The Burnham & District Table Tennis League held a very successful and well attended Presentation Evening this week.  Prizes and cups for all the league and individual competitions were presented by League President Peter Ballard.  Compere for the evening was League Chairman Alan Dadswell.

One of the highlights of the evening were the multiple junior winners of Peter Harverson, Harrison Hill and Harry Chivers – not only sweeping the board with the junior events but also winning some of the open events too, what a bright future they all have.  Other notable achievements were Dawn Baldry and Shirley Carroll winning the Ladies Doubles event – a familiar feeling for Shirley as she has won this specific tournament 15 times now, and the first time being in black & white back in 1975.  Duncan Taylor and Kevin Read won the Veterans Doubles for the sixth time as a pair but not as long ago as Shirley!  In the main singles events the winning trophies were presented to Dawn Baldry for the Ladies Singles, and retaining his Open Singles title Mr Reece Seddon.  Both of the singles finals went all the way beyond deuce in the deciding sets so they both earned their titles the hard way, and this was reflected in the rapturous applause for both champions.

For the League events the Division 3 crown was presented to St Lawrence A, with the Division 3 player of the year going to Peter Davenport.  In Division 2 Woodham C were crowned champions and were the only unbeaten team across all the divisions throughout the season.  The Division 2 player of the season went to Mapledene’s man mountain Barrie Delf with a 95% win rate.  The Division 1 title went to Woodham A who had a perfect winning record until the very last game of the season – this is the first time in the Club’s 70 year history that they have won the top prize, and also the first time in 20 years that neither Fambridge nor Mapledene have won the league – a welcome change.  The Division 1 player of the year and Peter Ballard Cup was awarded to Duncan Taylor of Cold Norton by the very man himself – League President Peter Ballard.

This year the Presidents Trophy – presented for services to the League – was presented posthumously to Martin Knights RIP, and collected by his family.   Martin had been the League Finance Officer for 25 years before his untimely passing earlier this year.  Martin’s son John Knights paid a lovely tribute to his father and the love he had for table tennis the sport and the Burnham League in particular.  A fitting end to a glorious evening.

Pic 1 – Reece Seddon – Open Singles Champions 2024

Pic 2 – June and John Knights collecting the Presidents Trophy on behalf of Martin Knights RIP.

Pic 3 – Shirley Carroll & Dawn Baldry – Ladies Doubles Champions 2024

Pic 4 – Woodham A – Division 1 Winners 2024

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Rawreth have set out their stall early in Division 1of the Southend Summer League following up last week’s 8-1 win against Wakering with a 9-0 demolition of Hadleigh Forum A. A completely different line up to the previous week saw Deborah Auvache, Peter Barrett and Kevin Read pick up the mantle and they had little difficulty overcoming their opponents only one game going the distance. Forum’s Tony Jacks actually held a 2-1 advantage over Barrett in this one but succumbed 11/7, 11/7 in the final sets. Not surprisingly Rawreth are the early leaders after their two wins.

Invicta A and Basildon A both kicked off their season this week and both recorded 6-3 wins against Basildon B and Stanford A respectively.

Basildon A, led by an in form Les Hoey, started well against Stanford leading 3-1 only to find themselves level at 3-3 after wins for Peter Weatherall against Charles Yeung and a doubles win for Pat White and Ian Sangster against Yeung and Tony Ayliffe. After Hoey dismissed Sangster in three sets to take the lead back they then found themselves involved in two hard five set matches which determined the victory. Closest of these was Ayliffe’s come back win against White, finding himself two sets down he took the last three sets 12/10, 11/9, 11/9. It couldn’t have been any closer! Yeung and Hoey then took on White and Weatherall and eventually edged to victory winning 11/7 in the fifth. Hoey took the Player of the Match award.

Invicta’s win against Basildon B came after a disastrous start to the match losing the first three games. Ashokkumar Sivanandam and Dawn Baldry started the evening with a comeback win against Lee Marson and Anton Ranjit-Singh. They managed to reverse a 2-1 scoreline winning the last two sets 11/4, 11/9. Jenne Seibolt then pulled off something of a shock win beating Steve Marr in straight sets before Dawn Baldry made it 3-0 on the night defeating Ranjit-Singh in four. Invicta then started a remarkable comeback Marson winning both his singles against Sivanandam and Seibolt, and Marr and Ranjit-Singh beating Seibolt and Baldry to level the score at 3-3.

The next two singles were crucial and, as may have been expected from two players bearing the longest names, possibly, in the league, Ranjit-Singh and Sivanandam fought out a long five set match 10/12, 11/5, 11/13, 11/9. 11/2 in favour of the Invicta man. Marr then found his form to overcome Baldry in another five set match before he combined with Marson to win the final doubles and clinch a 6-3 victory. Two games and two defeats then for Basildon B.

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The first week of the Summer League kicked off in Division 1 with two big wins and two very close wins and, not surprisingly, it’s the higher ranked players who made the biggest impact.

In the opening match Brand Identity took on Hockley A and, with both teams boasting Winter League premier and Division 1 players, it proved to be a close encounter despite Hockley threatening to run away with the game at one point.

The opening doubles went easily to the Hockley pairing of Sanjay Saptarshi and Dan Patynski but David Jacob quickly levelled the score disposing of Joseph Odegbami in straight sets. Three quick wins then followed for Hockley, Patynski and Saptarshi beating Dale Gutteridge and Steve Muth respectively before Patynski and Odegbami beat Jacob and Gutteridge in the second doubles. Steve Muth cut the deficit temporarily beating Odegbami in four sets but Saptarshi gave Hockley a match winning lead beating Gutteridge in straight sets. Credit to Brand Identity who then managed to win the last two matches to leave the score at 5-4 to Hockley. Jacob beat Patynski and then combined with Muth to beat Saptarshi and Odegbami.

The Wakering side who finished third in Division 2 in the Winter league found themselves up against a revamped Rawreth side of Russell Mills, James Elliot and Andrew Halling and, not surprisingly, finished up on the wrong end of an 8-1 defeat. Halling finished player of the match winning all his games, as did Elliot, with Callum Turner getting the consolation point for Wakering beating Mills in five close sets. 2-1 down at one stage he took the last two 12/10, 13/11. Turner also took Elliot to five sets as did Paul England and Stewart Mills against Halling and Russell Mills in the doubles, but otherwise it was plain sailing for the Rawreth boys.

Another 5-4 result, but a real cliff hanger, saw Stanford A edge out Basildon A in the final match of the evening. Stanford led 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 before the doubles between Arun Joy and Chudi Ukpaka of Basildon and Pat White and Peter Weatherall of Stanford fittingly went to five sets finishing on an 11/5 win for Stanford. Joy got two good singles wins against White and Weatherall and Ukpaka beat Ian Sangster in the only other five set match, coming from 2-1 down and winning the last three sets 12/10, 11/9, 11/8. Weatherall, White and Sangster all got one singles win plus two wins in the doubles.

Hockley B, consisting of Division 2/3 players John George, Tony Molisso and Ron Rogerson, found the experienced Hadleigh A side of Berti Makoli, Tony Jacks and Colin Barham just too strong and succumbed to an 8-1 defeat.  George picked up their consolation point in a very good five set win against Barham who Rogerson also took to five sets, but they were the only rays of light in a convincing win for the Forum. Makoli just took the player of the match award from Jacks losing just one set all night.

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This week saw the culmination of the Team Handicap Cup competition of the Burnham & District Table Tennis League.  In this event players are given a score handicap to reflect their ranking in an attempt to set a level playing field and allow teams from every division to compete evenly.  Sometimes this works better than others!  This year’s Final was an all Cold Norton affair as their B and C teams battled through several rounds to earn the right for their night of destiny, and the glory that is bestowed upon the victors. 

Holders and long time favourites Cold Norton B got off to a steady start in this year’s Final when Ian wall and Dan Anderson recovered swiftly from their 5 points deficit to score the opening win against Tim Cramphorn and Dick Wyman.  The first singles of the night was a classic as Neil Want (C Team) raised his game and attacked the defensive minded Eric Green (-5).  The first leg went to deuce which Green held, but then Want came back and took the second leg 21-19 – some fantastic rallying with Want often in control but occasionally wayward in the final killer shots.  The final leg saw Want take a decent early lead as Green recovered his handicap.  At 16-11 in Want’s favour Cold Norton C had already marked up their first point of the night, but alas the fat lady hadn’t even warmed up her tonsils yet and Green tidied up his mistakes and went on a run of 7 consecutive points to bring some semblance of balance back to the game.  As the pressure mounted Green steadied and his opponent was found ‘Wanting’.  Green took the final leg 21-18 for a very hard earned point in a game that many observers thought Want should have taken.  Brilliant matchplay all round.  Wall propelled his team into a commanding 3-0 lead with a straight sets victory over Cramphorn in a match that was pretty even in open play but the Wall serve proved accurate and decisive as Cramphorn struggled to return the disguised spin.  The next match was the battle of the Captains.  In the end not much of a warzone as Anderson won out comfortably.  Wyman hit several crowd-pleasing winners but there just wasn’t enough of them against the measured and consistent play from Anderson.  So at 0-4 down in a first-to-five encounter the C Team pairing had it all to do against one of the league’s best double acts in Green & Wall.  The C team volunteers were Want and Cramphorn and they looked a bit sheepish as they entered the arena to much chanting from their travelling supporters.  With a 6 point handicap in their favour the C team duo went full gusto and took a considerable lead into the latter stage of the first leg.  However once the B Team pairing sorted out their concentration levels and realised they were in a battle the points started to rack up and the C Team became a bit crumbly as they managed to pull a defeat from the jaws of victory.  No such crumbliness in the second leg as the game and the Cup were extremely close at 19-19 and then at game point Want coolly dispatches a Green serve back from whence it came for an emphatic finish.  Reeling from this kick in the teeth the B Team came out strongly in the deciding leg and quickly erased their handicap deficit and with few errors in their game built up a commanding lead which they were never going to concede.  A final score of 21-11 to secure the match and the Cup for Cold Norton B.

So Cold Norton B emerge victorious from the Battle of Rega – very deserved winners who retain their trophy and have already been instilled as odds-on favourites for the next few seasons.   Many congratulations to both finalists who will receive their trophies at the upcoming Presentation Dinner, and a massive thank you to the event organiser and chief umpire Mr Alan Scammell.

Pic 1 – Cold Norton B – Team Handicap Champions 2024

Pic 2 – Cold Norton B & C Teams  – Team Handicap Final 2024

Pic 3 – Handicap Final 2024 – Neil Want v Eric Green

Pic 4 – Action from the Handicap Final 2024 – the crucial Doubles match between Cold Norton C and B

Pic 5 – Handicap Final 2024 – Dick Wyman v Dan Anderson

Week 32 saw Buttsbury A gain the 9-1 victory needed to snatch the title from long-term leaders Galleywood B.  Galleywood had been in pole position since week three but they were unable to keep enough distance between themselves and their closest rivals.

Chelmsford Junior League division 2A

The Hutton Hawks were crowned division 2A champions by a point thanks to the Chelmsford Cougars who prevented the Chelmsford Eagles achieving the 5-0 victory they required.  Joshua Freeman (14 wins from 14 matches in CJL2A) gave the Eagles the perfect start with a 3-0 win over Amir Chetitah before teammate Ben Robinson beat Sai Suresh 3-1 to double their lead.  Third match up saw Chetitah recover from 1-0 down to beat Robinson, and it was this win for the Cougars which sealed the title for Hutton.  Finishing off the fixture – Freeman beat Suresh in three and (with Robinson) won 3-0 in the doubles.  Agonisingly close for the Eagles but they should be commended for making it such an exciting finish to the season, congratulation to Hutton’s Charlie Ware, Jago Ware, Charlie Gould and Noah Middleton – the division CJL2A champions!

Standings CJL 2A: C: Hutton Hawks 24 points (8 matches), 2: Chelmsford Eagles 23 points (8 matches).

Junior Cup Final

Top seeds Chelmsford 1 made short work of Chelmsford 2 to lift the Junior Cup.  The favourites dropped just one game in the first three matches as they took a commanding 3-0 lead before Nikita Tkachuk pulled one back for Chelmsford 2 via a five-game win over Aidan Lees.  Order was restored soon after as Harry Chivers and Josh Bickles beat Omar Wasi and Sami Osman in four before Lees secured the cup with a 3-1 win over Osman.

Division 3

The Buttsbury A trio of Jamie Elliott, Evie Knaapen and Paul Sturton were able to achieve the required 9-1 victory over league leaders Galleywood B to lift the division three title.  Elliott earned another three wins and finished the season with a perfect 47 league wins from 47 singles matches – he was joined by Sturton (22 wins from 23 matches) who fired a treble of his own.  The hosts dropped just two games in romping into an 8-0 lead but John Holland kept Galleywood’s hopes alive with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Knaapen (36 wins from 44).  So the season was down to the final contest of the night between Elliott and Copsey, with the Buttsbury youngster taking the spoils in an 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 victory.  Galleywood B will be disappointed to have been pipped at the post having carried division three on their shoulders throughout the season – a great effort nonetheless from Mark Glenister (70% win rate), John Holland (84% win rate), Gary Brignall (91% win rate), Bryn Thomas, Gary Copsey and others.

A hat-trick for Tim Pulham backed up by two wins for Peter Lucraft wasn’t quite enough to earn Danbury H the victory against Chelmsford E – the spoils being shared 5-5.  Pulham recovered from 2-0 down against Rev Matthews for the win having earlier beaten Alesha Ellis-Austin by the same 3-2 scoreline.  Lucraft’s two wins came over Matthews and Ellis-Austin though James Grimston recovered from 2-1 down to take the victory in their contest.  Writtle D drew 5-5 with OCA C – Peter Layzell won two of his three games but was beaten by Tom Barker in four – Barker had earlier managed to recover from 2-1 down against Malcolm Henstock.

Final standings div 3: C: Buttsbury A 143 points (20 matches), 2: Galleywood B 141 points (from 20 matches), 3: Danbury H 115 points (from 20 matches).

Division 5

Second-placed Chelmsford J handed division five champions Danbury M only their second league loss of the season as they romped to a 10-0 away win.  The team of Mark Nolan, David Parker and Elliot Hawthorne showed their class from start to finish – both of Parker’s victories were earned over five games.

Standings div 4: C: Danbury M 137 points (from 20 matches), 2: Chelmsford J 125 points (20 matches), 3: Chelmsford H 112 points (from 20 matches).

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Jeremy Hill, Press Officer, Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League

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