Junior Secretary, Arthur Clark reports on the final matches for our second and third teams.

DIVISION 1B

 The round of remaining matches was held at Cippenham on Saturday 19 March 2011. After the first round of matches held at Thornbury, Bristol on 17 October the Essex second team had one win from four matches and it appeared that one win from the days three matches would be sufficient for the team to avoid relegation. Matters were not helped when it was discovered a week beforehand that the team’s two girls were involved in the Schools Team Finals in Leicestershire and would not be available. Thus the third team girls had to move up to play for the team.

 Their first match was against bottom of the Division team Avon. Relegation fears were soon dismissed as Essex went 7-0 up with all matches won three straight courtesy of a brace apiece from Brandon Crouchman, Scott Dowsett and Jane Li and the clean sweep achieved when Emily Godfrey beat Alice Gregory 6, 9, -9, -10, 7 and Mark Smith beat Matthew Flinglestone 7, -9, 12, -7, 9

 Their next match was against a very strong Surrey 1 team. Mark Smith took Lewis Bray to five games as did Emily against Jessica Monis after being 2-1 up. Essex’s only win came from Jane Li who defeated Jessica 3-1 in the team’s 1-9 defeat.

 Essex’s last match was against the Dorset team who had just beaten Avon to ensure their survival in the Division. The opening two matches were shared, both won 8 in the deciding game, Brandon losing to Michael Robertson and Mark beating Patrick Hurley. The next four matches were all lost until Jane secured a 3-1 win over Becki Kuru. Brandon lost 8 in the fifth game again, this time to Hugo Pang, whilst Scott won the last match, another 8 in the fifth, against Patrick for a 3-7 defeat.

 DIVISION 2D

 With the matches scheduled for 4 December at Harlow being snowed off what was to have been the second round of matches at East Grinstead on Saturday 12 March had to be rescheduled as the first round.

 The Essex 3 team’s first match was against Buckinghamshire 2 with Owen Warren, James Denyer, Bradley Osborne, Emily Godfrey and Jane Li winning all their matches for a 10-0 win, only three matches requiring a fourth game.

 Their next match against Bucks 1 was much tougher. James and Bradley lost their opening matches, Emily came back from 2-1 down to beat Rose Luscombe and Jane beat Christina Lane 7, 9, 10. With Owen losing to Edward Mitchell 3-1 and James beating Ben Woodbridge the match score stood at 3-3. Jane then lost to Rose 3-1 and Emily beat Christina 3-1 but Owen and Bradley lost the last two matches for a 4-6 defeat.

 The last match of the day was against Middlesex 2. Owen lost to Vincent Stacey 3-1 and Bradley triumphed against Timur Hashimi -7,-9, 10, 3, 5 to share the opening matches. Jane beat the higher ranked Eda Aydin 3-1 and as Middlesex only had one girl Emily received a walkover. The 3-1 lead quickly became 3-3 with James and Bradley losing their matches both 3-1. The score became 4-4 when Emily lost 3-1 to Eda and finished 5-5 when Owen lost to Tyrone Wells and Bradley beat Timur. Significantly of the eight matches played seven were won 3-1 and the eighth 3-2 to indicate that a draw was a fair result.

 The second round of matches was played at Cippenham on Saturday 19 March. With Emily and Jane promoted to the second team to replace Ify and Ella I could only find one girl as a replacement for the third team girls. With the agreement of the opponents Emily also played for the Third team in the first and third round matches and Jane in the second round match.

 Their first match was against Surrey 2 who were to end the day in third place, equal on points with Sussex 3 but one set worse off. The team went 4-1 down with Emily gaining the only win over Natalie Wu. Both Bradley and Owen lost their matches 3-2 (Bradley at 9) with Owen sustaining a hand injury that affected him for the rest of the day. James had a marathon match against Andre Dunkley before finally winning 12, -6, 9, -10, 8 but the last four matches were lost (Owen again in five) for a 2-8 defeat.

 Sussex 2 were the next team to play and the Division leaders and eventual winners showed no mercy winning 10-0, the same scoreline as they achieved in the other two matches they played. Owen, James and Bradley all took one of their matches to a fifth game and James was actually 10-7 up  in his match against Daniel Barna before losing the last five points.

 Their last match was against Sussex 3. James, Bradley and Owen all lost their opening matches and Rebecca Denyer having her best matches of the day and just failing to win a game in either of her two matches. Emily won both her matches and James pulled off the “Houdini” of the day coming back from 10-6 down in the fifth to Mike Rutherford to win 11, -3, 12, -8, 11 A 3-7 defeat and sixth place in the table of the seven teams in the Division.

Junior Secretary Arthur Clark reports on the first weekend of matches for the County Second Team

DIVISION 1B  – 17th OCTOBER 2010

This season the Essex second team were transferred from the northern Division 1A where they had played for the last seven or eight seasons or so to the western Division which included teams from Devon, Cornwall, Glamorgan, Avon and Dorset. First proposals put forward were to play all the matches over the weekend of 16/17 October at Okehampton. Since this would mean a journey of six or seven hours for the Essex players and I could find no drivers prepared to make the journey I objected to the use of this venue and was subsequently supported by Surrey. Various proposals were put forward and a venue in Bristol was located. Subsequently the Saturday was withdrawn, another venue in Bristol was subsequently not available and after further negotiations it was agreed between the County’s that four rounds of matches would be played at the original venue near Bristol (Thornbury) on Sunday 17 October. Four of the County’s agreed to play their other three rounds of matches at Okehampton on the Saturday leaving the eastern half of the Division to arrange their outstanding matches at a later date, probably 12 March 2011.

 In order to make the start time of 0900 the team of Brandon Crouchman, Scott Dowsett, Mark Smith, Ify Okafor and Ella Patel travelled down on the Saturday afternoon, thus staying overnight. Their first match was against Glamorgan. Scott, Mark and Brandon all lost their opening matches in the final set, Brandon crucially at 12-10. Ify won her match 3-0 but Ella lost 10, 11, 4 so at the halfway stage Essex were 4-1 down. Scott and Ella won their next matches 3-1 and with Brandon beating the opponents number one 3-0 the match score stood at 4-4. Alas Ify lost her see-sawing match in the fifth set and with Mark losing a close second match 3-0 the final score was 4-6.

 In the next match against Devon Brandon won the opening match against David White in the fifth set. The next three matches were lost, Mark to Sam Rose, Ella to Victoria Smith, ranked 11 and Scott to Dominic Sussex, ranked 150 points below him. Ify then won a close match against Naomi Jackson 11, 10, -12, 8 but Mark just lost an even closer match to David 11, 10, 9. Ella lost to Naomi, ranked three places above her 3-1 and surprisingly Brandon lost to the much lower ranked Dominic 3-0. There then followed a cracking match between Ify and Victoria, Ify pulling back a 2-0 deficit only for Victoria to show her class in the fifth set. Scott beat Sam 9 in the fifth to make the final score 3-7.

 Their third match was against Berkshire, one of the pre match favourites and who I am told have won the Division since they had played at Okehampton the previous day. A 10-0 defeat, eight matches lost 3-0 with only Ify taking a set off Maria Tsaptsinos and Mark agonisingly losing 11-9 in the fifth set after being two sets to nil up and 9-7 up in that final set.

 The last match was against Cornwall and after six matches the Essex team could come home with 2 points. Mark achieved his first win of the day and Ella pulled back a 2-0 deficit for an excellent win over Kelly Reed ranked 220 points above her. Two matches later, however, she lost 8 in the fifth after being 2-1 up to the other Cornwall girl Rose Kelly. An 8-2 finishing scoreline with all three boys unbeaten in this match.

 I do not know at the present time how many points the Essex team require from their final three matches to avoid relegation

 Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary

REPORT ON THE JUNIOR PREMIER DIVISION MATCHES PLAYED ON SATURDAY/SUNDAY 16/17 OCTOBER 2010

The first round of Junior Premier County Championship matches was held at the Cippenham Table Tennis Centre on the weekend of Saturday/Sunday 16/17 October with one match Saturday afternoon and two on Sunday. Having finished runners up last season after promotion the previous season Essex had high hopes of going one better this time.

 The opening match on the Saturday afternoon was against Cleveland, the winners of Division 1A last season, who with two girls ranked in the top twelve in the ETTA Ranking List had to be considered as a team to finish at least in the top half of the Division.

In the first match Luca Mariano faced Paul Smith. Losing the first game to 6 Luca was then 10-7 down in the second but pulled it back to deuce before winning 13-11. With the third game won to 6 and Luca 7-3 up in the fourth things looked good for Essex. Not so. Paul came back strongly with a string of winners to take the game to 8 and so to a fifth. A wicked edge to Paul at 6 all seemed to swing the game his way and with the next two points 9-6 up. Luca came back with the next four points and although losing the next point won the next two for an opening win. Alex Holland on next but little went right for him against Shannon Walker losing the first two games 2 and 6 and although he won the nail biting third 15-13 he could not maintain the momentum losing the fourth to 6. Having beaten Jessica a couple of weeks ago Evangeline had high hopes of repeating that performance. Alas she lost 3-0, an atrocious 90° edge late in the third killing off any comeback. Jared then played Anthony Pheonix going quickly 2-0 down and saving a match point before winning the third 14-12. With the fourth won to 5 had the momentum changed for the fifth set. Not a bit of it. With the score 6-6 Anthony took the next four points but not to be outdone Jared clawed back the next four and then the next two for the match. Nicole then took on England Junior No. 5 Chloe Whyte and a titanic battle ensued. Winning the first to 9, losing the second to 6, 10-8 up in the third was then lost 15-13. An even longer fourth set followed, Nicole 8-4 and 9-6 up finally won it 18-16. 0-5 down at the change round in the fifth couldn’t be pulled back. Essex 3-2 down. Luca quickly went 6-0 up, then 6-7 down playing Shannon before winning 14-12, lost the second to 8 but thereon won the next two quickly, Nicole lost to Jessica 3-0 although holding a game point at 13-12 in the second. Jared then beat Paul 11-2 in the fifth after being 2-1 down. With the other three matches completed the final two games were played on two tables. Alex lost to Anthony 3-1 whilst Evangeline had a superb win 9, 8, 10 over Chloe to achieve a match draw.

 Sunday’s first match was against Yorkshire, a team that Essex had beaten 10-0 last season and, since Yorkshire had lost 10-0 to Sussex yesterday, had high hopes of doing the same again. All went according to plan at the start. Jared an easy 3-0 win over Daryl Gee, Alex, after being 2-1 down beat Michael Fraser 3-2 and Nicole beat Nicole Finn 3-1. Sadly in the match against Reece Lo Luca injured his foot and although he managed to win the third game he found moving around the table none too easy and thus lost 6, 5, -7, 12. Evangeline failed to find the target in her first game against Jenny Wood to lose it to 4 but after that 5, 4, 1 speaks for itself. Three 3-0 wins for Nicole, Jared and Evangeline put Essex 7-2 up so the decision was taken to concede Luca’s last match to give it time to see if he could recover sufficiently to play in the afternoon match.

 First on against Hampshire’s number one Jonathon Evans Luca decided to give it a go and was always in control although he lost the third game 13-11. Thereafter Essex won all the matches 3-0 although Nicole found it hard work in the first two games against Chrissie Slot which she won 12-10 before cruising through the third.

The match to escape was surprisingly Jarred’s five set loss to Jonathon. Serving off the end of the table at 9-9 in the fifth doesn’t help.

 After this first weekend’s matches Essex are in second place on sets difference, equal on points with Middlesex and one point behind the leaders Sussex who have yet to drop a set.

Thanks must go to John Holland on the Sunday for coaching the team and to the team players on the Saturday for coaching between themselves.

A good team performance all round. The final round of matches is at Wood Green, Wednesbury on 2/3 April 2011.

 Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary.