The first rounds of County Junior Division 2C matches were played on Saturday 3 November 2018 with three rounds of matches played. To reduce traveling distances this first round was split into two halves, the eastern half Bedfordshire, Essex 2, Hertfordshire and Suffolk played one another at NETTS, Earls Colne whilst the southern half of the Division, Berkshire, Oxfordshire. Surrey 2 and Sussex 3 played one another at the Graham Spicer Centre, New Malden, Surrey. Unfortunately, at the last minute, Bedfordshire found themselves with just one girl player for their team. All matches were played on two tables.

Junior Rankings (when in the TTE Junior Ratings List) are shown in brackets. The Essex Team was Daniel Young (366), Arran Hutchinson (367), Harry Keys, Maliha Baig (171) and Olivia Jones, the same three boys that played up for the first team match at the end of September.

In their first match the team had neighbours Suffolk to play. Not a good start with Arran and Harry both losing 3-0 to James Davies-Stokes (764) and Luke Davies-Stokes (593) respectively. After having game points Harry lost the third game 14-12. Maliha beat the higher ranked Lucy Curtis (332) 3-1 after losing the first game while on the other table Olivia failed to take the game point she had in the first game but won the game point in the second. She went on to lose the match with Riya Kumar 13-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8. Daniel was heavily beaten (3-0) by Kian Burgess (851), the highest ranked boy on the day, while Arran had a good 3-0 win over the higher ranked Luke. Olivia won her opening game against Lucy but lost the next three and Maliha beat Riya 3-1 after winning a marathon first game 18-16 and losing the second 12-10. To Maliha that was just the warm up to winning the final two games 3 and 4. Daniel and Harry lost the last two matches both 3-0, Daniel 10, 4, 10 to James and Harry to Kian. By this time Harry was beginning to feel that his slight back injury was getting worse and movement restricted.  A 7-3 defeat.

For their next match it was the western neighbours, Hertfordshire,  they had to play and their boys all ranked above the Essex boys. In his opening match Arran went 2-1 up against James Hamblett (406) but lost the decider to 4 while on the other table Harry lost to Victor Rioja 3-1, all close games and Victor stayed unbeaten all day. Olivia lost heavily to Isabelle Lacorte (244) but for Maliha it was the other way round, a quick 3-0 win over Emily Ravetto. Later on Olivia played Emily and lost in the deciding game after coming back from 2-0 down. Arran, Maliha and Daniel all lost their second matches 3-0 and for Harry it was heartbreak when unable to convert match points in the deciding game against Samuel Flaum (519). Earlier Samuel had taken five games to beat Daniel. A disappointing 9-1 defeat, particularly as Herts won all four deciding game matches.

For their last match Essex played Bedfordshire who only had one girl player. Harry insisted in playing despite more agony from his back and played James Burt (349) first, losing 13, 10, 7, no luck in the deuce games. On the other table Arran was involved in a very close match with Joe Peckham. He had to come back from 2-1 down to win -10, 6, -9, 10, 13. Another five game match for Olivia against Shaniely Edwards, she came back from 2-0 down but just failed to win the decider, losing it 11-8. The next match was between the two number one players, Daniel and Oliver Horswell, which Oliver won 9, 10, 10. Against James, Arran had to come back once again from 2-1 down to win the fifth game 11-8. Maliha then won her girls match 3-0 to make the match score 4-4 and all to play for in the last two matches. Daniel lost the first game to Joe but he came back strongly to win the next three. Could Harry do anything in the last match to get a win. He certainly tried. Losing the first game to 4 he might have won the second but lost that to 11. Determination set in and won him the third 13-11 and the fourth to 8. Leading by a couple of points in the deciding game his opponent’s time out changed the course of the game and Harry then lost it 11-8 so the match finished in a draw.

The final round of matches will be played at BATTS Harlow when there will be four rounds of matches to play on Saturday 1 December.

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and Cadet Division 1A Organiser.

The first rounds of County Cadet Division 1A matches were played on Saturday 20 October 2018 with three rounds of matches to be played. To reduce traveling distances this first round was split into two halves, the eastern half Essex, Middlesex 1, Middlesex 2 and Suffolk to play one another at NETTS, Earls Colne whilst the southern half of the Division, Surrey 1, Surrey 2 and Sussex 2 played one another at the Graham Spicer Centre, New Malden. Sadly, at the last minute, the two Middlesex teams found themselves with only one girl player for each team. All matches were played on two tables.

Cadet Rankings are shown in brackets.

The Essex Team was Daniel Young (421), Jesse Bath (299), Ralph Pattison (496), Maliha Baig (638) and Olivia Jones. Oliver Rampton had not fully recovered from a broken arm.

 In their first match the team had Middlesex 2 to play. Not a good start with Jesse losing to Lucas Aulnette (394) and ten year old Ralph losing to Jenson Moreno (644) on the other table, both 1-3. Olivia beat Jacqueline Lesh easily as did Maliha later on. With only five ranking points difference Daniel eventually overcame Brandon Sangchan (426) 11-3 in the decider. Ralph then lost to Lucas 10, 5, 9 with no luck from the opponents net points at crucial stages of the match. With Jesse losing 3-0 to Brandon it relied on Daniel winning the last match against Jenson (he did 9, 6, -4, 6) to gain the team a 6-4 win.

Their next opponents were neighbours Suffolk and what a tough match this was. The longest of the day time wise after four of the first five matches went to a deciding game. Ralph, after a most promising start, lost to McKenzie Lowe (457) 0-11, 13-11, 13-11, 11-13, 11-9. A cruel deciding game with Ralph 9-6 up McKenzie then took a Time Out and then won the next three points with unplayable nets and went on to win the next two points. Oh so close. It was just as close on the other table as Jesse came from behind to beat Henry Shaw (274) 12-14, 12-10 5-11, 11-9, 11-9. Maliha had an easy 3-0 win against Lucy Needham as did Olivia later on but Olivia’s first match with Isobel McGerty (466) was a marathon, 2-0 but finally lost 11-8 in the decider. Daniel was another to lose 11-8 in a decider when he played Luke Davies-Stokes (665) having pulled back from 2-0 down. Maliha’s nail biting win over Isobel 5, 7, -9, 10 brought the match score to 4-4. After Jesse lost to Luke 3-0 it was up to Daniel again and he did not disappoint with a 3-0 win over McKenzie for a drawn match.

 For their last match Essex had to play leaders Middlesex who had won both their matches despite being a girl player short. Jesse started with a great win over the higher ranked Charlie Nabarro 6, 4, 7 but alas this was the Team’s last win on the table. Best match of the rest was that between Maliha and Scarlett Anders and won by Scarlett -7, 7, 7, -9, 6 in an all action match and great high speed rallies. Final score 7-3 to Middlesex.

 The final round of matches will be played at BATTS Harlow when there will be four rounds of matches to play. Currently scheduled for Sunday 31 March but could be switched to Saturday 30 March if the scheduled Premier British League match becomes an away fixture.

 Arthur C. Clark

Essex Junior Match Secretary and Cadet Division 1A Organiser.