Week 10 in the Southend Premier brought us a couple of whitewash results, one expected win and one shock. I’ll start with the whitewash results that saw Rawreth A and Thorpe Bay A back to their best as they took all the points on offer against Invicta A and Basildon A respectively. The dominance of Chris Penrose, Daniel Bronziet and Charles Sweeney for Rawreth and John Poysden, Paul Sayer and Ian Wall for Thorpe Bay was underlined by the fact that only 5 of the 18 games went to a 4^th end and none to a 5^th and deciding leg.

The expected win went the way of Thorpe Bay B over Stanford A as Kieran Skeggs with three wins and two a piece from Keith Willett and Rich Stubbington led the Bay to a 7-2 win. The two wins for Standford coming from Joshua Freeman and Peter Weatherall.

So finally to the shock of the week and a defeat for the leaders against 10^th placed Matchpoint A. Harry Sawford and Stephen Heard in great form taking three wins each against Rawreth B’s Kim Shead, Andrew Halling and Norbert Fullerton. The result lets Thorpe Bay A leapfrog back over Rawreth B by 4 points at the top but we are not even half way into the season yet so a lot more balls to be smashed, chopped and top spinned before we know who this year’s Champions will be.

In a clash between two sides at the wrong end of the Division 1 table, home team Stanford Le Hope B narrowly overcame rivals Hadleigh Forum C 5 – 4. Despite being on the losing side, Forum’s Paul Fawell was unbeaten and took the player of the match award. Mind you, it was very tight in his contest with the home side’s Adrian Atkinson, with Paul just squeezing it 11 – 8 in the fifth set. Adrian went on to win his two other bouts. Team mate Robert Savage matched this feat, whilst Jake Nelson added one further win. Mark Everard got Forum’s other success.

Second place Hockley C missed the chance to close the gap on the top team, losing 6 – 3 away to Mapledene. Their Elliot Brackenbury did his best to avoid the defeat, winning all his matches and taking the player of the match award. However, the home side’s trio of Lin Roff, Mike Johnston and Bill Smith were just too good for Hockley’s other players, Stephanie Haddrell and James Evesham. Mind you, Stephanie had some very close encounters. Bill just overcame her 11 – 6 in the fifth, then was even more unfortunate to lose 11 – 9 in the fifth to Mike.

Hadleigh Forum B took advantage of Hockley C’s slip up to move to only three points behind them, thanks to an 8 – 1 home demolition of bottom side Basildon B. There were hat tricks for both Forum’s Anthon Ranjit-Singh and David Woolmer, with David just shaving it for the POM prize. Basildon’s Dale Gutteridge overcame Michael Tappenden to avoid a complete whitewash. 

A Peter Cray inspired hat trick led Canvey A to a commendable 6 – 3 win over visitors Wakering A. Bob Skews added two more for the home side, whilst Lee McGonagle edged a close match against Wakering’s unfortunate Jeremy Giffin 11 – 8 in the fifth. in a close fought match, Martin Shaughnessy took two wins and Barbara Chabior got one for Wakering.

Basildon C are off the bottom of the table in Division 2. After six consecutive defeats they have now won two games in succession their 5-4 defeat of Hockley E replicating their 5-4 defeat of Invicta B the previous week. Dave Walton was their hero this time winning all his games with team mates Richard Reibold and Anton Kudyniuk picking up a point each. Secret of their success was down to the three matches that went to five sets Basildon coming out on top in all three. That was hard on Hockley’s Richard Coulon who lost two of them but he did have a single success against Reibold. Richard Kidd picked up two wins for Hockley and there was one for Neal Klyman.

At the other end of the table there was another close fought match featuring the other Hockley team against Canvey B. Hockley D found themselves 4-3 down against the Islanders until wins for Brian Bissenden and Paul Ogden turned the tide in the home side’s favour. Crucial match here was Bissenden’s clash with the previously unbeaten Trevor Hayes which finished 14/12 12/10 12/10 in three closely fought sets. Paul Ogden and Howard Collins provided the other points for Hockley whilst Hayes and Des Duffield both picked up braces for Canvey. Tony Westwell missed out and Canvey remain in second place.

Hockley D’s narrow win left a chance for Matchpoint B to overtake them and claim third place and they did this in style romping to a 9-0 win against Runnymede which dropped their opponents to bottom place in the league. Hannah Harbour finished with a perfect hat trick, the evergreen John Lott followed suit and young Lotte Mills picked up her first hat trick of the season dropping just a single set. Matchpoint now sit one point ahead of Hockley D.

League leaders Wakering demolished Stanford C 8-1 which meant another three wins for the unbeaten Callum Turner, three wins for Paul England and a brace for Michael Grout. England had to fight hard for two of his wins beating Vaughan Chambers in five sets and then coming back from two sets down to beat Mike Trendell winning the last three sets 12/10 12/10 11/9. Trendell did get Stanford’s consolation point beating Grout in four sets.

Team of the Week – Basildon C

Player of the Week – Brian Bissenden

In Division 3 Hockley ‘F’ skipper Gary Beck led from the front as his maximum, added to two wins apiece from his teammates, Ross Collins and Bob Garlick, meant a 7/2 win for his team over Stanford ‘D’ and ensured that they kept up the pressure on the league leaders, Invicta ‘C’, who were without a match this week.  Martin Winter was the best on the night for Stanford with two wins.

Matchpoint ‘D’ recorded their first win of the season with a comprehensive 9/0 win over Evolve ‘B’.  With this victory, they moved above Evolve and off the bottom of the table.  David McHattie was the Player of the Match, and there were also maximums for Poppy Sherman and Cooper Hill.

Teddy Kent and Miles Bygrave were both unbeaten as Evolve ‘A’ beat Wakering ‘C’ 6/3. It was a blank night though for Sasha Syderenko, but it was not for want of him trying.  Two of his matches were lost in the 5^th set, and the other was a close 4-set defeat.  For Wakering there was a win each for Jacek Bednarek, Kamil Pachalko and Stewart Mills.

A maximum from Chong Shing Lam and a double each for his Canvey ‘C’ teammates, David Coverley and John Saunders, meant a 7/2 win for his team over Hockley ‘G’.  Kris Chankov recorded two wins for Hockley, but he was denied his hat-trick in the final game of the evening, when he came out on the wrong end of a narrow 5-set match against Chong.

Premier Division report by Duncan Taylor

Division 1 report by David Barnes

Division 2 report by Paul Strutt

Division 3 report by Dave Woolmer

All roads lead to Stow Maries for the Burnham & District Table Tennis League Team Handicap Cup Final 2023.  An auspicious venue for an eagerly awaited Final.   Players are handicapped according to ability and ranking at the start of the season to try and provide a level playing field for teams across all divisions to compete.  The higher ranked players are heavily penalised and have to win a significant number of extra points, whereas the lower ranked players are given a tasty head start so they can relax and try and out hit or outsmart their opponents knowing they have a healthy lead and a few nets or edges will change the face of the game.

Our two Final protagonists come from different ends of the league spectrum so the points differentials were going to be massive – just what the baying crowds wanted to see.   Cold Norton B have a wonderful selection of tried and tested top division players who play competitively every day of the week across the County and have recently achieved runners-up slot in the Ist Division.  By comparison Woodham D play in the lowest division of the Burnham League and rotate their squad amongst a group of 5 or so players – however they had a very good finish to the season and come into the final on good form, and of course with those healthy handicaps.  The Cold Norton trio have come through all the previous rounds pretty comfortably despite their heavy handicaps with the closest encounter being a 5-2 victory in the semi-final against Stow Maries A.  Woodham D had a tough quarter-final against their own B team, winning through in the deciding leg of the deciding match, but were then comfortable 5-1 winners over Mapledene C in their semi-final where they used their handicaps to great effect.

The Final was hosted at the Stow Maries Arena in Smythe Hall – Cold Norton came out strong with a heavily handicapped trio of Ian Wall (-18), Eric Green (-16), and Captain Dan Anderson (-12).  Woodham D in return fielded their semi-final winning trio of Joe Cooke (+6), Valerie Board (+6), and Alex Wilson (+15).  It doesn’t take Einstein to work out that some of the points differentials were going to be huge with a maximum of 31 points in favour of Wilson should we get as far as match 7 when he is scheduled to take-on the Mighty Green.

So best of 9 matches, a mixture of 6 singles and 3 doubles interspersed across the evening’s entertainment.  Up first Green and Anderson (-14) versus the dynamic duo of Wilson and Cooke (+10).  Two very long ends ensued and the first went to deuce at 20-20 and then took another 6 points to eek out a winner as the underdogs from Cold Norton edged the very first leg to put the frighteners up Woodham, and a declaration that they meant business.  The second leg was another close call but again the Cold Norton duo pulled back the deficit with some determined and patient play and won out 21-18.  Next up was Wall (-18) against the lovable Val Board (+6).  Board had a flyer and comprehensively won the first leg 21-5 but this only angered her opponent who showed there were no chinks in his wall as he tightened up the error count in leg 2 and eventually caught up the handicap at deuce and then went on to brake Board’s resolve with a 23-21 win and then took the final leg comfortably 21-12 for an overall 2-0 lead – but that could have gone the other way for sure.  In the next leg Green (-16) had too much control and retrievability for the hard hitting Cooke (+6) and won out in 2 legs.  So at 0-3 down who you gonna call – HandicapBuster Alex Wilson and his enormously flattering +15 starting point.  A young player who has markedly improved across the season and needs to make the most of his early season handicap as he will never see the likes of it again!  So Wilson (+15) is up against Cold Norton captain Anderson (-12).  With family pride at stake the players face each other for the first time ever in a competitive environment.  Anderson’s cagey and defensive style with the use of his favoured pimpled bat will not suit Wilson at all – this could be very close.  Well that was the pre-match thoughts but Wilson paid no attention to that and battered his way to a very quick straight sets victory 21-0, 21-4 – family BBQ’s may be a bit awkward this Summer!  So Woodham trouble the scoreboard at last but can they springboard on from here.  In the next doubles encounter Wall and Green (-17) take on Cooke and Board (+6) and have a lot of work to do to chase down the lead.  Again hard work and patience pays off as they force another victory to take the team closer to the edge of glory.  In the sixth match-up we have Anderson on a -12 handicap, and with his tail firmly between his legs, against the plucky Board (+6).  As in her previous singles match Board comes out all guns a-blazing and secures the first leg with some room to spare.  Anderson is nothing if not determined so after a tete-a-tete with himself he knuckles down and as Board tires from all the exertion he starts to take control with thoughtful movement and variety of shots that flummox his opponent, and eventually takes the final two sets 12 & 17 for his redemption victory and more importantly the fifth win required to take the title and bring the Cup home to Cold Norton.

It’s a shame we didn’t get to see Eric Green trying to overcome that 31 point differential that was scheduled for the next match – that would have been a fun one!  Congratulations to both teams for all their efforts in getting to this Final, and of course to the Cold Norton trio who have shown incredible patience and resolve throughout this tournament.

Cold Norton B – Handicap Cup Winners 2023

Pic 1 – Cold Norton B – Team Handicap Cup Winners 2023 – Eric Green, Ian Wall, and Dan Anderson

Pic 2 – Woodham D – Team Handicap Cup Runners-Up 2023 – Joe Cooke, Valerie Board, and Alex Wilson

Pic 3 – Cold Norton’s unbeaten Ian Wall in action during the cup final

Pic 4 – Valerie Board taking both her opponents to a deciding leg in her singles matches.

• 

• 

• 

•