Windsor Falcons and Windsor Eagles were involved in the closest match of the week in the Clacton League’s Handicap Cup competition, the Falcons fighting back from 3-1 down to win their Group D tie 5-4.

In the deciding final doubles, Kelvin Olano and Ferdy Rodriguez (+3) beat Gary Cattermole and John Pattrick (-8) in three-straight to seal the win.

Olano remained unbeaten whilst Windsor stalwart Rodriguez took a crucial win in match seven to give the Falcons the lead for the first time in the match, (on +3) winning 11-2, 11-9 against Cattermole (-10).

In the other Group D match, John Gallagher continued his excellent form for Brotherhood C, undefeated in his side’s 5-2 win over Windsor Buzzards.

It was Brotherhood’s second win of the competition and they look almost certain to qualify, with the second qualifying place dependent on a winner-takes-all match between the Falcons and the Buzzards in their final Group match.

In Group A, both Brotherhood F and Nomads Bobcats enjoyed 5-0 wins, Joe Sherwin, Lucy Carvell and Ruby Gallagher of Brotherhood F cruising to victory over Holland Vulcans, while Nomads Bobcats defeated a two-player Nomads Jaguars.

These wins guarantee Brotherhood F and the Bobcats a place in the Knock-Out stage of the competition.

Brotherhood D kept their Cup hopes alive in Group B with a 5-3 victory over Windsor Magpies. The Brotherhood team were never headed in an encounter where all bar one of the individual matches were settled in four sets.

Group C has turned out to be a massive non-event, with Windsor Penguins and Nomads Ocelots automatically going through having never hit a ball in anger, qualifying because their opponents have conceded their matches.

In Group E, it’s looking good for Brotherhood B who recorded a second win in the competition, 5-1 over Walton D. Simon Smith-Daye and Joe Plummer were unbeaten, with only Adrian Sexton’s (+2) narrow 11-9, 12-10, 14-12 success against Sam Plummer (-11) preventing a Brotherhood whitewash.  

The final fixture in the Group between Walton A and Walton D now looks pivotal, with the winner likely to progress.  

Brotherhood H lead Group F following a walk-over win against Brotherhood G and are near-certain to qualify for the round of the last sixteen.  

But Nomads Tigers had to field a guest against Walton C, who unsurprisingly won 5-1, leaving the Tigers needing probable victory against Brotherhood H in their final Group match to qualify.

Windsor Kestrels and Nomads Lions both preserved their 100% records in Group G knowing that, when they meet in their final match, they will both already have qualified.

The Kestrels were 5-1 winners against fellow-Division Two team Brotherhood E, the result somewhat surprising considering both teams had similar handicap grades. Debra Found and Jackie Bunce were unbeaten, Found (-3) recovering from a horrendous start to edge out Tony Edmonds (+1) 2-11, 3-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 in the closest encounter.

There was not a lot of grade difference either in the all-First Division meeting between Nomads Lions and Windsor Hawks. Despite losing both doubles, it was the Lions who triumphed 5-2, taking two of the three matches which went the distance, one of which was Adam Cuthbert’s (-5) 12-10 in the decider victory over John Barton (+1).

In Group H top-flight Brotherhood A were too good for Third Division Holland Hurricanes and, despite losing the opening doubles, ended as comfortable 5-1 winners.

Cup-holders Walton B are still hanging in there following a similar 5-1 score-line victory over Lawford. Mark Ratcliffe and Paul Meikle (-3) took time to get into gear in the opening doubles, eventually winning 0-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7 against Ian Sherwood and Richard Spence (+1) in the tightest match of the tie.

Walton B will now have to beat the Hurricanes in their final Group match if they are to succeed in their ambition to become the first team since 1991 to retain the trophy.

* With the Clacton League now taking a two-week break, the League’s Media Team would like to take this opportunity to wish all players, supporters and followers of the League a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

RESULTS

HANDICAP CUP

Group A

Holland Vulcans 0 Brotherhood F 5;

Nomads Jaguars 0 Nomads Bobcats 5.

Group B

Windsor Magpies 3 Brotherhood D 5.

Group C

Nomads Panthers 0 Nomads Ocelots 5 (w/o).

Group D

Windsor Buzzards 2 Brotherhood C 5;

Windsor Eagles 4 Windsor Falcons 5.

Group E

Brotherhood B 5 Walton D 1.

Group F

Brotherhood G 0 Brotherhood H 5 (w/o);

Walton C 5 Nomads Tigers 1.

Group G

Nomads Lions 5 Windsor Hawks 2;

Brotherhood E 1 Windsor Kestrels 5.

Group H

Lawford 1 Walton B 5;

Brotherhood A 5 Holland Hurricanes 1.

Report by Tony Oswick

There was a lot of action this week in the Burnham & District Table Tennis League.  The League positions remain stable but this week saw some stand out individual performances across all the Divisions.  None more so than an amazing, and based on form, very unexpected hat-trick from Blackwater’s Simon Quelch who came into his match with Stow B on just over 50% win rate and wiped the floor with 3 of the steadiest players in the Division.  What a performance!

Fambridge returned to action this week following their mid-season break and came away with a close fought 6-4 victory against Cold Norton A that keeps them in top spot.   Despite the win for Fambridge the real talking point was the phenomenal form of Cold Norton’s star player Kevin Read.  Read was able to beat all 3 Fambridgonians coming from behind against both Gary Young and Keith Adams to secure his hat-trick, and then teamed up with the very in-form Arron Chandler for an impressive doubles bonus point against Young and Adams.  Form to note from Read as we head into the various Essex League closed championships.  For Fambridge two wins a piece for Young, Adams and Mark Stones.  Contrasting fortunes for the Woodham and Mapledene Clubs as they went head to head in two matches on Thursday evening.  Mapledene A travelled to Woodham C in confidence, inspected the arena, took to the table, and then stole all the points in a 10-0 drubbing.  The closest match of the night saw Woodham’s Graham Briggs take George Reeves to a deciding set but alas he could not finish the job as Reeves secured his hat-trick.  This points haul sees Mapledene A within touching distance of leaders Fambridge with a game in hand – it’s all to play for.  Woodham A travelled the other way and arrived at the Mapledene venue looking slightly more like their B team than the regular A team.  Opponents Mapledene B are an altogether tougher opponent so they knew they had their work cut out if they wanted to stay in touch with the leading pack.  Woodham took a decent lead in the opening rounds of singles with regular A teamer Chris Penrose relatively untroubled in his matches with Colin Chatfield and Anthon Ranjit-Singh.  For Mapledene the exceptional Keith Willett kept the score honest with 2 excellent wins over Dan Patynski and a comeback 5-setter against Sanjay Saptarshi.  Patynski edged through against tricky penholder Chatfield 12-10 in the 5^th set.  So 4-2 up at the break for Woodham but it had been a battle.  Woodham took the doubles, but then Chatfield kept the interest alive with another superb performance to trick and best Saptarshi over 5 topsy turvy legs.  The penultimate contest saw the two unbeaten juggernauts take to the ring.  Willett came out firing on all cylinders and took a close opening set 11-9, but this just focused the Penrose game to such an extent that he rattled off the next 3 sets to take the player-of-the-match accolades.  Patynski then beat Ranjit-Singh in the final match for an overall 7-3 victory for Woodham A.

Stow B kicked off the Division 2 fixtures with a solid 7-3 return against Blackwater B.  A brace of wins each for the regular Stow B trio of Peter Hance, Dave Marsh, and Nicky Reece-Ford.  They were flabbergasted however at the form of the excellent Simon Quelch who managed to beat them all in his player of the week hat-trick performance securing his team’s 3 point haul.  The hardest victory being a deciding set 11-9 triumph over the very awkward and very fit Dave Moles – although I won’t make a mountain out of it.  But what of the doubles, surely Quelch’s dominance in the singles would carry through to the doubles format – well not at all, he was ruthlessly ignored and left to officiate as his team-mates fell in straight sets.  As Tina Hutchinson and Louis Gunn left the playing arena all they could hear was the crowd chanting “you’re getting sacked in the morning”.    Stow A missed their chance to go top of the Division despite their 6-4 victory away to Woodham D.  They remain 3 points behind leaders Maldon A but have now caught up on their fixtures backlog – this battle is predicted to go all the way to the final weeks of the season.   Ryan Pitt, with his tactical and mesmerising play, was the stand out player for Stow with a treble in his singles matches.  Peter Chastin contributed with 2 victories including a 5 set comeback win over the awkward Mal Henstock.  For Woodham everyone won one singles match – Henstock and Scott Perry bested Ken Sheard, and the ever-improving Peter Harverson got the better of Chastin over 4 long rally-filled sets.  Henstock and Perry did combine for an unexpected doubles bonus score – going into the fifth and final set it looked ominous for the Woodham duo having just been trounced 11-1 in set 4 by the more experienced Pitt/Chastin combo – but I am told they laugh in the face of adversity and knuckled down to grind out the deciding set 11-9.  Cold Norton D were back to winning ways after a run of unexpected poor form.   The unfortunate victims were Stow C who ended up on the wrong end of the 8-2 scoreline.   Old Nortonians Terry Hyland and Peter Lucraft did the most damage as they rallied through the card without a hint of a loss across both formats – their form raised 7 points with the extra score coming courtesy of Roy Gandy’s lone victory over Jean Chasmer.  For Stow both Pete Layzell and the lovable Dave Goody were able to conquer the Gandy counterhitting for their disappointing 2 point haul.

Allan Steel continued his remarkable comeback year with his seventh treble on the bounce to maintain his 100% win rate in Division 3 as his 2-player Woodham E managed a tight 6-4 victory over St Lawrence.  With the only on-table victory on the night for the Baysiders going to Dave Bateman with a straight sets victory over Diane King.  Steel hit a very comfortable ‘9-dart’ hat-trick and appears to be a significant level above the peloton in this Division.  King had to work much harder as she overcame David Siggins in 4 sets, and then just squeezed past Nigel Brand 12-10 in the fifth.  Blackwater D and Maldon E played out a 5-5 stalemate with Maldon’s John Leavett involved in all the tasty action.  With the scoring remaining close throughout it was Leavett who was involved in all 3 of the 5-setters, losing out to Peter Davenport in the final match of the night having run out of steam he will be disappointed to have thrown away the final leg 11-1 for Davenport to even up the match at the death.  However earlier in proceedings Leavett had edged his other 2 singles with an 11-9 decider against Ron Tam, and then an even tighter victory over David Sage – this one going to 12-10 in the final leg.  You might have thought Leavett would have had a rest and saved himself for his final singles but no up he jumped for the doubles with partner Ross Kirby – luckily that only went to 4 sets before the Maldon duo secured the win.  Kirby won 2 of his singles for the player-of-the-match accolade, just losing out to Sage in 4 sets.  In this week’s Maldon derby D beat E in a 7-3 thriller.  The D team’s young buck Arthur Shadforth and the E team’s experienced stalwart John Leavett both were unbeaten going into the final match of the night and both eager to lift the Maldon Bragging Rights Cup.   Well for the crowd that stayed ‘til the bitter end the wait was worth it as Leavett used all his experience to take the lead at both 1-0 and then reclaim it at 2-1 despite suffering a deuce in the 3^rd set.  But the Maldon youth were far from down and out as Shadforth’s exuberance and determination powered him through the important 4^th set and then, with the hours ticking by, he continued this form into the deciding set to snatch the cup from Leavett’s grasp with an 11-8 last set victory.  The youthful element of the crowd went wild with appreciation.  Shadforth and Matt Copsey won the doubles, and third player Luca Riedling contributed with 2 good wins over Brian Dixon and Patrick Coyne.  Coyne beating Copsey for his team’s final point.

Pic 1 – Simon Quelch in his hat-trick victory over Nicky Reece-Ford

Pic 2 – Woodham E’s Allan Steel breaking records in Division 3

Pic 3 – Player-of-the-match Chris Penrose (Woodham A)

Pic 4 – George Reeves styling it out for his hat-trick this week

Pic 5 – Maldon’s John Leavett so close to the Bragging Rights Cup this week….

Report by Eamonn Hall

Merry Christmas to all our readers!

Life at the wrong end of a division is never much fun, but things have just brightened up for two teams in the Braintree Table Tennis League.

Black Notley H recorded their first win in division three and while Netts E’s win was their second, it was an out-of-the-blue success against the division’s second-placed team.

Notley H’s win came against fourth-placed Finchingfield B by 8-2, although to be fair the opposition were without most of their big guns.

Nigel Parmenter was their mainstay as he has been for most of the season.  His three wins took his total to 17 out of 21.

Jill Canning chimed in with two wins as did Mike Smith, to end his unusual barren spell.

Netts E’s only victory so far had come at Notley H’s expense, which made their success against a far from negligible Sudbury Strollers side – Peter Abbott, Geoff Barrett and Tim Matthews – particularly notable.

David Montgomery was the architect of victory.  He is also on a good run, his three singles taking him to 13 wins in his last 15.

Lindsay Dodd won twice and the two combined to win the doubles for a 6-4 scoreline.

Division leaders Finchingfield A had a harder time of it than usual when Yeldham Whitlocks B stretched them to 6-4.

Whitlocks’ Steve Willis scored wins over Ray Bradford and Chad Rose while James Dickson lost to them but surprisingly got the better of Dave Punt.

Dickson, a junior at the Colne club many years ago, is one of quite a number of players who have come back to the game after dropping out after their junior years.

He picked up a bat again after the village was given a table via a grant from the league and Table Tennis England.  He has so far knocked up a number of useful wins, but success against Punt, a player with an 85 per cent average, was definitely the pick of them.

Eleven-year-old Arun Cochrane is just starting his junior career and he stood in the way of victory for third-placed Notley G in their match with Netts F.  He won his three singles for the first time in his nascent career to enable his side to share the points.

Conrad Gomes was the man in form in Rayne H’s draw with Notley I.  He remained unbeaten for the first time this season.

Report by Ron Fosker

Merry Christmas to all our readers!

Southend Division 2 promotion hopefuls Canvey B were dealt a blow to their ambitions by Rawreth Megazone D who just pipped them 5-4 in a tight encounter this week. Three matches went the distance and the lead swapped back and forth Canvey going 2-0 down, then leading 3-2, down 4-3 and then levelling at 4-4. Just as well for Rawreth that Gus Heath stepped up to play that final game as he beat Tony Westwell in straight sets, completed a perfect hat trick and took the POTM award to boot. Heath was supported by a win each for Richard Kidd and Amar Al-Soufi whilst Trevor Hayes got a brace for Canvey plus a point each for Westwell and Kevin Walsingham. Canvey stay fourth as a result and Rawreth sixth.

Big winners of the week were league leaders Stanford B who duly swept aside their own C team 8-1. Rob Salvage and Adrian Armstrong were both unbeaten, albeit Armstrong was taken to five sets by Martin Winter and Vaughan Chambers, and Russell Bright picked up a brace but fell to Chris Crooks in another five set match for the C team’s consolation point.

In another inter club match Matchpoint B beat their C team 7-2 with John Lott and Max Mayo recording hat tricks and Samuel Morgan getting the remaining point. Mayo was taken to five sets by Alwine Jarvis and Oliver Milchard and it was they who picked up the C team’s points both beating Morgan. Matchpoint B stay second in the table 19 points behind Stanford.

Hannah Harbour of Hockley D has been in fine form in recent weeks and this continued as she picked up another hat trick against Invicta B. Team mate William Evesham matched this performance with his own maximum and together with a point from Elliot Brackenbury they ran out 7-2 winners. It wasn’t all straight forward as Harbour was taken to five sets by John Blackman and Evesham did likewise extended by Blackman and Mike Keeble. Hockley go fifth nine points behind Canvey whilst Invicta stay one but bottom of the table.

Team of the Week – Rawreth Megazone E

Player of the Week – Gus Heath

Report by Paul Strutt

In Division 3 another week and another win for league leaders, Basildon C, making it 10 wins on the trot.  Dave Walton fired a hat-trick in their latest match against Hadleigh Forum D, well supported by skipper Andy Roff with a double and Ross Letham who chipped in with a single win. 6/3 being the margin of victory.  Todd Barker with two wins was the best on the night for Hadleigh.

Second placed Invicta C closed the gap at the top, but by only one point following their 7/2 win over Rawreth Meggazone E.   Keith Baxter took the POM honours with a maximum, with his wingmen Brendan Raja and David Barlow adding a brace apiece.  For Rawreth there was a win each for Graham Back and Mike Webb.

Canvey C recorded only their second win of the season when they travelled to Hullbridge to take on Matchpoint D.  Captain Ray Baker led the way, turning in an unbeaten performance and with Che Martin and Stephen Parker each adding a pair, it was left to Matchpoint’s Richard Sloman to add an air of respectability to the final score with a double of his own. Finally, a youthful Evolve team found things a bit too hot to handle when they took on Stanford D.  whose trio of Randy and Jake Santiago plus Andrew Jessop made no mistakes and a 9/0 whitewash ensued.  Mention should be made however of Evolve’s Ben Berwick who pushed both Jake and Andrew to a deciding set before falling short.

Report by Dave Woolmer

Lowly Holland Hurricanes of Division Three produced one of the surprises of the week in the Clacton League’s Handicap Cup competition with a 5-4 victory over an experienced and determined Lawford trio.It was no breeze for the Hurricanes in their Group H match who, after leading 2-0, lost the next four matches to fall behind 4-2 to Lawford’s Charlie Denholm, Richard Spence and Ian Sherwood.

The Hurricanes needed to win all three remaining matches to take the tie and, with the same handicap applying to all three matches (Hurricanes +2, Lawford -11), Ian Gwillim defeated Spence, Pam Cousins defeated Sherwood, before Gwillim and Widnell took the final doubles against Denholm and Spence 10-12, 11-2, 11-3 to clinch an unlikely 5-4 victory.

The second match in the Group saw reigning Cup-holders Walton B up against 2023 Cup-winners Brotherhood A. Walton took an early 3-0 lead and looked comfortable but Brotherhood’s Kevin Gowlett, John Cleasby and Russell Hillier bounced back to take five hard-fought matches on the trot and the tie 5-3. Two of those wins proved extremely tight, Gowlett and Hillier (-3) taking the middle doubles 12-10 in the fifth against Mark Gale and Paul Meikle (+1), and, in a scratch-match, Cleasby defeating Gale, also 12-10 in the fifth.

By contrast, Group A produced two 5-0 results, Brotherhood F defeating Nomads Tigers, none of the matches extended beyond a third set, and Nomads Bobcats beating fellow-Division Three side Holland Vulcans, Alex Baldock’s (-6) 11-5 in the fifth win over James Horsler (+1) the closest match of the encounter.

Windsor Harriers lead the way in Group B after their 5-1 success against Brotherhood D. Barry Allen and Isabel Barton (+1) had a vital 11-6 in the decider doubles win over Martin Edwards and Tricia Salter (-3), with Allen (+1) finishing off the tie with an 11-5 in the decider win over Paul Alden (-1).

Nomads Ocelots and Windsor Penguins benefitted from walk-over wins in Group C, but both Windsor Buzzards and Brotherhood C had to fight hard for their wins in Group D.

In an all-Division One all-Windsor clash, the Buzzards were 5-2 victors against the Eagles, the Buzzards losing both doubles but winning five singles, three of which went the distance. Andy Cawley (+2) sealed the deal with an 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6 victory over Gary Cattermole (-8).

Captain John Gallagher was Brotherhood C’s only unbeaten player as his Second Division side overcame Third Division Windsor Falcons 5-2, his 10-12, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-6 success against Kelvin Olano the pick of the encounters in a match played off scratch.   

Another all-Division one clash in Group E ended in a 5-2 victory for Brotherhood B against Walton A, Sam Plummer unbeaten in his one singles and two doubles.

But the Walton A side bounced back in their second match, often having to retrieve a twenty-point-plus handicap disadvantage to defeat Third Division Nomads Leopards 5-1.

It was a second 5-1 defeat for the Leopards who, earlier in the week, had lost to Division Three Walton D, Nomads’ Mark Taylor and Cieran McCallan (+1) beating Maggie Earle and Adrian Sexton (-8) 11-8, 15-13, 9-11, 5-11, 11-6 in the opening doubles for their side’s only win of the match.  

Division Three Brotherhood H had a great scrap with the old hands of Division One Walton C in Group F, ending as narrow 5-4 winners. In a see-saw match, Brotherhood led 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3, before Harindu De Silva and Owen Woollard (+1) clinched the tie 6-11, 11-0, 11-6, 11-6 with a doubles win over Graham Buxton and Paul Newbould (-8). Crucially, Brotherhood won all three doubles.

After losing the first doubles of the match, Paul Hume, Martyn Green and Adam Wilkin of Nomads Lions got their side’s Cup campaign off to a good start in Group G with a confident 5-1 win over potentially difficult opponents Brotherhood E.

But in an all-Windsor clash, Division One Hawks were only able to field two players against Division Two Kestrels and so it was little surprise the Kestrels took the tie 5-0.

* Winning teams are reminded they must send the result sheet to Tony Oswick within twenty-four hours of the match being played. Results and tables will be up-dated and can be viewed each Thursday and Sunday during the Cup weeks on both the League’s website (‘Knock Out Cup Results’) and Facebook pages.

* The only League match played was a bottom-of-the-table clash in Division Two where Brotherhood G won four of the five matches which went the distance to win 8-2. Danny Still’s treble included an 11-7 in the decider win over John Plummer, while Dan Grindrod’s three included an 11-7 in the decider win against the unfortunate Plummer, as well as an 11-4 in the decider success over Dave Sweetland. Still and Grindrod took the doubles 11-6 in the fifth against Plummer and Sweetland.      

RESULTS

HANDICAP CUP

Group A

Brotherhood F 5 Nomads Jaguars 0;

Nomads Bobcats 5 Holland Vulcans 0.

Group B

Brotherhood D 1 Windsor Harriers 5;

Windsor Magpies 5 v Holland Lancasters 0 (w/o)

Group C

Windsor Penguins 5 Nomads Panthers 0 (w/o);

Nomads Ocelots 5 Holland Mosquitos 0 (w/o).

Group D

Brotherhood C 5 Windsor Falcons 2;

Windsor Eagles 2 Windsor Buzzards 5.

Group E

Walton D 5 Nomads Leopards 1.

Walton A 2 Brotherhood B 5;

Nomads Leopards 1 Walton A 5.

Report by Tony Oswick

The Braintree Table Tennis League second division trophy is clearly heading in Sudbury Wanderers’ direction but who will carry off the runners-up trophies is another matter.

For some time they had appeared to be destined for Rayne D but a couple of stumbles pulled them back into the pack.

And their latest result – more of a tumble than a stumble – has relegated them to fourth place.

The absence of Dave Moles and Dave Marsh did not help, but a 9-1 reverse at the hands of Black Notley D was still unexpected.

Notley included new signing Wictor Delimat, who quickly proved his worth by winning his three singles.

He was joined by Alesha Ellis-Austin, who had her best evening in the league so far with three wins in straight games, while Richard Whiteside picked up Rayne D’s sole point, a win at 11-8 in the fifth over Stewart Ireland.

Notley D climbed above their opponents as a result of that win, but it’s Rayne’s E team who now occupy second place.  They beat Netts D 7-3.

The next two teams, Notley C and Netts C, both had 8-2 wins, over Rayne F and Notley F respectively.

Rev Matthews was unbeaten for Notley C and Charles Calisin for Netts C.

The top two in division one both had 10-0 wins, Netts A over Notley A and Rayne A against Liberal C.

Liberal B and Rayne B are separated by one point in third and fourth place and the match between them reflected that in that six of the ten sets went to five games.

Sadly for Liberal B, they only won two of them, and they lost the other four as well to finish 8-2 down.

Victor Chan and Steve Pennell were unbeaten for Rayne.

Liberal A drew with Notley B while Netts B scored their second successive win and climbed out of the bottom two by beating a two-man Rayne C, the team below them, 8-2.  Joe Meleschko was unbeaten.

In division three, leaders Finchingfield A beat Rayne H 9-1 – a good win for Conrad Gomes over Dave Punt – while Sudbury Strollers increased the gap between them and third-placed Notley G to four points by beating Notley I 8-2 while Notley G drew with Rayne G.

The gap is only likely to grow bigger if Richard Fifield continues to turn out for Strollers.  His second appearance was a repeat of his first, three wins, with only one game dropped in the process.

Newcomer Adrian Boeriu, of Notley I, continues to impress in his first season:  Peter Abbott is not an easy opponent to get past.

Notley I drop behind Finchingfield B, who had an 8-2 win over Netts F.

Lucien Nolan-Bradford won the battle of the 16-year-olds – they were born 19 days apart –  just nudging home against JJ Calisin at 14-12 in the fifth.

Nigel Parmenter was the man in form for Notley H.  He won his three sets against Yeldham B but his teammates failed to follow suit.

Report by Ron Fosker

This week saw the quarter-final stage of the Burnham & District Table Tennis League Team Handicap Cup.  The Handicap Cup is played across the whole league structure – just like the FA Cup in football – but players are assigned a handicap based on ability and ranking to even out the playing field, or in this case, table.

Cold Norton B are both the current holders and red-hot favourites to retain the cup.  In this round they travelled the short distance to face the league’s friendliest team Blackwater E – but would their notorious generosity and hospitality off the table transfer to the on-table battle.  With handicap differences of up to 26 points the challenge was all uphill for the Nortonites.  But battle they did and with the handicaps proving pretty accurate it was really the quality of the Cold Norton players that saw out each leg at the crucial death points.  In the opening doubles Blackwater’s Phil West (+7) and Kath Little (+9) got to the precipice but couldn’t quite find the momentum to skip over the edge as Sam Lowman (-17) and Dan Anderson (-12) caught up very late into each leg and then powered through the last couple of points winning out 21-17, 21-18.  Deb Ginn (+5) had a 22 point start on Cold Norton’s Eric Green (-17) and played exceptionally well in the first 2 sets, getting to 20-20 in set 1 but just losing out and then taking the second leg 21-19 – but despite all this effort Green was able to maintain his accuracy and determination for the crucial deciding set and took another point for his Cold Norton combo.  Little had a similar experience in her drawn out battle with the defensive king that is Anderson, comfortably taking the opening set but then just losing out in the second set as Anderson got his eye in and concentration levels up.  The deciding set remained close throughout but again Anderson pulled through for Cold Norton taking the match with a 21-16 leg.  This story was largely repeated throughout the games as Blackwater put up a brave fight but when the handicaps were pulled back around 17 all it was the higher ranked players that were able to finish off the games.  Cold Norton go through 5-0 but the scoreline doesn’t really do justice to the efforts of the Blackwater E trio.

In an all Division 2 encounter Blackwater B hosted Woodham D with only a handful of handicap differences between them with 5 points being the highest.  Woodham’s opening doubles pairing kicked things off with a long and hard fought 21-19 deciding leg victory as Peter Harverson (-4) and Jeremy Giffin (-1) defeated Blackwaters Noah Sage (-1) and Gary Smith (+1).  But Blackwater soon found themselves 2-1 up thanks to straight set triumphs for Louis Gunn (-3) over Scott Perry (-3), and Sage over Harverson.  Giffin squared up the match as he edged passed Smith in 3 long sets and then the match went into a pattern of win one lose one with Blackwater always ahead by 1 win but Woodham pulling back each time.  So deep into the evening and we had a final match all-or-nothing decider – Gunn and Smith (-1) versus Perry and Giffin (-2) – would that 1 point advantage make the difference?  Well not in the opening set as the Blackwater duo stormed ahead and took the frame quite comfortably.  But as throughout the match the Woodham team fought back in the second leg and in this one the extra point did make the difference with Blackwater squeezing through 21-19 for the leg, the match, the overall team win and the important bragging rights!

With Blackwater A prevailing via a walkover, the final match of the week saw Division 1 strugglers Woodham B host their Division 3 stablemates Woodham E.  Again plenty of fun handicap differences in this one for the crowd to enjoy.  With such a range of handicaps and playing styles it was hard to predict how this one would go.  The opening game set the scene though as the Woodham B pairing of Eamonn Hall (-5) and Harry Sawford (-6) had to work tirelessly against the E team’s Allan Steel (-2) and Diane King (+10) in order to reduce the deficit.  Efficient serving and taking chances when they arose were the order of the day catching up the handicaps at 15-15 in both legs and then finishing off the match with some more relaxed attacking play.   Woodham B’s highest ranked player Sanjay Saptarshi (-12) hadn’t got the memo on how to play his handicap matches as he initially struggled against Reece Arundel (+8), taking unnecessary risks and allowing Arundel to build up what seemed an unassailable lead culminating in 8 game points at 20-12 to his advantage.  Around this time Saptarshi switched to a more cautious approach and ground out point after point forcing Arundel into errors and only attacking when there was minimal risk.  Eventually he caught up at 20-20 and then took the final 2 points for a run of 10 points on the bounce and the unexpected first leg.  That was Saptarshi sorted and he rattled off the second leg with much more ease.  This was really the pattern of the whole match as Woodham B went into stealth mode until they had caught up their handicaps in the high teens and then were able to finish off with more attacking shots.  So a 5-0 victory dance for the B team but as with the Cold Norton game earlier in the week the handicaps worked as virtually all games saw the E team reach 17-18 points and then the match becomes a 3-4 point shootout.  Onto the semi-final, with the draw taking place later in the week and venue and ticket information to follow.

On a sadder note the League lost one of its long standing players this week as we mourn the passing of John Monk.  John was a stalwart of Mapledene Table Tennis Club and was a previous winner of our coveted Singles Title.  An awesome player and a real character on and off the table.   He was playing at the highest level right up until his illness took hold of him earlier this year, and was a regular at the Burnham Tournaments with his last Final being the Over 60s Singles in 2023.  He will be sorely missed and we pass on our condolences to all his family and friends.

Pic 1 – Triumphant Blackwater B trio – Messrs Sage, Smith & Gunn

Pic 2 – Sanjay Saptarshi in his opening set with Reece Arundel

Pic 3 – Cold Norton B’s captain Dan Anderson grinding out the wins

Pic 4 – John Monk RIP

Report by Eamonn Hall

Harry Chivers was back in action and fired a hat-trick as his Chelmsford A team fell to a 6-4 away defeat to Danbury C who moved one point clear at the top of division one.  John Poysden and Keith Adams won twice apiece for the hosts with Poysden doing well to overcome Aidan Lees over five games in a see-saw battle. There were trebles for Arron Chandler and Matthew Stringer in Danbury B’s 8-2 victory over Chelmsford B.  Chelmsford’s Waseem Qureshi proved a tough nut to crack, he beat Dan Anderson in three, took Chandler to four and was 2-1 up against Matthew Stringer before the fightback. The two-person team of Duncan Taylor and Kevin Read went undefeated for Writtle A in their 7-3 success at Galleywood A.

Dawn Baldry and Chris Hancox were on top form with three wins apiece as Maldon A earned a fine 8-2 win at last year’s division two runners up Hatfield Peverel A.  Baldry was in a relentless mood, dropping just one game across her three victories while teammate Lloyd Bennett-Smith threw away winning positions in five game losses to both Alastair Piper and Martin Archie.  Maldon continue to sit in second position, now seven points behind leaders Buttsbury A and seven points ahead of third-placed Danbury D with all three sides through ten fixtures of the season.  Danbury D’s position is very much thanks to Sanjay Saptarshi who fired his fifth treble of the season (three more than any teammate) in a 7-3 away win at Galleywood B.  Saptarshi didn’t lose a game while teammate Peter Chastin did well to recover from 2-0 down against Robin Armstrong for the first of his two wins. Another key player for their team – Simon Jarvis – fired his sixth hat-trick of the season (five more than any teammate) in Chelmsford C’s 8-2 home win against Old Chelmsfordians B.  Dusan Doszkoty joined Jarvis with three wins (his first of the season) though he had to come through a tight opener with Mick Richardson: 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 10-12, 16-14.  Despite mixed results this season in division three Peter Hance made his first appearance of the season in division two and won all three in Danbury F’s 5-5 draw at Writtle B. Hance beat Phil Smith in three, Trevor Collin in four and recovered from 0-2 to beat Trevor Carter, the defeat to Hance was the only loss of the night for both Collin and Smith.  There were three wins for Tim Cramphorn and two each for Neil Want and Tony Forster as Danbury E earned an 8-2 win on the road at Writtle C.  Writtle’s John Webber won twice but lost out to Cramphorn by a 15-13 scoreline in the decider with Danbury continuing their progress up the table up to sixth position from tenth two weeks ago.

The top three positions in division three are separated by just four points with this division still waiting to be taken by the scruff of the neck by one of the teams, Writtle D in fifth position have lost fewer games than two of the top three sides and hold a game in hand so may make their move shortly.  Chelmsford D lead the way on 72 points from 11 matches and they earned a 7-3 home win over clubmates Chelmsford F despite a first treble since week four for F’s Cleon Fernandes.   Fernandes beat Chris Denyer in three, Adi Kamma in four and Keith Martin in five. Simon Quelch capped his first appearance of the season with a hat-trick as his Hatfield Peverel B trio drew 5-5 on the road at Buttsbury B.  Buttsbury’s Oscar Hutt posted a fine 3–2 win over Neil Freeman and was one game up against Quelch before going down in four.  There were three wins for Matthew Brown in Writtle D’s 7-3 home win over Writtle while Danbury G’s Denis Balic and Denis Crapnell won two apiece in an entertaining looking home fixture with Galleywood C which ended 6-4 to the hosts.

Hutton A earned themselves some breathing space at the top of division four with another 10-0 victory, this time against Buttsbury D who slip from third to fifth in the table.  While the father/son tandem of Alex and Charlie Ware had relatively straightforward evenings, teammate Oladapo Owolabi did extremely well to hold his nerve in tight five-game matches with Caroline Cole and Jenne Seibolt. Maldon B remain second following a 9-1 away win at Highwood B while Danbury K find themselves in a season high third position as three wins from Dave Hancox and two from Dave Oxley-Goody saw off Hatfield Peverel C in a 7-3 scoreline. There was a first appearance of the season for Farooq Ahmed who won all three in OCA D’s 7-3 away success at Danbury L. Ahmed beat both Ken Wilding and Roy Gandy in four with his match against John Manning being the only to go the distance. There was a fourth treble of the season for Buttsbury C’s Oscar Hutt in his sides 9-1 away victory at winless Danbury M – Frances Hutt and Lucy Elliott also went undefeated.  Galleywood D’s Stewart Ireland fired his first hat-trick since week four as his team edged out Chelmsford G 6-4. Ireland recovered from 2-1 down against Mark Nolan in the opener with Nolan later fighting back from 2-0 down against Lewis Armstrong only for Armstrong to take the decider.

Trebles from Gheorghe Nita and Lee Vallis extended Hutton B’s lead at the top of division five to 14 points in a 7-3 home win over Writtle F.  Writtle fell to their second successive defeat having gone unbeaten in their first eight matches.   There was a 5-5 draw for Maldon C despite a third successive treble for Garry Eames against fourth placed Hatfield Peverel D who remain just a point back.  David Cockrell won all three as his Highwood B moved from eighth to a season-high position of sixth with an 8-2 home win over Chelmsford H.  Highwood are  now unbeaten in four having lost their previous five matches. OCA E and Galleywood E shared the spoils in a 5-5 draw with OCA now unbeaten in two matches having lost five on the bounce, Galleywood E have now just one loss in their last six fixtures. Douglas Bawuah’s second hat-trick in his last three appearances wasn’t enough to prevent ARU from their tenth straight defeat this season.  Bawuah has earned 16 of ARU’s 25 points to date and he dropped just one game in ARU’s 6-4 loss to Hatfield Peverel E.

The 2024/2025 C&DTTL Tournament will take place between the 3rd and 5th January 2025 at Mildmay Hall, Anglia Ruskin University.  Please find details and entry form here:  https://www.tabletennis365.com/chelmsford

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Jeremy Hill, Press Officer, Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League

For results, fixtures, stats and more please visit https://www.tabletennis365.com/chelmsford

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In Division 2 of the Southend League Hockley D’s Hannah Harbour hit successive hat tricks, both against the two Stanford sides, to give her an outstanding Player of the Week award. Firstly she moved up to Hockley’s C team to help them overwhelm Stanford C 9-0, and then she led her own D team to a surprise 5-4 victory against runaway leaders Stanford B inflicting on them their first defeat of the season.

Paul Strutt and Brian Bissenden were Hannah’s team mates in the match against Stanford C and it was pretty straight forward as they dropped only three sets all night. Needless to say Hannah didn’t drop any. Vaughan Chambers, Chris Crooks and Peter Moxon made up the Stanford team. The win moves Hockley up to second place behind Stanford B.

Hannah’s second appearance of the week was a lot more eventful. Hockley had to make a last minute change to their team having to call up Keith Denyer from their E team due to a late withdrawal. Stanford B, unbeaten at the start of the evening, arrived without their top performers this season Rob Salvage and Adrian Armstrong but with the unbeaten Russell Bright. The Stanford team of Bright, Mark Downey and John Handscombe proved too strong for Denyer which meant it was down to Hannah and young William Evesham to fly the Hockley flag and they flew it almost perfectly. Harbour’s first and toughest match of the evening came against Downey and after winning the first two sets Harbour found herself pulled back to 2-2 before she clinched the final set 11/8. She followed this by defeating Bright in four sets and then Handscombe in three, and wins for Evesham against Handscombe and Downey, another five set match, meant Hockley had a winning 5-2 lead. Stanford took the final two matches Bright beating Evesham in four sets and Downey beating Denyer in three. Stanford stay top and have a healthy 17 point lead although Hockley C have a game in hand.

Second placed Matchpoint B took on fourth placed Canvey B and a closely fought match went down to the final match of the evening after the Islanders fought back from 4-1 down to level the scores at 4-4. The deciding match saw John Lott of Matchpoint taking on Trevor Hayes, both unbeaten on the night, but it turned out pretty one sided as Lott won in straight sets to clinch the match for the home team. Max Mayo and Oliver Milchard added a point each for Matchpoint, Milchard coming from two sets down to beat Des Duffield and Mayo beating Tony Westwell in straight sets. Canvey’s points came from Hayes two wins and one each from Duffield and Westwell.

In the bottom half of the table Rawreth Megazone kept themselves clear of any relegation issues by beating Invicta B 6-3 who now sit one but bottom of the table. Gus Heath was in form, as usual, claiming a maximum and he was supported by Richard Kidd with two wins and Amar Al-Soufi with one. Match of the night was Steve Lennox’s marathon defeat of Kidd with the closest of scorelines 9/11 10/12 12/10 12/10 12/14. Lennox also beat Al-Soufi as did Mike Keeble who came back from two sets down to claim his win.

The team who sit bottom of the table, Matchpoint C, went down 7-2 to Runnymede but it was closer than the score might suggest. Take away Tony Millward’s perfect hat trick and every other game went to four sets and beyond. Ollie Milchard picked up both his sides points beating Steve Wisbey in four and Andy Humphries in a long five set match 7/11 15/13 11/9 15/17 7/11. Humphries and Steve Wisbey both got two wins for Runnymede but spare a thought for Zach Samuels of Matchpoint who took them both to five sets with no reward.

Player of the Week – Hannah Harbour

Team of the Week – Hockley D

Report by Paul Strutt

The position at the top of the Division 1 table is hotting up, with four teams separated by just two points. 
Matchpoint A joined Basildon A at the top of the table, tied on 48 points, thanks to a close 5 – 4 away win at Canvey A. Stephen Heard was their match winner, taking a maximum, although it was single wins from Debbie O’Neil and Dan Stewart that settled things. Peter Cray got two wins for Canvey, and Joanna Hills and Lee McGonagle one each. Canvey are two points off top spot with 46 points.
Mapledene had arguably their best result of the season, overcoming visitors Basildon A 6 – 3 to put a brake on the away team’s progress. It was an all round effort, with Andy Seaman, Mike Johnston and Bill Smith each winning two. Self-styled ‘old codger’ Bill produced the performance of his season, getting the better of Basildon’s Arun Joy in four sets, to inflict only Arun’s second defeat of the season. Arun was the visitor’s best player, taking two victories, while Rob Burton got one.
Rawreth Megazone C are the other team currently on 46 points. This week saw them complete a comfortable 6 – 3 home win over Wakering. Callum Turner scored a hat trick for the visitors to take the POM prize and to extend his unbeaten run. However, two wins each for the home side’s Garry Hartgrove, Trevor Ward and Gary McCarthy saw them claim victory with ease.
Brand Identity B are not far behind the leading bunch. Their 5 – 4 win at Hadleigh Forum C sees them move on to 43 points. Forum’s Mark Everard will consider himself unlucky to finish on the losing side, despite his maximum POM performance. However, two wins each for Spud Saunders and Mick Grout, together with a single from Dale Gutteridge saw the visitors to victory. David Thomas got Forum’s other win.

Report by David Barnes

Burnham & District Table Tennis League –

With the top two teams on a rest week it was up to chasing pack to demonstrate their intentions in the developing leadership battle at the top of the Burnham & District Table Tennis League.  Both Mapledene A and Woodham A had wins this week but the Mapledene crew will be happier with their victory margin whilst the Woodhamites were involved in a much more closely fought ding-dong with their own B side.  But there are plenty more dramas to unfold as we have a 4 horse shootout in play for the next few rounds of this intriguing season.

Mapledene A quickly dispatched a 2-man Cold Norton C team in a confident 8-2 victory that pushes them into third spot with a game in hand that could see them overtake current leaders Fambridge.  Arron Chandler was the thorn in the side of Mapledene as he took a 4 set win over Steve Muth and then a very tight 12-10 fifth set triumph over Evie Knappen – a continuation of Chandler’s excellent form this season.  For Mapledene it was their rarely seen Captain Reece Seddon who did most damage with a clean night of wins in both the singles and doubles categories.  Woodham A welcomed Woodham B to Champions Manor Hall and didn’t take long for the away side to adjust to the foreign environment taking the first point as Daniel Patynski beat Gus Heath in straight sets.  The A teams Chris Penrose soon sorted out the alphabeticalness of the scorecard with good wins over Patynski and Sanjay Saptarshi, and with Saptarshi edging passed Daniel Piglet in a rollercoaster 5-setter the A team found themselves 4-2 up at the break.  Penrose and Piglet were odds on for the doubles and took the first leg but them something clicked with the B team pairing of Patynski and Saptarshi and they rattled off the next 3 legs for an unexpected but very welcome bonus point, bringing the score back to a respectable 4-3.  In the final run of singles matches Penrose completed his hat-trick with a straight sets victory over B team debutant Peter Harverson, Piglet ousted Patynski, and then Saptarshi closed out the scoring with a win over Heath for a final 6-4 victory for the A team – a slight dent in their podium finish ambitions.  In the other top flight match this week Mapledene B romped home against an undermanned Woodham C.  The final score was 9-1 to Mapledene with Paul Brown the only Mapledenite to drop a point, losing out to the effervescent Adi Kamma. Both Keith Willett and penhold fanatic Colin Chatfield went unbeaten across the evening despite some really strong play from Woodham’s Graham Briggs.

Maldon A strengthened their grip on pole position in Division 2 with a less than comfortable 8-2 victory over Cold Norton D.  Lloyd Bennett-Smith and that man Hamish Innes went unbeaten all evening in both competitive formats leaving debutant Ross Kirby to secure the final point with his defeat of Dave Hancox.  This encounter saw 5 of the individual matches go to deciding sets and only 1 of the matches was settled in straight sets – tough on the Cold Norton team but at least they won a couple of points for their endeavours.   A prevailed over B in the Battle of the Blackwater this week.  Blackwater A’s Neil Freeman was the strongest knight coming away completely unscathed from the battle – 4 matches, 12 sets for, none lost, where’s that cigar?  Freeman was supported well by his entourage of Alan Scammell (1 win) and Roger Slade (2 wins), with the B team’s young buck Noah Sage causing the most upset with wins over Scammell and Slade.  Mapledene C further dented the hopes and aspirations of Woodham C this year with a 7-3 away victory that propels them into 3^rd place.  Mapledener Andy Seaman was on tremendous form hitting an excellent hat-trick in the singles, with both Pat White and Mike Johnston hitting doubles.  White losing out to Alan Dadswell in the final match of the evening, and Johnston succumbing to the skills of Jeremy Giffin.  Dadswell and Mal Henstock combined for an unexpected bonus with a deciding set doubles victory over White and Seaman.

In the battle for Division 3 Maldon C extended their lead with a high scoring 8-2 conquest of Blackwater D.  Ella Sach was in formidable mood with a fine hat-trick which was matched by Chris Ravenhill, and the two combined for the doubles.  For Blackwater both David Sage and Peter Davenport edged passed Shirley Carroll for the Blackwater haul, with Carroll coming through a topsy turvy 5 setter with Ron Tam to complete her side’s scoring for the evening.  Blackwater C are secure in second place but will really need to pull a few high scoring rabbits out of the fixtures hat to get anywhere near the runaway leaders.  This week they travelled to Woodham E only to encounter the deft skills of Woodham’s unbeaten Allan Steel.  Steel, predictably, won all his singles only dropping the one leg to Merv Perriman – come on Division 3 players, someone take this man down!  Other than Steel’s 3 points for Woodham, Blackwater cleaned up for a 7-3 win with 2 wins apiece for Perriman, Dave Benstead, and Jacqui Treacy.  Blackwater E and Maldon D ended in stalemate with Maldon’s James Raymond claiming the player of the match accolades with an impressive hat-trick.  Both sides had good chances to win the match as 4 of the contests went to deciding frames but they decided that it would be nice all round for everyone to win at least one match and to share the spoils evenly – how lovely.  Maldon E must be the less friendly side of the Club as they didn’t succumb to such niceties as they rolled over Blackwater F for a final score of 7-3. John Leavett was the most effective Maldonian with a hat-trick in the singles and he then combined with Kym Eames for the extra doubles point.  Eames won 2 of her singles, as did Blackwater’s young star of the future Oscar Wyman.

Pic 1 – Woodham A’s Chris Penrose in unbeatable form this week

Pic 2 – Sanjay Saptarshi battles it out over 5 sets with Daniel Piglet in the Woodham Derby this week

Pic 3 – Alan Dadswell goes down fighting against the hat-trick man from Mapledene C Andy Seaman

Pic 4 – Blackwater C’s experienced pimple pusher Mervyn Perriman in action this week.

Pic 5  – Woodham E’s Reece Arundell tries his hand against Jacqui Treacy of Blackwater C

Report by Eamonn Hall