running.

With Adam Buxton out injured, Rayne A called on Mark Mulley for the first time this season and he, Paul Lucas and Maria Boulton made short work of Sudbury Nomads, dropping only one game in winning the final 5-0.

The hard work had been done in the semi-final, when they knocked out new league champions Netts A.

Buxton was able to play in this one and his wins over Andy Holmes and James Hicks were crucial.

Boulton beat Holmes and Lucas beat Hicks.

The doubles set involving those four players also went Rayne’s way.

Paul Davison was unbeaten for Netts but his two singles and doubles with Holmes were not enough.

In the other semi-final Nomads beat Rayne B 5-1.  Aron Jordan won both his singles.

Rayne’s F team took the restricted cup, making it the fourth win in seven years for a Rayne team in that competition.

Scott Whiteside, who was in the E team that won the cup in 2023, joined his father Richard and Steve Buer in overcoming Netts C 5-2 in the final.    Buer was unbeaten.

In the semi-final Rayne F had beaten Black Notley F by the same score with Buer again unbeaten while Netts C had eliminated their own D team, with Charles Calisin unbeaten.

Calisin was in the Netts C team that won the handicap cup last season.  This time it was his brother JJ, playing for Netts F, who got his hands on the trophy.

Notley B found the double-figure handicaps (up to 21) too much to deal with and succumbed 5-1.

Calisin and James Howard were unbeaten while Alesha Ellis-Austin was responsible for  Notley’s one win.

It was Netts’ third win in a row with a predominantly junior team, following Jack Dearsley and James Rissen last season and Dearsley and Charles Calisin the previous year.

In the semi-final Netts F denied division three champions Finchingfield A the chance of a league and cup double with another 5-1 win, with Calisin and Howard again unbeaten, while Notley B knocked out their own H team  – but only after a tussle.

The win was secured by Luke Burridge’s win over Nigel Parmenter at 23-21 in the final game of the final set with the score standing at 4-4. 

Burridge won his other two singles as well.

Report by Ron Fosker

Experience overcame enthusiasm in the final of the Clacton League’s 2025 Handicap Knock-Out Cup, with top-flight Nomads Lions defeating Third Division Nomads Bobcats 5-1.

It capped an excellent season for the Lions, whose talented squad  also finished the season as runners-up in Division One. But it was a second disappointment for the Bobcats, who’d been pipped at the post for the runners-up spot in Division Three by a single point.

On the night, Paul Hume, Ethan Lloyd and Adam Wilkin proved too proficient and too skilful for the less well-travelled Bobcats’ trio, Matt Sage and Alex Baldock only in their second season of League table tennis and Sam Watling in his first.

The Lions, facing a significant handicap difference in every match, showed all the necessary guile to negate the Bobcats’ points advantage, the match being played throughout as best-of-three sets using the new rule for matches where one player starts at -10.

However, the eventual 5-1 score-line belied a Cup Final of quality and competitiveness, the Bobcats playing their part in providing the goodly number of spectators with an entertaining evening’s table tennis and surprising many with their high standard of play, well above their Third Division status.  

The opening doubles, as is often the case, started cautiously, with both teams probing for openings. And the Bobcats took heart, Baldock and Watling (+2), matching their opponents Lloyd and Wilkin (-13) point-for-point from 5-all to 9-all in the first set before the Lions took it 11-9.

But the Bobcats bounced back, with three unplayable Baldock smashes late in the second set seeing his side take it 11-8. And they cemented the victory by never being headed in the third set, leading 8-0 before the Lions’ pair retrieved their handicap, and staying in front to take match one 9-11, 11-8, 11-7.

The second match saw the last two winners of the League’s Handicap Singles in opposition, with current champion Paul Hume facing 2024 champion Matt Sage. Hume (-13) proved his success this year was no fluke, displaying a mesmeric consistency of return and leaving pen-holder Sage (+3) with little chance to show his true attacking form. Hume got back to parity at 7-all and 4-all in each set, winning 11-7, 11-6.

Two vastly-improved players in their respective Divisions, Alex Baldock with Adam Wilkin, were involved in a quality match three.

The aggressive Baldock (+2) was determined to use his handicap advantage to the full, finishing the first set with a superb backhand winner to take it 11-3. Wilkin (-13) got off to a flyer in the second set, taking the first seven points without reply and levelling at 4-all, before taking the set 11-8. And, despite a nervous start from both players in the third, Wilkin’s astute play and know-how allowed him to achieve parity at 7-all, and take set and match 3-11, 11-8, 11-7.

Most League players go through their whole table tennis career without ever appearing in a Cup Final but Sam Watling is one of the very few players to accomplish this in his first-ever League season.

It was natural he should start nervously in match four against the in-form Ethan Lloyd, winner of the 2025 Restricted Singles title at the recent Closed Championships. Lloyd (-13) took the first set with ease 11-4 but Watling (+2) grew into the game and gradually showed more of his true form. But he couldn’t stop Lloyd levelling at 7-all and, helped by an outrageous edge at 8-all, Lloyd took the match for the Lions 11-4, 11-9 to give his side a 3-1 interval lead.

The doubles after the break was a contest of excellent rallies, Hume and Wilkin (-13) coming back from 8-0 down against Sage and Watling (+3) to take the first set 11-9. But the Bobcats’ pair fought back resolutely and matched the Lions point-for-point in the second set, winning 11-0, their opponents failing to get their handicap back.

However, the third set proved different again, Hume and Wilkin taking nine consecutive points on their way to retrieving their handicap at 5-0, before edging their way to a hard-earned 11-9, 0-11, 11-7 victory.

So it was left to Bobcats’ captain Baldock (+3) to try to tame the irrepressible Hume (-17) in match six. Despite the handicap difference of twenty points being the largest of the evening, the two players put on a show which, as it transpired, was a fitting finale for the final, seeing some classic rallies with Baldock’s attacking forehands being returned from deep by Hume, almost as though it were an exhibition match.

But the imperious Hume was not to be denied and, despite an impressive performance from Baldock, Hume crucially got his handicap back at 4-0 in the final set, to take the match 11-9, 5-11, 11-5 and with it the Cup for the Lions.

Well done Nomads Lions, commiserations Nomads Bobcats, but credit to all six players for a marvellous evening’s table tennis.

Final results : (Nomads Bobcats players named first):

Match 1 : A Baldock/S Watling (+2) beat E Lloyd/A Wilkin (-13) 9-11, 11-8, 11-7;

Match 2 : M Sage (+3) lost to P Hume (-13) 7-11, 6-11;

Match 3 : A Baldock (+2) lost to A Wilkin (-11) 11-3, 8-11, 7-11;

Match 4 : S Watling (+2) lost to E Lloyd (-13) 4-11, 9-11;

Match 5 : M Sage/S Watling (+3) lost to P Hume/A Wilkin (-13) 9-11, 11-0, 7-11;

Match 6 : A Baldock (+3) lost to P Hume (-17) 9-11, 11-5, 5-11.

Trophies were also presented to the non-playing members of the respective squads who had contributed to the teams’ successful runs up to the final – Jason Lloyd, Adam Cuthbert and Martyn Green for the Lions, and Jack Riddleston for the Bobcats.

The final was well-supported by a loyal band of spectators, and competently umpired by Chris Petrou and Ferdy Rodriguez.   

* And one final footnote. For the first time since 2008, when two Junior teams competed, there were no Veteran players appearing in the final. And whilst there are no records to support it, this is probably the first time ever (or first time for a very long time), when none of the players was either a Junior or Veteran. The oldest player on show was aged 32 and the youngest 23, and the average age of the six players 28 years. With players such as these, the future of table tennis in Clacton looks to be in safe hands.

Report by Tony Oswick