There was no doubting the star of this week’s Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League matches as Cold Norton’s Neil Want doubled up for the two Division 2 sides winning all 6 of his singles matches plus helping out in the doubles too.  You could say the opposition was left Wanting.

With league leaders Cold Norton B being sidelined this week due to illness in their opposition camp Fambridge took the opportunity presented to them and with a 7-3 win over Mapledene B they have taken over pole position as we head into the Xmas Break.  The Cold Norton gang won’t be too disappointed as they have 2 games in hand and only a 6 point gap to bridge – but it’s a marker for sure.  John Poysden remains massive everywhere he goes as the Over-70s brigade chase him down for his autograph no matter where he plays.  This week he was in treble form as he shone for Fambridge with team-mate Mark Stones adding an extra 2 wins for the bulk of the points.  For Mapledene B it was the slimline Kieran Skeggs that was hardest to beat as he took excellent wins over Stones and Chris Ballard.  Cold Norton C find themselves in particularly unfamiliar high altitude at the halfway mark of the season.  Their lofty 3^rd place has had team captain Tim Cramphorn ordering extra oxygen for the trials and tribulations ahead.  This week they demolished their own A team (albeit a 2 man affair) with a devastating 10-0 victory.  Hat-tricks all round for Cramphorn, Kim Shead and Arron Chandler.  The final encounter saw a Liam Squirrell inspired Mapledene A settle for a draw with Woodham B.  Squirrell naturally went unbeaten all night – he is the nuts after all!  But Woodham fought hard and there were braces for both Sanjay Saptarshi and Harry Sawford including notable wins over the tricky Steve Muth.

In Division 2 Cold Norton D move off the bottom spot but still can’t find that elusive first win.  This week they drew with Blackwater B largely thanks to Neil Want’s untroubled hat-trick.  For Blackwater B Merv Perriman and Gary Smith both had good evenings winning 2 of their 3 singles.  Perriman had to come from behind against the much younger Peter Lucraft to win the final 2 legs 11-9 in a very tight finish.  The Blackwater A team then encountered Want again in their match later in the week against Want’s regular Cold Norton E team and, as history tends to, his hat-trick antics were repeated.   This time he had a little extra help as team-mates Dick Wyman and Rob Harris added points against Neil Thompson and his flashy new bat.  So along with the doubles victory that all added up to a 6-4 win for Cold Norton with Noah Sage and Alan Scammell both scoring a brace of wins for Blackwater.  A loss that impacts what had been a growing campaign for the Blackwater side.  Woodham C edged closer to the leading pack with a very respectable 6-4 win over the consistent Stow Maries B trio.  The bouncy Scott Perry was unstoppable for Woodham as he won all his singles and doubles, and he had wing man Tim Pulham pulling in 2 wins to bring up the winning score.  Dave Marsh was the best of the Stow side with 2 wins including a notable triumph over Pulham.  League Chairman Alan Dadswell was very unlucky not to come away with anything from his singles matches having played 14 out of a possible 15 sets, and having been 10-8 up in the deciding set against Marsh.  At least he won the doubles!

Blackwater C continued their romp to the Division 3 Title with a 7-3 win over Maldon D, and for once none of their players went unbeaten as teamwork made the dream work for the leaders as their trio all won 2 singles each.  Peter Davenport and the in-form Tina Hutchinson combined for a tricky 5 set doubles bonus point to complete the scoring with thirdwheel Colin Barham adding his 2 singles to the pot.  In fact Blackwater showed true champion grit as they won all three of the 5-setters over the course of the evening.  Maldon’s James Raymond went home with his head held high with good wins over Barham and Hutchinson, and Shirley Carroll took a notable point from Davenport.  St Lawrence got back to winning ways as the Baysiders came in 6-4 victors over Blackwater E.  Dave Bateman and Mick Robinson did all the damage with 5 singles wins and then combining for the all-important doubles win.  Having scored a blank against Blackwater C John Leavett fared much better against the F variety of Blackwaters as he notched another hat-trick as his Maldon E side came away from the Blackwater Arena with a spring in their step and 10 whole points to boot.  Hat-tricks for Leavett, Tim Huxtable and David Park.

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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer

Burnham & District Table Tennis League

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Pic 1 – Neil Want in action this week for his beloved Cold Norton Club

Pic 2 – Liam Squirrell – Mapledene’s master of hat-tricks

Pic 3 – Harry Sawford in winning ways against Mapledene’s Steve Muth.

Pic 4 – Dave Marsh and Alan Dadswell play out their 5 set thriller

Pic 5 – Blackwater C – Destined for the Crown.  (Colin Barham, Peter Davenport, and Tina Hutchinson)

Pic 6 – The impressive Tina Hutchinson in action for Division 3 leaders Blackwater C

With one more round of matches to play before Christmas things are really hotting up in the title race for the Premier Division of the Southend & District Table Tennis league. I reported last week that there were just two points separating Thorpe Bay A at the top and Rawreth B in second place, well after this week’s results, make that one point.

Thorpe Bay A suffered a rare defeat at the hands of Rayleigh Mill who had both Liam Squirrell and Duncan Taylor in their side this week. It was Squirrell who led the way with three wins against Paul Sayer, Mark Stones and Ian Wall with Taylor picking up wins against Wall and Stones meaning a good 5-4 win for the Millers. Rawreth B clawed one point back on the leaders as they were able to win 5-4 themselves against a depleted Thorpe Bay B team. I say depleted in that they only have two players, that said, two very strong players in Kirean Skeggs and Matt Spero.  The Thorpe Bay pair picked up two wins each but couldn’t get the better of player of the match Dan Zeffie. Special mention to Gary Young who played some great table tennis but was so unlucky to lose 14-12 in the 5^th to both Spero and Skeggs.

Elsewhere it was a familiar story for Stamford A as a Mitchell Jones hat-trick was all they had to show for their trip to Hockley A, two wins each for Sanjay Saptarshi, Matt Stringer and Dan Patynski for the home side. And finally a really close battle for Invicta A as they just managed to pip Hadleigh Forum 5-4. A real team effort with two wins apiece for Steve Marr and Tony Ayliffe and a good win for Paul Sims over Neil Barker.

The ding-dong battle for the top spot between the two Hockley teams in division 1 continued again this week. Last week the C team closed the gap on the B team, but this week the gap has widened again.

There was no festive spirit when leaders Hockley B visited Stanford Le Hope B. They thumped their hosts 9 – 0 and barely lost a rubber, with maximums from Joe Odegbami, David Colwill and Stuart Adshead.

Hockley C were given a slightly tougher test away to Wakering A. The home side’s pairing of Martin Shaughnessy and Barbara Chabior took one victory each off the second-placed team in a 7 – 2 away win. Veteran Tim Pang and William Evesham each scored hat tricks whilst James Evesham recorded the other win for the visitors.

The contest between the two Hadleigh Forum sides was a keenly fought affair, played in a great spirit, as would be expected between club mates who are also good friends. After six contests the score stood at three all, with all six players having managed a win. However, after this, the B team got the better of their C team colleagues coming out on top 6 – 3. However, it was close, with the final two battles being tense affairs, both only settled in the fifth and final set.

Another one-sided contest took place on Canvey where their A team overcame lowly Basildon B 9 – 0. The home side’s Peter Cray, Ray Wilson and Bob Skews all returned maximums. 

The current flu epidemic may have played it’s part in two of this week’s Division 2 fixtures as first Stanford found their squad decimated to the point they could only field Mike Trendell against promotion chasers Matchpoint B ,and Hockley E found themselves without three of their squad albeit they still managed to put out a full team calling on George Clark from their F team to fill the gap.

With no matches for Wakering or Hockley D the focus was very much on the bottom of the table and the clash between Hockley E and Runnymede was crucial for both teams. It turned out to be a significant night for Runnymede who cantered to a straightforward 7-2 win with hat tricks for Steve Wisbey and Andrew Humphris, his first of the season. The evening started well for Hockley with Neal Klyman getting the better of Steve McQuillan but they then lost six games on the trot before John George also beat Mcquillan. Player of the Match Steve Wisbey rounded the evening off beating Klyman. That made it three wins in succession for Runnymede who now sit in a season high sixth position whilst Hockley slip to one but bottom.

Invicta B and Matchpoint C both needed points to push themselves up the table and they produced the closest match of the week Invicta edging it 5-4 so both teams came away reasonably happy. Matchpoint led 2-1 and 4-2 but a late push from Invicta saw them win the last three games to steal the win. Their hero was Trisha Winter whose hat trick included two five set wins against Olly Milchard and Roger Sherman. Winter was actually two sets down against Sherman before fighting back to level and then edge the final set 15/13. Sarah Ball and John Blackman added the extra points for Invicta whilst Samuel Morgan got a brace and Sherman and Milchard one each for Matchpoint. Matchpoint now sit one point above Hockley and Invicta four points above Matchpoint albeit they have played a game more than both their rivals.

Basildon C remain bottom of the table after losing 6-3 to promotion hopefuls Canvey B. They went down fighting though with only one game finishing in three sets. Terry Giddens was the star man for the Islanders with a maximum whilst Tony Westwell added a brace and Kevin Walsingham a single point. Michael Elemide got a brace for Basildon and there was one win for Andy Roff. Canvey move up to third place.

In the final match of the week the plaudits must go to Mike Trendell who was the only player available for Stanford for their game against Matchpoint B but he still turned up and played when the temptation must have been to forfeit the game. Trendell even started his solitary evening with a win against Colin Barham but lost against Lotte Mills and John Lott so at least he didn’t go home empty handed. He might even have doubled that score having taken a two set lead against Mills but she fought back admirably to win the next three sets 11/9 11/9 11/9. This 8-1 win has now given Matchpoint an eight point cushion in second place from Canvey B in third.

Player of the Week – Mike Trendell

Team of the Week – Runnymede

Just two matches played this week in Division 3.

Stanford ‘D’ opened up proceedings with a home fixture against Wakering ‘C’, and it was Martin Winter, with a quick fire hat-trick, who led the way for them.  Andrew Jessop added a double, and Toby Cornelius chipped in with the extra point to round off a 6/3 win for Stanford.  Joanna Gaudini was the best on the night for Wakering with a couple of wins.

League leaders Invicta ‘C’ have stretched their lead at the top to 20 points following their latest visit to the table.  Their opponents this week were Matchpoint ‘C’, who found it tough going, and only Cooper Hill managed to pinch a set in his match against Mike Keeble. Steve Lennox was the POTM here.

Second placed Hockley ‘F’ were unable to close the gap on the leaders, as their match against Hockley ‘G’ had to be postponed due to illness amongst the junior Hockley players.

The match between Hadleigh Forum and Evolve ‘B’ was also postponed due to illness within the Evolve team.   

Premier Division report by Duncan Taylor

Division 1 report by David Barnes

Division 2 report by Paul Strutt

Division 3 report by David Woolmer

Over the years, there have been few more determined and dogged competitors in the Clacton League than Mark Ratcliffe of Walton A.

This week in Division One of the League, Ratcliffe chalked up his second hat-trick in as many matches, his unbeaten performance helping to secure his Walton A side a 6-4 success against Brotherhood C.

There were a couple of wins for his team-mate Paul Meikle, which included a 12-10 in the decider success over John Cleasby, while Derek Willis added an important point with an 11-4 in the fifth victory against Dave Miller.

In a match where no player left empty-handed, Brotherhood’s Cleasby, Miller and Tim Leung each won once.

Elsewhere, Brotherhood A were predictable 10-0 victors against bottom team Windsor Buzzards, who were further disadvantaged by being forced to use a guest. Kevin Gowlett, Gracie Edwards and Daniel Young were the winning trio.

It was equally as comfortable for Nomads Lions against Walton B, Ethan Lloyd, Jason Lloyd and Adam Cuthbert all unbeaten in their 10-0 victory.

Andy Vincent and Felipe Rodriguez remained undefeated in Windsor Hawks’ 8-2 success over Brotherhood B. There was a point apiece for Brotherhood’s Simon Smith-Daye and Joe Plummer but Sam Plummer, making a welcome first appearance of the season, just failed to get on the score-sheet, going down 11-5 in the fifth to Scott Campbell.

The Brotherhood Club is dominating Division Two, with their four teams currently occupying the top four places in the table.

Hat-tricks for Mark Boyland and John Gallagher saw leaders Brotherhood G home 6-4 against Windsor Harriers, although the pair failed to take the doubles, losing 11-7 in the fifth to Barry Allen and Isabel Barton. In the only other match to go the distance, Gallagher defeated Allen 11-6 in the fifth.

Bottom team Windsor Kestrels, playing with a reserve, took the opening two matches against second-placed Brotherhood F, Peter Aumord beating Paul Alden 11-4 in the decider and Allen Denyer defeating Tricia Salter 12-10 in the decider. But these were the Kestrels’ only successes, the ‘F’ team running out 8-2 winners, Neil Chegwidden taking a maximum, and Alden and Salter two each.

Kelvin Olano-Harper of Windsor Penguins beat Tom Bryden of Brotherhood J 11-5 in the fifth on his way to his sixth treble of the season. But two each from Bryden and Ruby Gallagher, one from Lucy Carvell, and a Bryden/Joe Sherwin doubles win was enough to give the ‘J’ team a 6-4 victory.

Trebles for Kevin Pryor and, in a second outing of the season, Adi Kamma, were enough to give Brotherhood D the 7-3 win against Nomads Jaguars. Pryor had a tough tussle against Chris Petrou before emerging an 11-9 in the fifth winner, whilst Pryor and Kamma took a close doubles, 11-8 in the fifth, against Petrou and Andy Hart.

In Division Three, the top-of-the-table clash between Brotherhood H and Holland Hurricanes ended in victory for Brotherhood but, with both teams forced to field a guest player, the winning score was an unusual 5-4. Gary Stallwood stayed unbeaten for the Hurricanes but Brotherhood took a crucial doubles, Dan Grindrod and Owen Woollard, in only his third appearance of the season, defeating Stallwood and Ian Gwillim 11-7 in the fifth.

Peter Evans recorded a hat-trick for Holland Lancasters but it was Nomads Leopards who ran out the winners, Doug Green and Dominic Joannou each taking two in their team’s 6-4 victory. Dave Wright picked up a point for the Lancasters, edging past Anne Bonny 11-9 in the decider.

Mike Wellum of Nomads Ocelots was another to stay unbeaten but end up on the losing side, the Ocelots, playing with a guest player, going down 6-4 to Windsor Falcons. Gary Barnes, Nigel Rolph and Nikki Hayes each took one for the Falcons, Hayes defeating Hazel Blanche 11-6 in the fifth in the closest contest.  

Finally, Brotherhood E were 9-1 winners against a Windsor Magpies’ side also fielding a guest player. Jack Hillier and Rodney Betts each won their allocated two matches, Hillier edging past Dave Sweetland 11-4, 3-11, 14-12, 11-13, 11-9. Magpies’ skipper John Plummer saved his side’s blushes by winning the final match of the evening against Tony Edmonds.

* The draw for the Group stage of the Handicap Knock-Out Cup, which takes place during the first three weeks of January, has been made. Holders Nomads Lions have been drawn in a three-team Group which includes the young guns of Brotherhood J from Division Two, and Lynette Sparks’ Walton C team from Division Three. The most intriguing of the Groups sees four teams from the Windsor Club – the Hawks and Eagles of the First Division and the Penguins and Kestrels of the Second – drawn in the same Group.

Full details have been sent to all players. This information can also be found on the League’s website.

RESULTS

Division 1

Brotherhood B 2 Windsor Hawks 8;

Brotherhood A 10 Windsor Buzzards 0;

Walton A 6 Brotherhood C 4;

Nomads Lions 10 Walton B 0.

Division 2

Brotherhood G 6 Windsor Harriers 4;

Nomads Jaguars 3 Brotherhood D 7;

Windsor Penguins 4 Brotherhood J 6;

Windsor Kestrels 2 Brotherhood F 8.

Division 3

Windsor Magpies 1 Brotherhood E 9;

Nomads Ocelots 4 Windsor Falcons 6;

Holland Lancasters 4 Nomads Leopards 6;

Brotherhood H 5 Holland Hurricanes 4.

Report by Tony Oswick

The top teams in Divisions 2 and 3 of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League showed who is boss this year with wins over their nearest and not so dearest rivals in two top of the table clashes this week.

Fambridge did all they could this week to edge closer to Division 1 League leaders Cold Norton B and keep the battle for supremacy honest.  Fambridge eclipsed Stow Maries A 10-0 to record their first whitewash of this season.  An unbeaten evening of sport for the Fambridge trio of Bruce Kettle, John ‘England’s Finest’ Poysden, and Mark Stones.  Cold Norton B also registered a high scoring win as they demolished their own C team with a much harder energy sapping 8-2 victory that included 3 individual matches going all the way to a deciding leg.  Cold Norton’s Dave Richardson had just pipped the tricky Kim Shead in the fifth set early on in the proceedings so he was confident going into final match of the night against very awkward Martin Archie.  Archie gave him a great fright by quickly taking a 2-0 lead before Richardson fought back to even the match up.  The final and deciding leg was nip and tuck throughout before Archie slipped in the last few points for his team’s only singles victory of the evening.  The most surprising result of the night though was a shockingly simple doubles win for the Cold Norton C duo of Shead and Tim Cramphorn who won out in straight sets against top pairing of Eric Green and Ian Wall.  Green and Wall need not be too disheartened though as they both registered another hat-trick in the singles to maintain their high win rates for this season.  Daniel Young and Harry Sawford both went undefeated as Woodham A dispatched Cold Norton A 8-2.   The third Woodham player, Chris Hancox, was unlucky not to register more than his win over Steve Sawyer as he lost out in 5 against both Rob Harris and Steve Maltby.

Blackwater A missed an opportunity to go top this week as the two top teams met in the Bragging Rights Battle of Division 2.  The Blackwater trio welcomed the unbeaten league leaders Maldon A across the metropolis and into their West Maldon lair – Galatasaray it may not be but the heckles were up for sure.  Maldon took an early lead with tight straight set wins for Colin Napper and Lloyd Bennett-Smith but once the nerves had settled the rudderless Blackwater side fought back with wins for Denis Balic and Neil Freeman.  Maldon took the next 2 matches to lead 4-2 going into the lucky-dip doubles.  The doubles journey matched some of the rollercoasters seen along Maldon Promenade over the years with no team being able to capitalise on any slender lead and so a fifth and deciding set was required.  The experienced pairing of Napper and Bennett-Smith came through 11-6 to ensure at least a share of the spoils was secured.  Just as well as Freeman took the next match against Dawn Baldry to tighten the gap, before the trusted Maldon stalwart Napper declared his side the winners with a 4 set battling triumph over the stoic Denis Balic.  So with the match won perhaps Captain Bennett-Smith relaxed a little too much against the young whipper-snapper Noah Sage as he found himself in an almighty 5 set battle with 3 of the legs going way beyond deuce.  So after a long and tense evening these two were still at it 12-12 in the deciding set – did they not want to get home before midnight?  In the end the youth of Sage was too much for the energy starved Maldon supremo and the final point went to Blackwater for a 4-6 defeat but pride intact.  Maldon C recorded the same winning margin over Stow Maries B with hat-tricks for the inform Marty Englander and the effervescent Dawn Baldry.  Stow’s Dave Marsh had a fun evening playing 19 out of a maximum 20 ends – with 1 win in the singles and a cracking doubles win with Peter Hance 12-10 in the fifth!  Neil Want was the star turn in the match between Woodham C and Cold Norton D with a troubled hat-trick.  A straight sets win over Allan Steel but with each leg going beyond deuce and then an almighty topsy turvy battle with tricky lefty Pete Harverson that was only secured 11-9 in the fifth.  Despite Want’s brilliance his team lost again leaving Cold Norton D as the only team in the league without a win this season.  6-4 to Woodham in the end with Steel and Harverson taking two points apiece.  Cold Norton E had that Squelchy feeling this week after encountering the growing prowess of Blackater B’s rarely spotted, but very effective, secret weapon that is Simon Quelch.  This week Quelch was in indefatigable form as he dispatched all of his singles opponents for a well earned star player badge.  The most difficult match being a tasty 5-setter with Dick Wyman where The Quelchmeister recovered from 0-2 down to wear down his opponent to win out 11-9 in the decider.  Wyman and Tony Forster were in fine fettle on the night recording 2 wins each as part of the overall drawn encounter.

In Division 3 second placed Blackwater D had a chance to impinge upon the growing lead built up by Blackwater C.  Well it didn’t go to plan as the D team were royally trounced by the superb C team in a 9-1 victory where David Benstead managed a win for the D’ers to avoid the whitewash blushes.  Very few of the matches were easy so at least there was some fight and spirit shown.  Hat-tricks for Peter Davenport and of course for the Division’s top player – Mr 100% still – Gary Smith.  Maldon D took a decent 7-3 win over Blackwater E with a treble for James Raymond, 2 wins for Shirley Carroll and his first win in Burnham for David Park.  Despite only having two eligible players Woodham D still edged out a 6-4 win over Blackwater F.  A hat-trick for the elegant Chris Crooks and 2 very good wins for Diane King. 

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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer

Burnham & District Table Tennis League

Pic 1 – Eric Green in unstoppable action for Division 1 leaders Cold Norton B_________________________________________

Pic 2 – Cold Norton’s Martin Archie in his win over Dave Richardson this week

Pic 3 – Louis Gunn and Simon Quelch in Doubles Trouble for Blackwater

Pic 4 – Dave Marsh hogging the table at Maldon TTC this week versus Chris Ravenhill

Pic 5 – The very tight half-way table for Division 2

Louis Gunn (left) and Simon Quelch

The top two teams in the Premier division both delivered big wins in week 12 of the season keeping the difference between them at the top of the table at a meagre 2 points. First off we had Rawreth B seeing off Stanford A 9-0, a result which doesn’t truly justify the great games played on the night with the game of the night coming as Dan Zeffie and Vivvan Babbar went toe to toe with the Rawreth man coming out on top 11-9 in the 5^th. Thorpe Bay A were in even more miserly mood as they beat Invicta A 9-0 without dropping a game all night.

Elsewhere there was another man of the match performance for Liam Squirrell who took 3 wins for Rayleigh Mill against a Rawreth A team of George Reeves, Eric Green and Kim Shead. Unfortunately for the Millers that was all they had to show from the evening as Rawreth won the remaining 6 games against Rob Harris and Steve Maltby.

The closest game of the week came as Hockley A travelled to Brand Identity and came away with a good 5-4 win. Matt Stringer doing most of the damage for Hockley with three wins, albeit all coming in 5 ends, and Sanjay Saptarshi chipping in with a good two wins against Adam and Richard Jackman, Saptarshi just falling short against Simon Jacob.

Division 1 leaders Hockley B suffered a shock defeat this week at home to Canvey A. Despite another hat trick from their star player Joseph Odegbami, Hockley succumbed 5 – 4. A good all round team performance by Canvey that had two wins each for Peter Cray and Bob Skews, and one for Ray Wilson, means that the leaders have slipped to within catching distance.

Second place Hockley C took full advantage of this slip by winning 8 – 1 against visiting Stanford Le Hope B, effectively closing the gap to the leaders to only two points. Not for the first time this season, Elliot Brackenbury took the Player of the Match prize, not dropping a set the whole match. Team mate Will Evesham was also unbeaten. Rob Salvage managed to overcome veteran Tim Pang to collect the visitors’ only success.

Rawreth C’s large squad is playing dividends as they consolidated third place with a fine 7 – 2 win against Hadleigh Forum B. Yet again Paul Brown was the Rawreth star. Michael Tappenden managed both wins for Forum overcoming both Michael Rigg and David Gatheral. A special mention should be given to Forum’s Jan Thorpe who has returned to our sport this season in Division 3 however, he wasn’t disgraced by his performance in this Division 1 match whilst playing up.

Struggling Basildon B put up a spirited fight against visitors Mapledene, only going down 5 – 4 in the last rubber of the evening. Mapledene’s Lin Roff took the POM accolade, although her two wins were matched both by team mate Andy Seaman and the home side’s Kieran Wood and Chudi Ukpaka. However, Mike Johnston’s single victory was the deciding factor in giving Mapledene the win.

Hadleigh Forum C could only find two players this week. It was no surprise then when visitors Wakering A won 7 – 2. Xi Wei won all his games, although the home side’s Paul Fawell took him very close. Xi’s colleagues Barbara Chabior and Mick Grout won one contest each, but neither could overcome Paul who got both his side’s points.

The top four teams in Division 2 were all in action this week playing each other but there was no change in their league positions as a result.

Leaders Wakering held off third placed Hockley D winning 6-3 and second placed Matchpoint B won by the same score against Canvey B.

Wakering’s win was, as is usually the case, founded on the back of Callum Turner’s performance and he didn’t disappoint with a hat trick. He did, however, drop two sets to Howard Collins eventually winning 11/2 in the decider. Turner was backed up by Mike Grout who also returned a hat trick although he too was taken to five sets by Collins. Collins did eventually get a point for Hockley beating Paul England, you guessed it, in five sets. Brian Bissenden and Paul Strutt followed Collins example both also winning against England.

Matchpoint’s win against Canvey followed a similar pattern with John Lott and Hannah Harbour again providing two hat tricks to ensure the win but they did meet some stern resistance Harbour having to twice survive five set battles against first Terry Giddens and then Trevor Hayes. Lott had to withstand just the one five set match against Giddens but it was quite a match Lott winning the first two sets 11/8 12/10 before Giddens battled back winning the next two 11/9 11/9. The deciding set threatened to go on indefinitely until Lott edged it 18/16. Canvey’s points came courtesy of wins for Giddens, Hayes and Des Duffield all against Colin Barham.

Basildon C’s form in recent weeks has shown a marked improvement with two wins in their last three games and they made it three out of four games after a 6-3 win against Matchpoint C. The evening didn’t start well however as they lost the first two games but then won the next six in succession to turn the match on it’s head and secure the win. Andy Roff was the man behind the win winning all his games and he was backed up by two wins from Dave Walton and one for Victor Galben. Samuel Morgan provided two wins for Matchpoint and took Roff to five sets whilst Zachary Samuels beat Galben for the other point.

The other team at the bottom of the table, Runnymede, turned things upside down in the race to avoid relegation by hammering Invicta B 8-1. The win drops Hockley E (without a game) to one but bottom, moves Runnymede above them but, more importantly, drags Invicta and Matchpoint C into the race. Basildon C remain bottom on 25 points but just two points separate the next four teams Hockley 29 points to Invicta B 31 points. Runnymede’s win was led by the always reliable Tony Millward with a perfect hat trick, Steve Wisbey with his first hat trick of the season and Andrew Humphris with a brace. Andrew St. John got the consolation point for Invicta.

Miles Bygrave produced a stand-out performance when his Evolve ‘A’ side travelled to take on the Division 3 leaders Invicta ‘C’.  Not only was he unbeaten on the night, but he inflicted the first defeat of the season on Invicta’s Harry Venables.  This came in the final game of the match, described as ‘a thrilling 5-set finale’.  It was a shame that his individual efforts were not rewarded with a victory for his team, but it was not for the want of his teammates trying.  In particular, Nova Narayanan who was on the wrong end of close 5-setters against both Harry and David Barlow.  6/3 the final score in favour of Invicta.

Second placed Hockley ‘F’ kept up their pursuit of Invicta at the top of the table, as they recorded a 7/2 home win over Hadleigh Forum ‘D’.  A perfect maximum from Ross Collins saw him deservedly take the Player of the Match plaudits, and he was ably assisted by his skipper, Gary Beck, who was also unbeaten. For Forum, there was a win each for Douglas Brown and Jan Thorpe.

Canvey ‘C’ entertained Matchpoint ‘D’ and a close match ensued.  Steve Kemp was the hero for Canvey with a 9-set hat-trick, well supported by John Saunders who added a couple of wins.  For Matchpoint there was a double for David McHattie and a single win each for Tina Cook and Gary Crouch.

Ehsan Khan, with a win over Karen Kempster, was the only winner on the night for Evolve ‘B’ when they took on Stanford ‘D’.  Marin Winter and Andrew Jessop both recorded maximums, and Karen won her remaining games to complete an 8/1 win for the away side.

Reports by Duncan Taylor, David Barnes, Paul Strutt and David Woolmer

After taking no chances by turning out their top three players against Sudbury Nomads the previous week, Braintree Table Tennis League leaders Netts A showed their strength in depth when they turned to their second-choice players for their next match against Rayne B – and still came away with an 8-2 win.

Szczepan Ziobro was unbeaten in his first outing of the season while Joe Meleschko won two, as did Charles Calisin, playing up from division two.

It was back to full strength for their next match, or indeed full strength plus one when they introduced Andy Dosher for his first match in Braintree for many years.

He and Paul Davison were unbeaten against Black Notley A but it was James Hicks who had the busiest evening.  He beat Steve Noble 11-9 in the fifth game and Sam Burrows 13-11 in the fifth, but couldn’t quite manage the hat-trick, losing 12-10 in the fifth against Luke Burridge, the only set the team dropped.

Netts B sit in second place after three successive wins, 6-4 against Liberal A, where Adam Clift was unbeaten, 6-4 over Sudbury Wanderers, where Chris Parr was unbeaten, and 10-0 over Notley B where both of them, and Sean Clift, were unbeaten.

Like Netts A, Liberal A have a wide selection of players to call on and most of them were unavailable to face Sudbury Nomads, which was bad news for Nomads as Liberal managed to rustle up a team that would be capable of challenging for the title if they played every week.

Brandon Crouchman and Scott Dowsett won three each and Adam Cuthbert two in their 9-1 win.

Nomads recovered to win their next match, 10-0 against their clubmates the Wanderers.

Colin Moss came closest to preventing the whitewash by taking Richard Fifield to 12-10 in the fifth.

After a slow start to his recovery from a knee operation – one win out of six – former men’s singles champion Steve Kerns had the more familiar return of three wins in Notley B’s draw with Liberal B.

Report by Ron Fosker

The clash in Division One of the Clacton League between the Windsor Club’s top two teams, the Hawks and Eagles, ended all-square with honours even. Andy Vincent remained unbeaten for the Hawks, while there were two each for John Pattrick and Gavin Price of the Eagles.

Pattrick came close to taking his three and denying Vincent his hat-trick, losing 11-9, 6-11, 10-12, 11-7, 10-12 to the Hawks’ number one, with the winning point in the final fifth set coming from a fortuitous net.

Scott Campbell of the Hawks was involved in two five-setters, beating Phil Smith 11-5 in the fifth but going down 11-7 in the fifth to Pattrick.

Elsewhere, the Nomads Lions’ juggernaut continued to motor on,  their 10-0 success against Brotherhood C their fifth whitewash win of the season. But despite three each for Adam Cuthbert, Adam Wilkin and Jason Lloyd, the Brotherhood team nearly snatched a point, Tim Leung going down 11-8 in the fifth to Wilkin, and Graham Playle losing out 12-10 in the fifth to Lloyd.

Nomads Panthers were 9-1 winners against Walton A. There were trebles from John Hatley and Greg Green, and a couple for Denes Somodi. Derek Willis took the Walton point with a victory over Somodi, who was also involved in the closest individual match of the week, edging past Mark Gale 13-11, 7-11, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10.

Trebles from Patrick Cheung and Russell Hillier saw Brotherhood B to an 8-2 success over Windsor Buzzards. James Smith-Daye picked up an 11-8 in the fifth victory over Dave Martin but went down by the same score to Buzzards’ reserve Barry Allen. Ray Chillingworth was the other points-scorer for the Buzzards.

In Division Two, Lily Liu recorded a debut hat-trick at this level in Brotherhood D’s 9-1 success against Windsor Kestrels, as well as sharing an 11-7 in the decider doubles win with Kevin Pryor against Graham and Jackie Bunce. Pryor also took a treble, while Fred Gallone won a couple but narrowly failed to make it three, going down 12-10 in the decider to Allen Denyer.

The Brotherhood J v Nomads Jaguars fixture ended all-square, a first drawn match of the season for both teams. Andy Hart with a hat-trick and Chris Petrou with two took the Jaguars’ points. For Brotherhood, Joe Sherwin won two, Lucy Carvell and Ruby Gallagher one each, with Sherwin and Gallagher sharing a doubles success. The first match of the evening was the only one to go the distance, Carvell beating Bob Jillins 11-8 in the fifth.

Three for Kelvin Olano-Harper, two for Paul Woolnough and a first win of the season for Paul Stanton was enough to give Windsor Penguins victory over Windsor Harriers. And the Penguins made it 7-3 thanks to an 11-7 in the decider doubles win for Olano-Harper and Stanton over Ferdy Rodriguez and Isabel Barton in the contest’s closest match.  

In Division Three, leaders Brotherhood H defeated Brotherhood E 7-3. Dan Grindrod took his maximum, with Gary Simpson and Danny Still taking two each. Jack Hillier of the ‘E’ team recorded fine wins over Simpson and Still.

Gary Stallwood and Gerry Widnell notched up trebles for Holland Hurricanes in their 9-1 victory over club-mates Holland Lancasters. John Smith-Daye won two but lost out to Dave Wright, 11-5 in the decider.

Three for Dominic Joannou, two for Anne Bonny and one for Mark Taylor, plus a Joannou/Bonny doubles win, gave Nomads Leopards a 7-3 victory against Holland Vulcans. Derek Foxley took two for the Vulcans, whilst James Horsler won one but went down 11-7 in the fifth to Bonny.

RESULTS

Division 1

Windsor Hawks 5 Windsor Eagles 5;

Nomads Panthers 9 Walton A 1;

Brotherhood C 0 Nomads Lions 10;

Windsor Buzzards 2 Brotherhood B 8.

Division 2

Windsor Penguins 7 Windsor Harriers 3;

Brotherhood D 9 Windsor Kestrels 1;

Brotherhood J 5 Nomads Jaguars 5.

Division 3

Holland Hurricanes 9 Holland Lancasters 1;

Brotherhood E 3 Brotherhood H 7;

Nomads Leopards 7 Holland Vulcans 3.

Report by Tony Oswick

Finchingfield B’s apparent stroll to the Braintree Table Tennis League division three title received an unexpected jolt last week when they were held to a draw by mid-table Black Notley H.

After seven successive wins since the start of the season, the league leaders found their hosts a tough nut to crack.

Seventeen-year-old Lucien Nolan-Bradford kept his unbeaten record – now 18 out of 18 – but was given a tough examination by Wayne Wilson, who bowed out only at 12-10 in the fifth game.

Two wins for Wilson and one each for Harry Wilson and Peter Foster, plus a doubles win for the Wilsons gave Notley a share of the points.

Things were stirring behind the leaders as well where the teams in second and third place faced each other.

Notley E and Rayne F had both won six out of seven and it was the former who came out on top 7-3 to bring the two teams level.

Peter Davenport and Dave Parker were unbeaten, but Davenport had to come back from two games to one down against Dave Whiting and Parker from 2-0 down against Conrad Gomes.

At the other end of the table, the bottom two played each other with Sudbury Drifters picking up their first win of the season.

An unbeaten Ian Whipps led them to a 6-4 win over Netts E.

Rayne G had a 10-0 win over Yeldham Whitlocks B while Netts F’s young warriors picked up a 7-3 win over Notley G.

Frank Chapman, 18, James Howard, 17 and Annabel Dix, 12, picked up two wins each.

Ben Southgate accounted for Notley’s three wins, but he was stretched to four games by Dix and five by Chapman and Howard, clinching a win against Howard only at 17-15.

In division two, Netts and Notley featured in two D v C matches and in both cases the C team came through 6-4.

Charles Calisin was unbeaten for Netts C against Notley D while Jamie Brooks took his three singles in Notley C’s win over Netts D.

The other match in the division was a draw between Yeldham A and Rayne D.

Lorraine Burgess made a welcome return for Yeldham after a lengthy injury lay-off but Dean Andrews’ three singles ensured Rayne shared the points.

A very tight set of matches in the top Division of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League allows Cold Norton B to strengthen their lead without lifting a racket.  Blackwater A are on the hunt in Division 2, and Blackwater C return with a bang after being held cheekily held last week.

Two draws and a tight 6-4 victory for Cold Norton A courtesy of the bonus doubles point show how close the middle teams are within the league this year – the luck of selection and the clash of styles is evident every week.  A 2 player Cold Norton A were able to hold Mapledene A to a credible 5-5 draw despite the rampant Liam Squirrell beating both Kevin Read and Chas Sweeny.  Read and Sweeny won all their other singles and obviously paired up for the doubles victory against George Reeves and the Rampant Squirrell.  In their second match of the week Cold Norton A travelled the short distance to Woodham B and got off to a disastrous start when the awesome Sanjay Saptarshi thrashed Matt Stringer 3-0 in the opening match.  Luckily Cold Norton’s fit and well again Duncan Taylor was on hand to smooth things over with two victories over Graham Briggs and Eamonn Hall – both matches being perhaps more difficult than expected as the Woodham boys put up a decent fight.  The teams went in even at the break with Hall putting in a clinical performance to beat Neil Want in straight sets.  With Stringer barrier hopping for the evening Taylor was called into Doubles action and he decided to play fast and furious – hitting winners for nearly every shot.  His partner, Want, was allowed to serve but that was about all he was allowed to contribute as the Taylor assassination went largely unchecked and the important point was secured in record time.  With a slender lead secured it was all down to the final 3 singles.  Want found some form against Briggs as their topsy turvy match went into a deciding leg.  Briggs remained the most focussed as his opponent was left Wanting and brought the match to a 4-4 stalemate.  That didn’t last long as a relaxed Stringer stormed through Hall with an exhibition of forehand and back loops, so the match was left to the one they had all come to watch – Saptarshi versus Taylor.  Taylor had found his mojo now and was in full winning mode, so much so that despite hitting a few decent winners Saptarshi was blown away for Taylor’s clean sweep of the evening leaving Cold Norton as the 6-4 victors.  On the other side of the Woodham arena their was treble action for two of the Woodham A players.  Daniel Young was in inspirational form for his unbeaten evening across both singles and doubles, whereas Woodham debutant Dan Zeffie had a night to forget as lost all of his singles in long hard fought battles – he lost in 5 to Matt Stringer having been 2-0 up, lost in 5 again to Kim Shead, and was a bit quicker when losing to Arron Chandler in 4 sets.  The Woodham management have issued the standard vote of confidence in Zeffie and predict many a future hat-trick to follow.  Woodham’s Chris Hancox took an excellent point off the very tricky Shead to help Woodham secure the draw.

The story in Division 2 is the rising fortunes of the Blackwater A side as they edge closer to the top 2 each week.  Another good win this week has them closer to the podium than the peloton chasing them, and that’s 4 wins out of the last 5 matches with the other being a draw – so watch this space..  Maldon A stay out in front following an 8-2 victory over Cold Norton E – trebles for the reliable Hamish Innes and Lloyd Bennett-Simth with third wheel Colin napper falling to the divergent styles of Dick Wyman and Tony Forster.  Wyman had a long and tough evening, playing the maximum 15 legs across his three matches for just the single win over Napper.  Second-placed Mapledene C fell to the various charms offered by the Stow Maries B side.  Stow’s Peter Hance was the driving force behind his team’s 7-3 win with a perfect evening where he really only struggled against the feisty Pat White where he needed to use all 5 legs to come out on top – this was the final match of the night so it could have been well past Hance’s bedtime by then.   With Mapledene dropping points Blackwater A closed in on their podium position with a very respectable 7-3 turnover of the Maldon B trio.  In a ‘Dusty Bin 3-2-1’ performance it was Denis Balic with the hat-trick action that did most damage, but he was ably supported by Alan Scammell with 2 wins and Neil Thompson playing up for the final singles point with his 3-0 win over Garry Eames.  Woodham’s hard-hitting Chris Hancox was the difference between the Woodham C and Blackwater B sides this week.  With everyone else taking points off each other it was left to Hancox to smash his way through the Blackwater barrier, dropping just the one set all evening in the 6-4 win.  Maldon C are remarkably low in the division for some of the talent they have registered.  This week they scrambled a draw against Cold Norton D largely thanks to a fantastic treble form Marty Englander including a notable victory over Neil Want.  In support of Englander’s efforts Dawn Baldry notched 2 good wins to help secure the draw.  Want atoned for his earlier loss to Englander by pairing up with Terry Hyland to take the doubles away from Baldry and Englander.

After last week’s unexpected draw for Division 3 leaders Blackwater C it was back to normal this week as they crushed Blackwater F in a chilling 10-0 whitewash.  An unbeaten night for the C team trio of Andrea Alleyne, Gary Smith and Neil Thompson.  Thompson coming through the hardest match of the night as he got the better of Keith Thompson over 5 sets of intense match play.  Blackwater D continue there vain attempts to keep pace with their rampant C team and this week recorded a 7-3 victory over Blackwater E with Roger Tiffin once again the star player with an unbeaten evening of ping pong.  Deb Ginn was the best of the E team winning both of her other matches.  Tim Huxtable was in fine fettle for Maldon E with 3 decent wins against Woodham D.  The Woodham side were just unable to penetrate the Huxtable unorthodox defence.  With Joh Leavett chipping in with 2 wins the final scoreline was 7-3 to Maldon E.  St Lawrence were back to winning ways this week against a 2-player Maldon D side.   It was like going back in time to the early 1970s for this match as former Mens Champion Mick Robinson took on Former Ladies Champion Shirley Carroll – with Carroll narrowly coming out on top some 50 years later.  Luckily for Robinson his team-mates fared better and both Mike Burton and Dave Bateman were undefeated all evening as St Lawrence won out 8-2.

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Eamonn Hall, Press Officer

Burnham & District Table Tennis League

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Pic 1 – Daniel Young completing his hat-trick for Woodham A against Matt Stringer this week

Pic 2 – Sanjay Saptarshi with no answer against the skills of Duncan Taylor

Pic 3 – A Burnham debut to forget for Dan Zeffie – seen here against Arron Chandler.

Pic 4 – Neil and Keith bash it out in the Thompson Battle this week.

Pic 5 – The unbeatable Chris Hancox in destruction mode this week.

There’s little to choose between Windsor Magpies and Walton C in Division Three of the Clacton League, and the two mid-table teams enjoyed another tight scrap this week, sharing the four matches which went the distance.

There was a maximum for the ever-reliable Magpies’ skipper, John Plummer, which included an 11-9 in the fifth win over Lynette Sparks and an even closer 12-10 in the fifth win over Maggie Earle.

But alas for Plummer, Walton took the match 6-4, Sparks and Earle both winning twice, Earle edging past Dave Sweetland 12-10 in the fifth, with Deborah Pallett taking a crucial point against Alan Rutledge, 4-11, 11-9, 13-15, 14-12, 11-4.

Elsewhere, three for Dan Grindrod and two for Gary Simpson, plus a shared doubles win, saw leaders Brotherhood H safely home 6-4 against Windsor Falcons. Gary Barnes’ couple for the Falcons included an unexpected victory over Simpson, while Nikki Hayes and Nigel Rolph each took one.

Holland Hurricanes, 8-2 winners against a Brotherhood E side fielding a guest, are now clear in second place. Gary Stallwood was unbeaten for the winners, while Tony Edmonds’ two points for the losers included an 11-7 in the decider success against John Smith-Daye.

The Leopards also fielded a guest in the all-Nomads clash with the Ocelots and, unsurprisingly, went down 7-3. Mike Wellum remained unbeaten to win his two while his Ocelots’ team-mate, Andrew Cousins, edged past Anne Bonny 11-7 in the fifth but lost out to Doug Green. Green won two for the Leopards and Bonny one.

Dave Wright and Peter Evans were undefeated in Holland Lancasters’ 7-3 win over club-mates Holland Vulcans, although it was the tightest of tight 7-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9, 13-11 victories for Wright against Bob Keefe.

In Division One, Kevin James, Gill Locke and Denes Somodi of Nomads Panthers were 10-0 winners against Brotherhood C, Brotherhood’s captain, Martin Edwards, unfortunately forced to concede two of his singles through injury.

No-one stayed unbeaten as Walton A got the better of Windsor Hawks 6-4. Mark Gale, Derek Willis and Paul Meikle each won two for Walton, both Gale and Meikle defeating Andy Vincent in five. Felipe Rodriguez won two for the Hawks and Scott Campbell one, the pair also sharing a doubles win, but Vincent failed to record a victory for the first time this season.

Despite a maximum from Pete Burrows, it was a similar 6-4 score-line for Brotherhood B against Walton B, Patrick Cheung, Russell Hillier and reserve Mark Boyland all winning two for Brotherhood. Walton’s Graham Buxton had an interesting evening, sharing an excellent doubles victory with Paul Newbould against Cheung and Hillier, being edged out 4-11, 8-11, 11-7, 17-15, 12-10 by Hillier, and then going down 11-4, 3-11, 13-11, 11-7 to Boyland, this after being 10-1 up in the third set.

But the all-Windsor clash between the Eagles and Buzzards ended in less dramatic fashion, the Eagles winning 10-0, Gary Cattermole, Phil Smith and John Pattrick remaining unbeaten. Pattrick’s 11-9 in the fifth victory against Dave Martin was the closest match of the tie.

In the all-Brotherhood match between the top two teams in Division Two, hat-tricks from Mark Boyland and John Gallagher saw the ‘G’ team home 7-3 against the ‘F’ team. But it was a tighter encounter than the score-line might suggest, with Brotherhood G winning four of the five matches which went all the way. Gallagher was involved in three of them, beating Paul Alden 11-9 in the decider, Neil Chegwidden 12-10 in the decider, and sharing an 11-9 in the fifth doubles win with Boyland against Chegwidden and Mark Salter.

John Colvin, Charlie Denholm and Ian Sherwood of third-placed Lawford recorded a comfortable 10-0 victory over Windsor Kestrels, with just three matches extended to a fourth set. It was the first whitewash result in the Division so far this season.  

Brotherhood J are now clear in fourth place after taking the final four matches of a hard-fought encounter with Brotherhood D. Joe Sherwin took three, Ruby Gallagher two and Tom Bryden one in their 7-3 victory. Five of the matches went the distance, Bryden losing 11-9 in the decider to Kevin Pryor and 11-8 in the decider to Fred Gallone. But Sherwin defeated Gallone 11-4 in the fifth, Gallagher beat Lily Liu 11-7 in the fifth, with Sherwin and Gallagher taking the closest of them all, 13-11 in the fifth in the doubles against Pryor and Gallone.  

It was also 7-3 for Windsor Penguins against Nomads Tigers, thanks to trebles from Kelvin Olano-Harper and Paul Woolnough.  Tom Wilkin, Matt Sage and Alex Baldock won one each for the Tigers, Wilkin taking both Olano-Harper and Woolnough the distance but ultimately unsuccessful.

But there was a reverse of fortune for the Nomads and Windsor Clubs as the Jaguars defeated the Harriers 8-2, Andy Hart and Chris Petrou leading the way with hat-tricks. Bob Jillins’ win for the Tigers was also the closest match of the contest, 14-12 in the fifth against Isabel Barton.

* Details of the Knock-Out Cup competition which begins in the New Year will be circulated by 15th December at the latest.

RESULTS

Division 1

Brotherhood C 0 Nomads Panthers 10;

Windsor Eagles 10 Windsor Buzzards 0;

Walton A 6 Windsor Hawks 4;

Brotherhood B 6 Walton B 4.

Division 2

Windsor Kestrels 0 Lawford 10;

Windsor Penguins 7 Nomads Tigers 3;

Brotherhood G 7 Brotherhood F 3;

Brotherhood D 3 Brotherhood J 7;

Nomads Jaguars 8 Windsor Harriers 2.

Division 3

Windsor Magpies 4 Walton C 6;

Brotherhood H 6 Windsor Falcons 4;

Holland Lancasters 7 Holland Vulcans 3;

Nomads Ocelots 7 Nomads Leopards 3;

Holland Hurricanes 8 Brotherhood E 2.

Report by Tony Oswick