Press Report

Hullbridge A's reign as division One Champions of the Central Essex Summer League is almost certainly over. Their 3-2 defeat against Hullbridge B was their second loss of the season. This came about despite an excellent performance from George Pavitt who scored fine wins over both Kevin Smart (3-2) and Tim Pang (3-1). With 11 points from four games Hullbridge A are realistically out of the running for first place unless they win all three of their remaining matches by 5-0 margins. Stock A made no mistake as they took all five games against OCs A. The match was well contested and it was by no means one-way traffic but it was the Stock side who came through uncscathed. Keith Spicer in particular had a real battle with Adrian North before he came out on top 13-11, 17-15, 4-11, 11-9. Trevor Collin also stayed undefeated. SETTS A also enjoyed the luxury of a 5-0 win, as Danbury A slipped to their third defeat of the season. Ivan Chaplin was very unlucky not to register a victory against Django Fung as he only succumbed 12-10, 3-11, 12-10, 12-14, 5-11. With 14 points from four matches SETTS are a clear second.

Division two is yet to sort itself out, as no team has played more than three games so far. West Maldon with their second 5-0 win of the season leaped into first place and their side of Tim Huxtable and Glen Laing made no mistake as they took all five games against Baddow Village C. Bradley Hudgell, one of the success stories of last year's Chelmsford Winter League again showed his worth as he took both of his singles in Baddow Village B's 3-2 win against Danbury C. Baddow Village B turned out a different side against SETTS B and they were again successful with Graham Turner strolling to two comfortable wins. These results mean that Baddow Village B also have ten points, albeit from three matches. Further down the table Excalibur Locals opened their campaign with a very strong performance, beating Danbury B 4-1. Richard Hiskey took both his singles and Dave Moles only missed out against Dave Goody and on this showing you would certainly expect Excalibur to be challenging for honours as well.

Division three looks pretty even and leading side Excalibur Butlers showed evidence of this as they only managed to beat second to bottom team Baddow Village F 3-2. Nevertheless, Ian Butler looked pretty comfortable at this level and his two singles wins and a convincing victory in the doubles with son Chris meant that Excalibur came out on top. The match between ECC and Baddow Village D was a good one, as all four players picked up one singles before the Baddow Village pair asserted themselves in the final doubles to take the game 3-2. Stevie Pell was involved in two cracking battles, just succumbing 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 10-12 against Jacqueline Smith but coming back to beat Stewart Hiskey 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7. Stewart had already made his mark with an excellent win of his own, a 12-10, 3-11, 11-8, 11-6 success over Stevie's brother Dacre. Baddow were also involved in another 3-2 success, coming out on top against OCs B. Again, neither side gained any advantage in the singles and it all came down to the deciding doubles. And, again it was the Baddow team who came good. This time Sam Pitt and Stewart Hiskey came through a fluctuating five-ender as they saw off David and Matthew Porter 11-9, 6-11, 5-11, 11-1, 11-4.