Press Report

Two big wins have taken Baddow Village A to the top of division two of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. A 9-1 victory over second placed Bocking was a real dent to the Braintree team's hopes and a 10-0 victory over E2V Technologies pushed the Works side down the table. Bocking were without their leading player Kevin Gowlett and the Baddow trio of Waseem Qureshi, Neil Gooday and Peter Barrett took full advantage. Richard Jennings made his mark with an excellent 3-2 victory over Qureshi and he came close to upstaging Barrett before succumbing at 11-9 in the decider. Baddow's points total of 13 out of a possible 16 is also a strong indication in what is usually a very competitive division that they have the necessary strength to hang on to their lead. With Gowlett restored to their line-up Bocking were a different proposition and they over-powered Hatfield Peverel B 8-2. The vastly improved Neil Freeman excelled here scoring both of Peverel's wins with successes against Richard Jennings and James Mullane. Baddow Village B; currently in second to bottom position, did well to hold Danbury C to a draw with Ladies Singles Champion Julie Vansertima rising to the challenge by recording an excellent 12-10 in the fifth set victory over Dave Finlayson in the last match of the evening. Peter Hance "rolled back the years" with a sparkling display which saw him stay undefeated. His 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 11-6 victory over Adrian Pitt being particularly impressive.

Rawreth and ECC A, placed first and second in division one both scored big wins this week. Promoted Writtle A were desperately unlucky to lose 10-0 against Rawreth having extended four games to a fifth end but luck seems to have deserted them when they needed it most. Even Writtle's leading player Gary Ward seems to be struggling and he missed out 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 9-11 against Rawreth Captain Steve Maltby after a particularly tough battle. ECC A were equally dominant against Hatfield Peverel A although gritty defender Dave Carter caused England Top 50 Senior Matt Staines a fair amount of anxiety before succumbing 11-8 in the fifth end. Two wins for Billericay have pushed them up the table into fourth place. Keith Ashton, Marilyn Bawden and Ray Eldridge all won twice to counter an Ian Whiteside hat-trick which enabled them to beat Danbury B 6-4 and the same line-up went one better by beating Excalibur 7-3. Excalibur's ever improving Nigel Lamb continues to impress, and here his victims included Ashton and Eldridge. Danbury B were in action again against Maldon A and in a match where the form book counted for nothing Danbury came very close to pulling off a win, and they actually led 5-1 before Maldon hit back. Steve Elmes, making a rare appearance gave Danbury a lift with excellent wins over Hamish Innes and Barry Mays whilst "long-armed looper" Tony Forster played his part with a superb 3-1 victory over Mays. It was left to Barry Mays, normally one of the hardest hitting players in the League to earn Maldon their draw as he produced an uncharacteristically defensive performance to stifle the inform Ian Whiteside 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6.

With several results outstanding division three has yet to sort itself out. Leaders ECC D slipped up against Bocking B 7-3 after turning up a player short. Simon Webber impressed by beating both Robin Armstrong and David Edwards but he missed out against the free-flowing Barry Pritchard 11-6, 11-8, 11-3. Bocking had Pritchard on target again against ECC E as he disposed off all three ECC E players in match which ended all square. Excalibur B moved into second place, with a 7-3 victory over Danbury E which was notable for a superb hat-trick by Excalibur's County Mixed Doubles Champion Linda Murray who scored excellent wins over Herbie Smith, Norman Smith and Stan Owen. Danbury E, were also beaten 7-3 by Baddow Village C for whom Duncan Elloy stayed undefeated. Alistair Brown, made his mark on this occasion with excellent wins over Stan Owen and Norman Smith. A further three points came Baddow's way against OCs B as another Elloy hat-trick gave his side the impetus they needed to win 6-4.

Like division three, division four is still level-pegging with a mere one point covering those sides placed second down to sixth. Six of the eight scorecards received this week evidenced games ending in 6-4 scorelines; further proof of how evenly matched this division is. Leaders Danbury G suffered their first defeat of the season as they missed out 6-4 against Elmtree Graphics B for whom Rod Maclennan and Graham Pryke were both undefeated. Second placed Baddow Village E both won and lost 6-4. With Ray Lawrence remaining unbeaten they won against Danbury H but with Lawrence missing out against Bob Partridge they succumbed to Danbury G. By staying unbeaten John Webber led Hatfield Peverel C to a 6-4 win over Danbury H and with Jon Fieldsend, Keith Cullen and Dave Fillery all winning twice Peverel were 7-3 winners over ECC F. Jeff Lewington represented rather tougher opposition as he beat all three Hatfield Peverel players. Writtle B are placed third but with two games in hand on the leaders they are handily placed, and they did well to beat Danbury F 6-4. Hector Rogers excelled here for Writtle by scoring a convincing 3-1 victory over Malcolm Jacobs although Jacobs hit back with a hard-fought 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 14-12 success against Matthew Brown. Danbury F in turn also hit back by recording their second win of the season as they beat EPHQ 6-4. Malcolm Jacobs secured the win for his team with a marathon 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 13-15, 11-6 victory over EPHQ no. one Ian Hockley in the last game of the night.

Leaders Hatfield Peverel D reaffirmed their credentials in division five, notching up a storming 9-1 victory over fourth placed OCs D. Father and son duo Martyn and Greg Green and Lorrie Austin made short-work of a strong OCs side of David Porter, Brian Shipley and Nat Ravlic and on this showing it will be hard to see any side stopping them. OCs D were back to winning ways (7-3) against Baddow Village G as David Porter and Nat Ravlic stayed unbeaten. Third-placed Writtle C were also winners this week as they saw off Baddow Village F 6-4. Tony Lambert saw them home by winning his three singles which included a five game success over Baddow's new signing Peter Sun. Baddow Village G will feel hard done by in losing 10-0 to Danbury J. Four games went to a decider and they lost all four of them as the Danbury side of Tim Pulham, Kevin Willis and Mark Wheeler made their extra experience count.

With three results in this week Baddow Village J have taken over the leadership of division six. The highlight was their 9-1 win over Baddow Village K with Rykki Vansertima and Haydn Upson both scoring hat-tricks. Baddow Village I provided sterner opposition and only succumbed 6-4 with Essex no. one under 13 Girl Hannah Pitt recording a superb win over Sam Pitt. Rykki Vansertima turned in another increasingly assured performance by staying undefeated. A further win was achieved at the expense of Baddow Village M, as Sam Pitt this time turned in a fine unbeaten performance. His opening game 11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7 victory over Todd Eden proved to be Todd's only defeat of the evening. Ingatestone/Excalibur Combined also impressed beating Baddow Village K 7-3 as Michael Wood and Stewart Hiskey both remained undefeated whilst Ingatestone/Excalibur no. 4 James Dale made his mark with a stirring 5-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 16-14 success against Robert Abel. OCs E notched up their first win of the season as they sneaked home 6-4 against Baddow Village H. Nat Ravlic seemed pretty much in control here taking his three singles and wins for Ian Hotchkis over Fred Henwood and Les Webb meant OCs came out on top. Baddow Village L didn't have it all their own way against Baddow Village M in another match that was decided 6-4. It all came down to the last game of the night and Diane Pitt completed her trio of wins with a narrow 11-8, 12-10, 12-10 success against Todd Eden.

With 24 points out of 25 Danbury L are the early leaders of the CLICK League. Their trio of players Matt Standen, Ben Bailey and James Gatherall made no mistake in disposing of Ingatestone Boys Club A 5-0 but they will be a little disappointed to have dropped a game in beating new side OCs G 4-1. Steve Hamilton really excelled here and egged on by the OCs Coach Rob Burton he came back from a first game mauling to get the better of James Gatherall 2-11, 11-8, 15-13, 14-12 - a magnificent win. ECC J are second with 18 points out of 20 and they remained in control in beating OCs F 5-0. As is often the case, the Doubles proved a much "tougher nut to crack" than the singles and it was a relieved Tommy and William O'Donnell who emerged winners 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-13, 11-9 after a dramatic encounter against Matthew Porter and James Stapley. Elsewhere Baddow Village P (Matthew Davis and Aled Upson) notched up their second win of the season as they beat club-mates Baddow Village O 5-0 whilst Baddow Village N also scored their second success of the year with a 3-2 victory against Excalibur Knights. In the last game of the evening Andrew Orme looked home and dry against Chris Butler but Chris had other ideas coming through to win 8-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5. Ingatestone Boys Club A complete this week's haul of results and they impressed by beating ECC K 4-1. A determined Jamie Urch won both his singles the hard way, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8 against Dacre Pell and 11-13, 12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 12-10 against Stevie Pell.