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Essex Cadets

CADET COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

DIVISION 1A, 30 NOVEMBER 2019

 

A GOOD DAY FOR THE ESSEX CADET TEAM

 

The first rounds of County Cadet Division 1A matches were played on Saturday 30 November 2019 with three rounds of matches to be played. To reduce traveling distances this first round was split in to 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, Buckinghamshire 1, Surrey 2 and Sussex 1 played one another at the Graham Spicer Centre, New Malden, Surrey.  All matches were played on two tables.

 

Cadet Rankings are shown in red. The Essex Team was Ralph Pattison (744), Liam Harris (391), Toby Zeffie (280), Maliha Baig (877) and Mabel Shute (292). Oliver Rampton had originally been selected but then withdrew for another commitment.

 

In their first match the team had Middlesex 1 to play who were the team likely to be one of the front runners. The opening match was a cracker with Ralph and Jenson Moreno (699) closely matched. Ralph took the first game 11-5 but Jenson took the next two games 8 and 10.  A tight fourth game went narrowly to Ralph 11-9 so all to play for in the decider. Narrowly behind at the change round Ralph just could not pull the deficit back and lost 9-11. On the other table Toby lost to Charlie Nabarro (612) 3-1.  Next on the table was Mabel in her first match for the County, a big initiation as she had to play the highest ranked girl in the room, Scarlett Anders (954). A slightly nervous start but came back to win five consecutive points and the first game 11-9. Scarlett upped her game to win the next two easily but Mabel had a couple of chances to take the match to a decider, finally losing that fourth game 13-11. For Maliha her match against Tianer Yu (not ranked) was one she will wish to forget quickly losing 3-0. For Liam a marathon match against Toby Crawcour (815) on his first match for the County. Taking the first two games narrowly 14-12 and 11-9 he lost the next two 7 and 5. The decider was a nail biting game which Liam finally won 11-9, a great start for his County debut. Toby then lost 3-0 to Jenson and Mabel 7, 6, 12 to Tianer. Ralph’s match with Toby was identical to the Liam/Toby match. Win the first two games, lose the next two and win the fifth. For Maliha she now had to play Scarlett. Could she win and recover some of the ranking points she had lost in the earlier match. Yes she could – with both players looking for supremacy Maliha eventually won the first game 16-14 and then lost the second 9-11. No stopping Maliha now and she roared through the next two games 5 and 3 to win that match. Liam was back on the table against Charlie for the final match. A close match and another win after losing the first game, -8, 5, 9,10. A 4-6 loss and a great effort to win the last three matches.

 

The Essex Team now had to play neighbours Suffolk. Liam and Toby both lost 3-0 to Isaac Kingham (542) and Joseph Fortnam-Adams (499) respectively. Maliha and Mabel quickly made the score 2-2 with 3-0 wins over Aiva Tendengu (9) and Ruby Williams (112). Ralph seems to delight in five game matches and he was involved in another two here. Firstly against Henry Shaw (591) winning 11-9 in the final game and later on 11-7 in his match with Joseph. Toby took a game off Isaac and Maliha and Mabel both won their remaining girls matches 3-0. In the final match Liam lost 3-0 to Henry but still a Team win 6-4.

 

The final match was against Middlesex 2. Ralph played Brandon Sangchin (540) and yet again another five game match. Winning the first two games 10 and 7 the third was a disaster and the last two games were lost 9 and 7. On the other table Toby won his first match of the day, a 9, -5, 5, 5 win over Joel Osaghai (571). Mabel lost a close match to Mia Lakhani (232) 6, 12, -6, 9, letting a 9-6 lead slip away in the fourth game while Maliha winning 3-0 against Halle Toulon (161). Liam lost 9, 8, 8 to Ben Barbarash (602) and Toby 3-0 to Brandon. Mabel and Maliha both won their final matches, Maliha 3-0 over Mia and Mabel the closest match of the day, 10, -11, 13, 11. Ralph finally decided it was time not to have to play five games in a match so he beat Ben in four, -10, 12, 4, 8.  Liam rounded off the day with a 7, 8, 9 win over Joel. By winning the last four matches a potential defeat was converted into a 6-4 win.

 

A good day all round and the debutants, Liam, Toby and Mabel all won matches. A date and venue for the final round of matches is yet to be finalised.

 

Ralph 4 out of 6, Liam 3 out of 6, Toby 1 out of 7, Maliha 5 out of 6, Mabel 3 out of 6.

 

CURRENT TABLE INCLUDING THE MATCH RESULTS FROM NEW MALDEN, SURREY.

 

P          W         D          L          F          A          Pts

Middlesex 1                  3          3          0          0          21           9        6

Essex                           3          2          0          1          16         14         4

Surrey 2                        2          2          0          0          15           5        4

Buckinghamshire 1        2          1          0          1          11           9        2

Suffolk                         3          0          1          2          12         18         1

Middlesex 2                  3          0          1          2          11         19         1

Sussex 1                      2          0          0          2            4        16         0

 

Arthur C. Clark

Essex Junior Match Secretary and Cadet Division 1A Organiser.

ESSEX CADETS FINISH IN THIRD PLACE

 

 

 

 

 

CADET COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
DIVISION 1A – 31 MARCH 2019
BATTS

SONY DSC

 

The final rounds of County Cadet Division 1A matches were played on Sunday 31 March 2019 at the BATTS Norman Booth Centre at Old Harlow. The first rounds of matches were played at Graham Spicer New Malden, Surrey and NETTS Earls Colne respectively,  with Surrey 1 and Middlesex 1 the leaders of the matches played at each venue after those first rounds of matches. Essex were fourth in the Table and equal on points with Suffolk. The Essex Team was Daniel Young (570), Ollie Rampton (571), Ralph Pattison (761), Maliha Baig (758) and Olivia Jones (96). The figures in brackets are the current Cadet TTE ranking points for the players.

In the first round of matches the Essex team played Sussex 2 who were bottom of the Table. The Essex players won the first four matches all 3-0 and for the fifth match it took Ollie four games against Max Wilson (461) to win his match. The remaining five matches were all won by Essex and only Olivia needed a fourth game to win her match with the higher ranked Georgina Hunter (185). A good warm up with the match against Surrey 1, who had just beaten Middlesex 1 6-4 to now lead the Division, their next opponents.

Essex lost the first two matches, Ollie to Ojasvii Borah (628) 3-0 and Ralph to Henry Maric-Murray (976) 3-1. Maliha quickly defeated Naziyah Hasan (238) 3-0 while Olivia was taken to a deciding game by Evelyn Pace after winning the first two. Time outs at the end of the game deciding the match, Olivia 10-7 up but losing 14-12. Daniel then played the top seed of all the boys playing on the day, Ollie Maric-Murray (1190), and he must have been thrilled with the result, a great 13-11, 11-5, 13-11 win. For Ralph a 3-0 loss to Ojasvii. Maliha then beat the unranked Evelyn 9, 8, 5 while on the other table Olivia was in another five game match, this time with Naziyah. Winning the first and fourth games she lost the second game 7-11 and third game 13-15 despite a couple of chances to win it. In the final game a two point advantage at the change round could not be maintained and she lost 11-7. In the final two boys matches Daniel lost 3-1 to Henry and the match between the two Ollie’s went to Surrey 11-3 in the decider. A 7-3 defeat which with a bit of luck could have been a draw.

In the final round for the Essex Team, for all the other teams they had another round to play after this one, they had Surrey 2 to play. Daniel beat Adam Palmer (566) 3-0 while on the other table Ralph was in a tough match with Jacob Archer (553), eventually winning 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 12-10 11-8. Olivia was involved in get another five game match, this time against Emily Cheung who was ranked 220 points above her. This time she won her marathon match 11-8, 6-11, 5-11, 13-11, 11-8 winning the last three points in that final game. Another win for Maliha, 3-0 against Caron Charles and she followed that up with a demolition job against Emily 3, 5, 8. Not the best of days for Ollie as he struggled against both Francesco Bonato (710) and Jacob, losing both matches 3-1. For Daniel another good win, this time over Francesco 4, 9, 10 to give the Team an 8-2 win.

It was only after the final round of matches had been played did the Essex Team know that they had finished in third place by count back on games won and lost over Suffolk after the Suffolk team lost 7-3 to the Division winners Surrey 1 with Middlesex 1 the Runners Up. A good performance by the Essex team. For Maliha she only lost one match over the two days of play and that to the unbeaten Middlesex 1 player Scarlett Anders (1010) in the first round of matches at Earls Colne.

FINAL TABLE

P W D L GA GF A F
SURREY 1 6 6 0 0 67 151 14 46
MIDDLESEX 1 6 5 0 1 73 138 16 43
ESSEX 6 3 1 2 90 128 25 35
SUFFOLK 6 3 1 2 101 120 25 35
SURREY 2 6 1 1 4 134 87 39 21
MIDDLESEX 2 6 1 1 4 127 84 38 21
SUSSEX 2 6 0 0 6 159 43 52 8

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

JUNIOR DIVISION 2C- FINAL ROUND

General Action Shot 2

A DRAMATIC FINAL MATCH OF THE DAY TO DETERMINE THE JUNIOR DIVISION 2C WINNERS BUT A DISAPPOINTING DAY FOR THE ESSEX TEAM

Report by Arthur Clark – Essex Junior Match Secretary and Junior Division 2C Organiser

The final round of County Junior Division 2C matches was played on Saturday 1 December 2018 at BATTS Harlow.
For the first round of matches on Saturday 3 November the Division had been split in to two halves, the eastern half Bedfordshire, Essex 2, Hertfordshire and Suffolk had played one another at NETTS, Earls Colne whilst the southern and western half of the Division, Berkshire, Oxfordshire Surrey 2 and Sussex 3 had played one another at the Graham Spicer venue, New Malden. Surrey 2 won all three of their matches at their venue as did Hertfordshire at Earls Colne. As well as losing to Herts Essex also lost to Suffolk and scraped a draw with Bedfordshire.

Junior Rankings (when in the TTE Junior Ratings List) are shown in brackets. The Essex Team was Daniel Young, (373), Arran Hutchinson (361), Harry Keys (305), Reece Harris-Griffiths, Maliha Baig (171), Olivia Jones , and Jodie Robertson. Reece was included in the team to cover against Harry’s injury returning and the fact that Harry had to leave early for another commitment. Jodie accepted the invitation to join the team when it became know that Olivia also had to leave early.

In the opening round of matches the two bottom teams, Essex 2 and Berkshire, played one another. A good start with Arran beating Rayaan Asghar (426) -8, 8, 8, -9, 4 and Harry winning -7, 8, 10, 8 over Ralph Phillips. Maliha and Olivia both won their matches 3-0 but Danial then lost his match to the higher ranked Joseph Barraclough (437) having won the first two games 5 and 5. Olivia and Maliha had another two easy 3-0 wins as did Daniel against Rayaan 3-0. For Harry it was a much tougher win over Joseph 10, 8, -8, 8 for a 9-1 win and a flying start.

For the second round of matches Essex played Oxfordshire and the main item for this match was the first game between Olivia and Vicky Coll which Vicky eventually won 25-23. Olivia had been 8-3 down and fought back to be 10-9 up but could not convert any of the nine game points she held. Vicky went on to win the match 3-1 and later on also beat Maliha 3-1 for Maliha’s only defeat of the day. In the opening two matches Arran triumphed over Arthur Anstis (291) 3-1 while Reece lost to Kiarash Shaddel (468) 3-1. Daniel was involved in another five game match and like in the Berks match he won the first two games and lost the last three to Todd Stanmore. Olivia beat Lilli Foreman 3-1 having lost the first game and earlier Maliha had beaten Lilli 2, 1, 1. The match score was now 3-5. Arran then lost to Todd 14, 7, 5 and in the last match Daniel was involved in yet another five setter but this time he won it 4, -9, -9, 10, 6 against Kiarash.

In the third round of matches Essex had to play the joint leaders Surrey 2. Arran (6, 14, -6,) and Harry (8, 6, -8, 9) both lost their opening matches to Ollie Maric-Murray (335) and Angus Norman respectively. Jodie, in her first match for the County had to face the unbeaten Yuvathi Kumar (212) (her surname is Vijay in the TTE Rating List) and not surprisingly she lost 3, 1, 1. She did much better against Evelyn Pace, who had won her previous four matches, losing 3, 7, 5 while on the other table Maliha was taking Yuvathi’s unbeaten record away with a 6, 8, -9, 9 win. Daniel lost to both Howard Onweng and Ollie 3-0 in both matches. Harry also lost to Howard 3-1 in the final match. An 8-2 defeat.

In their last match of the day Essex played second from bottom Sussex 3. Arran played Charlie Ollerenshaw (368), ranked seven points above him, and won -3, 8, 3, 6 while on the other table Reece was losing 3-0 to Jamar McGlashan (606). Maliha won her two girl’s matches comfortably while Jodie lost a very close match with Sasha O’Halloran (109) 6, 9, 11. Joy was to come however when she beat Claudia Hough 7, 3, 8 for her first Essex win on her debut. Daniel lost to both Harry Yip and Jamar and with Arran losing the last match 10, 9, 7 to Harry the 6-4 defeat relegated the Essex team to second bottom in the Table. The top two teams, Herts and Surrey, had to play one another . Surrey needed a win to take the title and Herts a draw, Sets and Games their advantage if the match was drawn. The dramatic match went to the very last game when Howard Onweng came back from 8-4 down to beat Samuel Flaum 11-9 and Surrey won the title with the 6-4 win.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018/2019

JUNIOR DIVISION 2C

TEAM P W D L SETS F SETS A Pts
SURREY 2 7 7 0 0 50 20 14
HERTFORDSHIRE 7 6 0 1 51 19 12
SUFFOLK 7 4 1 2 43 27 9
OXFORDSHIRE 7 3 1 3 36 34 7
BEDFORDSHIRE 7 2 2 3 29 41 6
SUSSEX 3 7 1 2 4 28 42 4
ESSEX 2 7 1 1 5 28 42 3
BERKSHIRE 7 0 1 6 15 55 1

County Round-up

General Action Shot 6   Senior and Veterans match Secretary, Neil Brierley,  provides an update on what is happening to the County Teams this season.

Senior County  We have one team in the County Championships this season, their first round of matches was at St Neots over the 17th/18th November. Results are still to be published, but when they are you can find them on the following link.

County Championships

The second round of matches is scheduled to be held on 1st December in Scunthorpe. The team will be Jamal Dennison, Josh Dye, Joe Walker and Barbara Iszyk, but we need to find a second competitive lady otherwise the team may have to be withdrawn.

Over 60s first team This team has been in the premier division for many years and is captained by John Poysden. Matches are at Milton Keynes on 17/18 Nov and 16/17 March. With new recruits Kevin Caldon, Alex Abbott and Trevor Lloyd, the toughest job will be working out who to leave out!

0ver 60s second team Once again led by Shirley Carroll, they play all their games at BATTS on 18th Nov, 16th Dec and 20th January.

0ver 40s first team  With new captain Duncan Taylor in place, this team play in Division 1B on 9th Dec and 19th January. The first date is at BATTS.

0ver 40s second team   Another new captain in place, this time Keith Adams.  They play in Division 2C on 8th Dec, 19th Jan and 9th March. The first two of these dates are at BATTS.

A TOUGH START FOR THE ESSEX JUNIOR SECOND TEAM

 

The National Championships 50

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.

JUNIOR COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS  –  DIVISION 2C  –  2018 – 19
P W D L F A Pts
Hertfordshire 3 3 0 0 22 8 6
Surrey 2 3 3 0 0 20 10 6
Suffolk 3 2 0 1 20 10 4
Oxfordshire 3 2 0 1 17 13 4
Sussex 3 3 0 1 2 12 18 1
Berkshire 3 0 1 2 11 19 1
Essex 2 3 0 1 2 9 21 1
Bedfordshire 3 0 1 2 9 21 1

 

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

 

 

 

 

Tough start for the Essex Cadets

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.

CURRENT TABLE
P W D L F A Pts
Middlesex 1 3 3 0 0 21 8 6
Surrey 1 2 2 0 0 18 2 4
Suffolk 3 1 1 1 16 14 3
Essex 3 1 1 1 14 16 3
Surrey 2 2 1 0 1 10 10 2
Middlesex 2 3 0 0 3 8 21 0
Sussex 2 2 0 0 2 2 18 0

 Arthur C. Clark

Essex Junior Match Secretary and Cadet Division 1A Organiser.

Unbeaten Essex Third After First round of Matches

SONY DSC
The first round of County Junior Championship Division 1B matches organised by Buckinghamshire were played at the BATTS Table Tennis Club, Harlow on Saturday 29 September 2018. Four crushing results for the Surrey team and for the other seven teams some really close matches with seven draws in the twelve matches between those teams.
With Table Tennis England requiring the Junior Registration Forms before the Essex Assessment Trials were held, County Secretary Arthur Clark only had the then current TTE Ranking Lists on which to base the Essex ranking Lists for registration.
The loss of three of our four top ranked boys from last season meant there would be a very new look to the team. At the Trials it became known that two of the top three boys would be unable to play in the first round of county matches. At the ranking trials discussions took place with players and all agreed that the probable three second team boys would play up for the First Team, by selecting three players it would mean they would still be eligible to play in the second team.
Ranking Points of all the players are shown in brackets where known.
In the first round of matches the Essex 1 team recorded an 8-2 victory over Buckinghamshire. In the opening matches Harry Keys (298) narrowly lost to James George (433) 7, -11, 9, 10 whilst on the adjacent table Daniel Young (366) beat Pranav Gudipati (408) 9, 5, 10. Gracie Edwards (731) and Tiana Dennison (875) won their matches 3-1 over Jemma Walker and Shristi Ghosh respectively and later on won the reverse fixtures both 3-0. Jaden Aulakh (770) had a tough first match against Shae Thakker eventually winning -10, 4, 9, -9, 9 while on the adjacent table Harry beat Pranav 3-0 to put Essex 5-1 up. In the final two matches Daniel lost to Shae 7, -9, 8, 12 and for Jaden a narrow 7, -9, 12, 12, win over James. A good start in what was to become a very competitive Division.
In the second round against Devon 2 Arran Hutchinson (367) played instead of Daniel. He lost his opening match to Michael Hernandez 5, 6, -12, 3 as did Harry, also 3-1 to Oliver Cornish (523). Both girls matches went to five games, Tiana winning game 3 in the decider with Lauren Loosemore (323) while Gracie lost -10, 5, -9, 9, -6 to Emily Haskell (712). Jaden then beat Ben Edmunds 3-1 (577) but Harry lost 9 in the fourth game to Michael. The return girls fixtures provided much easier wins and Jaden made the result a draw with a 3-0 win over Oliver after Arran had lost 3-0 to Ben. Most unusually all eight teams in the Division already had a point after only two rounds of matches, a fact that I cannot remember happening previously when there were eight teams in a Division.
For the third round Essex faced Dorset 1 and pocket battler ten year old Sophie Barcsai. Essex lost the first two matches, Harry in five games to Matt Stanfield and Daniel to Jamie Blair (819) 3-0. Gracie and Tiana then had two tough matches, Gracie just getting the better of Katie Holt (905) -13, 10, -6, 9, 7 and Tiana winning 8,
-7, 8, 9 against Sophie (201). The next two matches were just as tough, Jaden just getting the better of Ali Malloch (583) 9, -8, 7,-5, 8 while on the other table Harry let a 10-8 lead in the third game slip to then lose -11, -5, 16, 9, 9 to Jamie. Gracie was unable to prevent the winning shots from Sophie, losing 9, 7, 7 while Tiana was taken the full distance by Katie before winning -4, 10, -10, 7, 2. With Daniel losing 3-1 to Ali it was left to Jaden to get another final game win and another draw for the Team. The win was duly achieved over Matt -12, 10, 7, 7.
For the final round of matches Essex had to play Sussex 2 who were a girl short and like Essex had drawn two of their matches. Like the previous two rounds Essex lost the first two matches. Arron to Jacob Evans (835) 3-0 and Daniel to Will Michell 3-1. Gracie and Tiana both beat Jodie Morris (677) 3-0. Jaden lost his first match of the day to defender Charlie Graham-Adams (905) 3-1 and Daniel lost 3-0 to Jacob. With Arran losing 3-0 to Charlie, it looked at one time that Arran might win the second game, it was left to Jaden to win his last match and gain another draw for his team. Losing the first game to Will 8 and winning the next two games 4 and 8 a win was looking likely. Not so, Jaden lost the next game to 8 and that set up a titanic final game. Both players had match points until the score reached 15-14 and Jaden got the winning point, thus a draw and three draws for each team on the day.
Reviewing the day’s matches Surrey 1 were the outstanding team of the day losing only three matches all day and barring a disastrous second round of matches would be worthy champions. They are due to play current second place Dorset 2 in the first round of matches at Cippenham on Sunday 31 March 2019. For the other six teams none of them are clear of relegation. Robert Pelc (Sy) is the only boy to have won all his matches with Jamie Blair (Do), Jaden Aulakh (E), William Poulter (Ha) and Jamie Nordin (Sy) each losing once.
For the girls Danielle Kelly, Federica Bonato (both Sy) and Tiana Dennison (E) won all their matches. Jaden Aulakh 7 out of 8, Daniel Young 1 out of 6, Harry Keys 1 out of 6, Arran Hutchinson 0 out of 4, Tiana Dennison 7 out of 7 and Gracie Edwards 5 out of 7.
An outstanding day for Jaden Aulakh in his matches against the top two boys of each team. For Arran Hutchinson and Harry Keys a tough initiation against players ranked higher than themselves in their last season as juniors and for Daniel Young three seasons at a higher level to look forward to. They should find matches easier to win when they play for the Second Team in a month’s time. This is also Tiana Dennison’s last season as a junior player.
COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018/2019
                   
JUNIOR DIVISION 1B
TEAM P W D L GAMES F GAMES A SETS F SETS A Pts
SURREY 1 4 4 0 0 114 31 37 3 8
DEVON 2 4 3 1 0 89 64 25 15 7
ESSEX 1 4 1 3 0 82 71 23 17 5
DORSET 1 4 1 2 1 85 71 21 19 4
SUSSEX 2 4 0 3 1 63 83 16 24 3
MIDDLESEX 2 4 0 2 2 58 92 13 27 2
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 4 0 2 2 57 92 12 28 2
HAMPSHIRE 4 0 1 3 48 94 13 27 1
Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary