With just two weeks to go until the end of the season in the Southend Summer League the situation is pretty clear at the top of Division 1as to where the honours will go. Rawreth, who have been top since the second week and who didn’t play this week, require just seven points from their last two games to clinch the title. They play Hockley A next week and their final match is against, essentially, their closest rivals Brand identity. For that to be the crunch decider will require a strong performance from Hockley.
The Hockley boys warmed up for next week with ease against their own B team winning 9-0 and only conceding one set all night. Ironically that came in the first set of the first match of the evening but after that it was all downhill for the B team. Stuart Adshead, Joseph Odegbami and Eamonn Hall took the honours and Hockley move up to fourth in the table.
Basildon A sit second in the table after beating Hadleigh A 7-2 but are still five points behind Rawreth and have just one game left to play. Mainstay of their win was Ian Wall who won both his doubles matches and didn’t lose a set in his two singles wins. Team mate Kim Shead wasn’t far behind him in terms of performance also winning both his singles but conceding one doubles loss, playing with Tony Ayliffe they lost in four sets to Jim Stait and Neil Barker. Barker got Hadleigh’s other point beating Ayliffe in straight sets but Ayliffe did record Basildon’s other point beating Berti Makoli in five close sets.
Stanford fielded reigning Southend singles champion Mitchell Jones for the first time this season and, not surprisingly, he led his team to a convincing 8-1 victory against Wakering. Peter Weatherall matched Jones unbeaten performance on the night but Pat White went down in five sets to Zac England to give Wakering their consolation point. England edged home 13/11 in the deciding set. England also went close to getting a second point as he took Weatherall to five sets he led 2-1 at one stage but lost the last two 11/9 11/9.
Brand Identity lost a little bit of ground on leaders Rawreth as they won 5-4 at Invicta. Richard Jackman won both his singles for Brand as did Steve Marr for Invicta but a win for Steve Muth and two doubles wins made the difference for Brand. Keith Willett beat Dale Gutteridge for Invicta’s other point. Marr’s clash with Muth was the highlight of the evening Marr winning with an incredible scoreline of 11/7 1/11 11/1 9/11 11/8.
Player of the Week – Mitchell Jones
Team of the Week – Stanford A
Joseph Odegbami in action for Hockley A v Hockley BPaul Strutt (Hockley B) v Stuart Adshead (Hockley A)Doubles action in the Hockley derby clash. The A team’s Stuart Adshead and Joseph Odegbami (left) take on the B team’s Paul Strutt and Tony Molisso.
The most anticipated sporting event of the summer finally got underway as 37 teams from across the county began their hopeful journeys to glory within one of five divisions.
Division 1
The Buttsbury A team of Evie Knaapen and Jamie Elliott stormed to the top of division 1 with a 5-0 home win over the South Woodham Ferrers A duo of Chris Hancox and Alan Dadswell. Despite the one-sided looking scoreline Hancox and Dadswell both had their moments – Hancox levelling with Elliott before falling 3-1, and then Dadswell taking Elliott to a decider. The fixture between Danbury A and Blackwater was the first division one fixture of the season to be resolved by the outcome of the doubles contest as the hosts Danbury came out 3-2 match winners. Alan Scammell produced a fine but nerve-testing comeback against Eamonn Hall with the last two games won 12-10 by the Blackwater ace, while Sanjay Saptarshi sent out a message to the league that he wasn’t taking the summer off with crushing straight set wins over Scammell and Denis Balic. Balic regained his composure to beat Hall in three games before Hall and Saptarshi earned the aforementioned win in the doubles.
Division 2
The results from the four fixtures in week one of division two suggest it will be one of the more closely contested divisions this season. Galleywood A registered the best win of the week with a 4-1 away victory at Chelmsford D – however this was aided by the hosts only fielding one player. Galleywood’s Will Goodchild beat Chelmsford’s Salih Salim 3–0 after Salim had beaten Nathan Blore. Mick Richardson hit the ground running with two wins as OCA A beat clubmates OCA B by a 3-2 scoreline. The match between Luke Richardson and Michael Hayes was the closest of the evening with Hayes coming through 11-9 in the decider despite losing two games by a 15-13 scoreline. The Richardson’s recovered from a game down to win 3-1 in the doubles contest though games three and four were tight ones. Cold Norton A’s Dan Anderson and Ella Sach edged a 3-2 home win over the Buttsbury B duo of Harry Sawford and Jeremy Griffin. Anderson won both of his matches while Griffin and Sawford bested Sach before the doubles went to the Cold Norton team despite Griffin and Sawford recovering from 2-0 behind. John Tendler started the summer well with two 3-0 wins as Danbury B won 3-2 over Chelmsford C – Alesha Ellis-Austin edged Denis Crapnell in the fifth (11-9) before she joined forces with Rev Matthews to win the doubles 3-1. Earlier, Crapnell beat Matthews 3-1 in their singles match.
Division 3
Marty Englander won twice as Maldon A started the division three season with a 4-1 home win over the Cold Norton B duo of Dick and Oscar Wyman. Englander had to recover from a 2-1 deficit to overcome Dick Wyman while grandson Oscar started well in his losses against both Englander and Chris Ravenhill. Wyman snr bested Ravenhill in three before the hosts won the doubles over the Wymans in four. Hutton B got the better of Buttsbury D 3-2 in a keenly contested fixture – the first three singles matches of the evening were all decided at deuce in the fifth game. Jenne Seibolt edged Charlie Ware 13-11 in game five before Buttsbury teammate Lucy Elliott lost out 12-10 to Oladapo Owolabi in the decider. Owolabi then recovered from 2-1 down to beat Seibolt prior to Ware sealing the win for the hosts with a 3-0 victory over Elliott. Seibolt and Elliott then picked up the final point on offer with a comprehensive doubles triumph.
Division 4
Peter Davenport (Chelmsford E) and Greg Cooper (Danbury C) started the season in top form as they fired their respective teams to 4-1 wins in division four. Davenport won both of his matches 3-0 while teammate Jacqui Smith did well to come back from 2-1 down against Tomas Ratinas for the victory before falling to Ron Salton in three. Davenport and Smith recovered from one down to win three close games in the doubles. Danbury’s Cooper won both of his matches against Buttsbury F by a 3-0 scoreline while James Hughes earned Buttsbury’s only point with a 3-1 win against Ken Wilding – this after Wilding had beaten Chris Hughes by the same score. Wilding and Cooper won the doubles contest despite seeing their opponents recover from 2-0 down to force a decider.
Division 5
Fresh from competing at the U10-U13 National Championships, Joshua Freeman and Vivaan Babbar cruised to a 5-0 away win at Hutton D in division five. All of the singles matches ended 3-0 before Babbar and Freeman had to recover from 2-1 behind to win the doubles. Thomas Lewis won both of his matches 3-0 as Buttsbury H secured the win at Chelmsford H. Lewis’ wins were either side of Zac Berry’s 3-0 win over Archie Spurrier though Berry later lost out in a tight contest with Sean Kwan. Spurrier and Kwan took the doubles point with a 3-0 win. Ben Robinson’s two 3-0 wins were in vain as his Chelmsford F side lost 3-2 at Hutton E. Robinson beat Oliver Davies and Vicente Deco but both Hutton players earned wins over Sai Suresh. Inspired, Davies and Deco earned the win for the hosts in the all-important doubles matchup.
League leaders Rawreth have now fielded 11 players in their summer league campaign so far and this week it was the turn of Paul Brown to pull on the Rawreth shirt for the first time. He responded with a POTM performance just edging team mates Keith Adams and Russell Mills as they, somewhat predictably, recorded yet another 9-0 victory against bottom of the table and winless Hockley B. He also succeeded in perfecting the Tomahawk smash to the amazement of his team mates! The Hockley boys can take two crumbs of comfort from the match. Firstly they took a set off Rawreth in each of the doubles and secondly, Paul Strutt won more points against Adams than any other player has done so far this season! Gary Beck and Nischal Chugh made up their team.
Basildon A also turned in a 9-0 result at the expense of Wakering who, admittedly, were without their talisman Callum Turner. The Basildon boys made surprisingly quick work in disposing of the opposition only losing two sets all night. Zac England got one against Rob Burton and combining with Andrew Deadman in the doubles they took a set against Burton and Les Hoey. Tony Ayliffe made up the winning team and took the POTM award.
Brand Identity sit third in the table after an 8-1win against Stanford A. Brothers Simon and David Jacob were in unbeatable form winning all their games without dropping a set and Richard Jackman won his games too although he was taken the distance by Pat White. In a strange game the match see sawed finishing 11/8 5/11 11/0 13/15 11/4 in favour of Jackman. Stanford had to wait until the final game of the evening before chalking up their consolation point White and Peter Weatherall beating Jackman and Simon Jacob in four sets.
There were two close finishes in the league this week with firstly Basildon B edging out Hadleigh A 5-4. It was a case of ‘girl power’ proving to be the difference for Basildon as Dawn Baldry turned in a POTM performance beating Dave Woolmer and Satwant Gill although she was pushed close by team mate Arun Joy who also beat Gill and then convincingly beat Mick Tappenden. Basildon lost the first doubles of the evening but stayed in front after that Baldry’s win against Gill taking them to a match winning 5-3 lead before Tappenden and Gill beat Joy and Ashokkumar Sivanandam in the final doubles. Tappenden and Woolmer both beat Sivanandam in the singles for Hadleigh’s other points.
The other close finish saw Hockley A come back from 4-3 down to snatch a 5-4 victory against Invicta A. This match also saw a summer league debut for the globetrotting Tim Pang, returning from yet another holiday to win both his singles against Paul Sims and Lee Marson. Pang had to pull out all the stops against Marson after losing the first two sets he fought back to win the last three 11/5 11/6 12/10. Player of the match however was currently unbeaten Sanjay Saptarshi, who beat Marson and Keith Willet both in straight sets and then teamed up with Pang to beat Marson and Sims in the final doubles and clinch the match. Hockley’s Eamon Hall found the going a little bit too strong losing to Willet and Sims in straight sets.
Hanging on the coat tails of leaders Rawreth are second and third placed Basildon A and Brand Identity and they came head to head in this week’s Division 1 matches.
Surprisingly it was fairly straight forward for Basildon as, apart from two singles defeats for Kim Shead and Les Hoey, they won fairly comfortably no matches going beyond four sets. Ian Wall was in fine form for the ‘New Towners’ winning both his singles although Richard Jackman kept him to four close sets, and he continued his form into the doubles winning both his games. Shead and Hoey had already given the home side the lead with the first doubles of the evening and giving them a clean sweep. Brand’s singles successes were surprisingly convincing with Shead losing to Jackman 11/3 11/2 11/2 and Hoey losing to David Jacob 11/5 11/4 11/4. Shead beat Jacob and Hoey beat Dale Gutteridge to complete the scoring.
Leaders Rawreth finally came up against some opposition this week as Invicta A managed to contain them to a 6-3 victory and they also had the unfortunate advantage of being given the final doubles as Anthon Ranjit Singh had to pull out with a serious injury. A ruptured tendon estimated to keep him out for six weeks. Ranjit-Singh and Lee Marson actually started the evening well for Invicta comfortably beating Caroline Cole and Keith Adams in straight sets and this plus further wins for Marson and Paul Sims against Cole gave Invicta their points. Andrew Halling and Adams both won their singles but Halling was pushed all the way by Sims who fought back from two sets down only to lose 11/6 in the deciding fifth set.
Joseph Odegbami enjoyed the perfect evening in Hockley A’s 6-3 win away at Stanford A. Two singles and two doubles wins formed the bedrock of Hockley’s win, Keith Abbott beating Pat White to give them five points and then combining with Stuart Adshead to make it six in the final doubles of the evening. Odegbami made short work of beating Pat White and Russell Bright both in straight sets but team mate Adshead was easily beaten by both Bright and Peter Weatherall to keep Stanford in touch. Weatherall also defeated Abbott in straight sets so the match score was actually level at 3-3 before Hockley clinched the last three games.
By far the closest game of the week, and probably the longest, was Wakering’s thrilling 5-4 win away at Basildon B. Leading 3-1 at one stage Wakering were hauled back to 3-3, level again at 4-4, before clinching the win with the final doubles game of the evening. No less than five games went to five sets so no early nights for these two teams. Callum Turner was again the star for Wakering winning both singles and doubles but he was pushed all the way by Lin Roff who fought back from two sets down before losing 11/6 in the fifth set. Team mate Zac England went to five sets in all but one of his matches which included a great comeback against Ashokkumar Sivanandam. He was two sets down then won the third 11/9, a titanic fourth 16/14, and then cruised through 11/1 in the fifth. Basildon kept it tight throughout Jenne Seibolt beating Paul England in five sets, Roff beating Zac England also in five and Sivanandam beating Paul England. Zac England and Turner won the final crucial doubles in straight sets against Sivanandam and Roff. Player of the Week – Joseph Odegbami of Hockley A
League leaders Rawreth were in imperious form as they head towards the Division 1 title annihilating Stanford A 9-0 and losing just two sets all night. The Stanford trio of Peter Weatherall, Pat White and Derrick Pearson couldn’t really get close to their opponents for whom Keith Adams again took the POTM award although team mates Arron Chandler and Kevin Read were only marginally behind him in terms of performance. This was Stanford’s biggest defeat of the season so far but can probably be forgiven against such an impressive side.
Another team enduring a comprehensive 9-0 defeat were Hockley B, still without a win this season, and now outplayed by Invicta A. Keith Willett made his first appearance of the season for Invicta and easily won his games and the POTM award, and team mate Lee Marson also completed a perfect night unbeaten. Anthon Ranjit-Singh conceded the only set of the night to Hockley debutant Nischal Chugh who performed well despite the overall result and offered a crumb of consolation for the home team.
Brand Identity kept up their pursuit of Rawreth beating Basildon B 8-1 with Richard Jackman and Simon Jacob picking up maximums and Dale Gutteridge winning one of his singles but went down in straight sets to Dawn Baldry to give Basildon their consolation point. Lin Roff almost added a second win, also against Gutteridge, but was eventually edged out 11/9 in the fifth set. Basildon remain with just one win to their name this season.
In the closest game of the week Hockley A went down to Basildon A 6-3 thanks to Ian Wall returning to his old stomping ground and showing Hockley what they have been missing. The evening started off closely however and wins were exchanged in equal measure until the score reached 3-3. At that point Basildon put their foot down on the accelerator and won the final three games conceding just one set in the doubles. Wall’s performance was backed up by a singles win for Kim Shead and, more importantly, three doubles victories for the ‘New Towners’. Hockley equalled their opponents in the singles Sanjay Saptarshi beating Les Hoey in straight sets, and then Kim Shead in a close five set match coming back from 2-1 down to win 11-8 in the deciding set. Joseph Odegbami also beat Hoey in three sets but couldn’t repeat that success against Wall. Shead beat Eamonn Hall to add to Wall’s two wins. This was Basildon’s fourth win of the season their only defeat coming against Rawreth.
Player of the Week – hard not to choose Keith Adams, yet to drop a set this season.
There were more big wins in the division this week with Brand Identity and Basildon A recording 9-0 victories and Rawreth just behind, winning 8-1. Closest game of the week was Invicta A’s thrilling 5-4 win against Stanford A.
Brand Identity chalked up a 9-0 win for the second week running when they demolished Hadleigh A. The home team of the Jacob brothers, Simon and David, and Steve Muth, conceded only three sets all night against the very experienced trio of David Woolmer, Tony Jacks and Colin Barham. Brand were particularly impressive in the doubles not conceding a single set.
Basildon A made it a hat trick of wins as they demolished Hockley B 9-0. This was another very one-sided match with Basildon losing just two sets on the night. Kim Shead, Rob Burton and Tony Ayliffe took the honours.
Rawreth chalked up their hat trick of wins as they beat Basildon B 8-1. Just three games played but nine players already have worn the Rawreth shirt and one wonders just how many more players they can call on! Arron Chandler, Deborah Auvache and Norbert Fullerton stepped out this week and were devastating in the doubles not dropping a set, but there was some resistance in the singles where Fullerton and Chandler both conceded sets and Arun Joy of Basildon claimed their consolation point in a tight five set match against Auvache eventually winning 11/7 in the deciding set.
Doubles can play a significant part in these Summer League matches and so it proved in the see-saw clash between Invicta A and Stanford A. Paul Sims fought a lone battle for Invicta in the singles beating Ian Sangster and Derrick Pearson but team mates Lee Marson and Anthon Ranjit-Singh couldn’t repeat that success losing to Sangster, Pearson and Peter Weatherall. This meant that an early Invicta 2-0 lead had turned into a 4-3 deficit with two games to go. Step up Sims to make it 4-4 and he then combined with Ranjit-Singh to clinch the match 5-4.
With two clean sweep singles wins and two doubles wins Paul Sims gets my Player of the Week award.
Brand Identity and Basildon B were the big winners in Division 1 this week both teams winning 9-0 against Wakering and Hockley B respectively.
Brand Identity fielded a strong side in David Jacob and Adam and Richard Jackman and Wakering just could not compete only managing to win two individual sets all night. Richard Jackman took the POTM award and even chalked up an 11-0 whitewash of Paul England.
If Wakering thought they had a bad night then they might spare a thought for Hockley B who were totally whitewashed not managing to win one set against Basildon B. Ashokkumar Sivanandam, Arun Joy and Jenne Seibolt eased their way to victory against a comparatively inexperienced Hockley side.
Basildon’s A team were also winners this week overcoming Invicta A 7-2 but it was Invicta’s Paul Sims who took the POTM award winning both his singles against Rob Burton and Tony Ayliffe. Kim Shead won both his singles for Basildon against Lee Marson and Anthon Ranjit-Singh and thanks to a hat trick of wins in the doubles the home team came out on top. They have now won both their opening games.
The final game of the week turned out to be the closest with Hadleigh A just edging home 5-4 against Hockley A. Jim Stait, Colin Barham and Berti Makoli all managed one singles win although two of those wins came against Ron Rogerson who had stepped up from the B team on the night. Those wins plus two in the doubles gave Hadleigh the edge but Hockley had the consolation of Stuart Adshead taking the POTM award with two singles wins. Tarun Goel won one of his singles.
Paul Sims of Invicta A takes the Player of the Week award.
Hockley TTC have probably made themselves favourites to win the Southend Premier League next season with the signing of professional coach Craig Bryant. He was at the club on Saturday to………. not, actually, sign up but instead give the benefit of his coaching skills to almost two dozen Hockley members. Wishful thinking to think he might play for Hockley but the mix of juniors, social and league players enjoyed two hour sessions dealing with service, stroke play and general advice. A beneficial experience for all and one probably to be repeated. Many thanks to Craig for making the long trip up from Devon to spend the day with Hockley. He was presented with a club shirt as a memento of the occasion.
Craig Bryant with the Hockley shirt and a suitable comment behind him!Hockley members with CraigHockley juniors with Craig‘This is the way to do it!’Now it’s our turn!
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
Reece Seddon receives his trophyThe Knights family receive their trophy.Shirley and Dawn – doubles champs.Woodham A
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.
