Press Report

Billericay, who were always going to be one of the leading sides in division two of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League have made a couple of signings who if they play regularly have made them cast-iron certainties to win this division. In their match against E2V Technologies Billericay fielded a team of Keith Ashton and Ray Eldridge (no slouches at this level) together with newcomer Alex Green and it was no surprise that they romped home 9-1. Green, ranked no. 65 in England at Senior Mens level and a member of the Harvey Barnets British League Premier Division side stamped his mark on proceedings in no uncertain terms taking his three singles with consummate ease. With Natalie Bawden, the current England no. six ranked Lady player also signed on it is fair to say that if these two players play regularly then Billericay will go onto win this division rather comfortably. Hatfield Peverel A are also going well and they turned in their best perfomance of the season as they beat Maldon B 7-3. Peter Brownlow won his three singles, just prevailing 11-9 in the deciding end against Lee Prentice. Peverel added another seven points to their total as they beat Excalibur B 7-3, as an undefeated John Parodi took on the role of their match winner. The normally impregnable John Gagg had a night he won't want to remember as he lost to both Richard Hiskey and Kevin Smart. Alastair Piper also hit top form this week, and his three singles wins enabled Baddow Village B to shade the match 6-4 against ECC C.

High -riding Elmtree Graphics A scored their third win of the season in the first division, but they leaked points by only beating bottom-half of the table Danbury B 7-3. With an inform David Jacobs doing well to beat Paul Lucas it could have been even worse for Elmtree had Ev Lucas not managed to beat Ian Whiteside 3-2. Writtle A who had made an impressive start to the season came crashing down to earth this week as they were hammered 9-1 by Baddow Village A. Waseem Qureshi (three wins), Peter Barrett (two wins) and Neil Gooday (two wins) totally dominated this match as can be evidenced by the scoreline. Rawreth A, who are expected to challenge for honours had ace-defender Duncan Taylor to thank as they beat Maldon A 6-4. Taylor's impressive hat-trick of wins gave Rawreth the edge whilst Maldon's County Veteran stars Dave Bowles and Hamish Innes both made their mark as they scored excellent five game wins over Kevin Read.

OCs A, Danbury D and Hatfield Peverel B were the week's big winners in division three. OCs A did well to beat Baddow Village C 8-2. Robert Burton and Steve Northcott gave nothing away although Northcott had to pull out all the stops to see off Duncan Elloy, before edging home 8-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-4, 12-10. Danbury D also won 8-2, as Nicky Reece-Ford and Malcolm Jacobs both stayed unbeaten. Excalibur C's Michael Rostoft with a win over League Chairman Norman Smith was their sole singles winner. Hatfield Peverel B had things pretty much all their own way against Excalibur C as they ran out 9-1 winners. Both Neil Freeman and Guy McKenzie stayed undefeated and Keith Cullen won twice. Fast improving Hector Rogers made his mark for Writtle B as his three wins helped his side to a 6-4 victory over Baddow Village C. Rogers had to come back from 2-1 down to finally clinch victory over Ryan Pitt 11-13, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 16-14, a match which had deuuce in the fifth written all over it right from the opening points. ECC D also finished as 6-4 winners over Danbury C although they may have been slightly disappointed with the final result as they surged into a 5-1 lead. John Wickens, Trevor Roberts and Peter Layzell all won twice for the County Council side.

Danbury H were impressive 8-2 winners in division four over Writtle C. Tim Pulham and Glen Laing were both undefeated in their singles and Kevin Willis who only missed out against Martin Goddard provided excellent support. A week later and Danbury were on the wrong end of a heavy defeat as they crashed 9-1 against Hatfield Peverel C. Without either Laing or Pulham they were not the same force and only a win for Mark Wheeler over Jon Fieldsend saved the whitewash as Peverel's Keith Cullen and Laurie Austin both won three times. ECC E also played twice, and they had Gary Copsey and Russell Forde undefeated as they beat OCs C 7-3. Without Copsey and they weren't so effective against Elmtree Graphics B and had to settle for a draw. Elmtree's Rod Maclennan and Tony Vassallo and ECC's Russell Forde and Neil Thompson all won twice. Hatfield Peverel C did well to hold Baddow Village E to a draw, good going as they were a player short. Keith Cullen turned in an excellent performance to remain undefeated, whilst Laura Pyman fared best of the Baddow players. She did well to secure an excellent 3-2 victory over Jon Fieldsend.

Excalibur D did well to beat Danbury J 8-2 in division five, as three of their wins were achieved at scores closer than 11-9 in the deciding end. It just wouldn't run for Danbury and Craig McGarrigle and Ian Butler both stayed undefeated as Excalibur helped themselves to an excellent eight point win. OCs D also came through to win, and they had Nat Ravlic to thank as they beat Baddow Village G 6-4.

Baddow Village K turned in the most impressive performance in division six as they beat OCs E 9-1. Alex Stone and Andrew Orme both won their three singles and it wasn't until the last game of the night when Matthew Porter beat Eric Clift 3-2 that OCs picked up a win. Baddow Village J also played well, and they had Diane Pitt undefeated as they beat OCs F 7-3. Diane looked to be in trouble against Robbie Hotchkiss, but after losing the first two ends she hit back strongly to win 10-12, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-6.

The CLICK clash between Danbury L and OCs H not pnly produced a close game ( it finished with OCs winning 3-2) but it also produced some hard-fought matches. OCs H's Kane Lambert won his two singles which included a nervy 6-11, 10-12, 11-3, 12-10, 11-7 victory over Alex Cutting. Danbury found the going much tougher against Baddow Village O who had both Claire Austin and James Austin undefeated as they ran out 5-0 winners. Danbury were in fact exceptionally unlucky to leave Eves Corner empty handed after Terry Withers/Alex Cutting had just missed out 7-11, 11-13, 11-5, 11-2, 16-18 to James and Claire in a nail-biting doubles encounter. Elsewhere, Ingatestone Boys Club C just sealed victory against Excalibur Knights 3-2, although neither of the Ingatestone players were able to get the better of Craig HIskey. It proved a good night for Craig as he scored his first-ever win over Lee Cranmer in a game that ebbed one way and then sharply the other before Craig came through 8-11, 11-2, 11-3, 10-12, 11-7. Craig was also to the fore against Baddow Village N, and he again took his two singles with wins over Scott Dowsett and Brandon Crouchman. Again, it wasn't quite enough and Baddow came through to shade the match 3-2. Baddow Village O "laid down the law" against OCs G by winning 4-1 and if that represents a rather poor pun to the Law family - Alex, Andy and Sue from the OC's Club it at least represented a fine performance from the Baddow Village players. The fast improving Claire Austin was again undefeated and is clearly playing well above her performances of last season.