Press Report

Rawreth's ace defender Duncan Taylor turned in the week's top performance in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League as he notched up three superb singles wins against top-of-the-table Elmtree Graphics A. Taylor opened his account with a straight-forward looking 3-0 victory over Paul Lucas and then proceeded to get the better of John Holland 3-1 and finally Vytas Rybakas at 12-10 in the fifth end. Not a bad night's work !. With his colleagues Kevin Read and George Reeves both picking up one singles Rawreth shaded the match 6-4. Worse followed for Elmtree a week later against Writtle A when they were only able to field Vytas Rybakas of their established first team. Ev Lucas and Tony Vassallo strove mightily to fill the gap but Kevin Worthington, Gary Ward and Trevor Carter all picked up two singles to leave Writtle as 6-4 winners.

Rawreth moved into fourth place as they beat Excalibur A 6-4. Charles Sweeney held the Rawreth side together by taking his three singles whilst the improving Gary Young fared best of the Excalibur players as he beat both Kevin Read and Graeme Hurry. Promoted Bocking continue to struggle and they missed out 8-2 against Baddow Village A. Neil Gooday was undefeated for Baddow whilst Bocking's Richard Jennings scored two excellent wins, beating both Waseem Qureshi and Peter Barrett.

Division two looks increasingly like being a two-horse race between Billericay (50 points) and Danbury (48 points) although it is difficult to see anyone getting the better of Billericay if Alex Green and Natalie Bawden continue to play regularly. Nevertheless, Danbury seem to be on top form at present and their side of Eric Green, Dave Finlayson and Keith Phillips showed no mercy as they whitewashed E2V Technologies 10-0. E2V in turn fared better against ECC C as the match finished level. E2V's Pip French and Mo Hardy and ECC's Ken James all won twice. The steady Hardy came through a real thriller by getting the better of the harder-hitting Alastair Hill 9-11, 12-10, 10-12, 12-10, 11-9.

Baddow Village C picked up their second win of the season, a good one as well, as they beat fourth-placed ECC D 6-4 in division three. An undefeated Mike Johnston with three singles wins held the Baddow Village side together.

Fast improving Junior Bradley Hudgell was easily the best player on view in the division four clash between ECC F and Baddow Village E. Hudgell despatched his three experienced opponents - Allan Thompson, Jeff Lewington and Mohammed Moshseni 3-0 as the match ended tied at 5-5. Lowly Danbury F will also be pleased with their night's work against Elmtree Graphics B as they won 8-2. Paul Oliver and Paul Durrands both picked up hat-tricks.

ECC G are on a hot streak in division five at present and they notched up a handsome 9-1 victory over Baddow Village F. Mick Storey and Colin Barham were both undefeated as only Rykki Vansertima's victory over Richard Storey escaped their grasp. Meanwhile, second-placed Excalibur D lost ground as they were held to a draw by fourth-placed Writtle D. Ian Butler won his three singles for Excalibur whilst Wendy Hibbitt amd Kevin Barber both picked up two wins for Writtle. Third-placed EPHQ were also held to a draw as they shared the points with Writtle D. Again it was a case of the Writtle side working well as a team as Anne Lockhart and Martin Goddard both won twice whilst Ian Hockley and Francis Whitbread both picked up two wins for EPHQ. It was Anne Lockhart's excellent 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 victory over Ian Hockley in the last game which eventually left the match tied at 5-5.

Baddow Village J were the week's big winners in division six as they beat OCs E 10-0. Ian Austin, Dianne Pitt and Andrew Langer all notched up hat-tricks. Ingatestone Excalibur gave them more problems a week later and this time the match ended all square. Ian Austin won twice but he could not get the better of Hill Dowsett, succumbing 12-10, 5-11, 15-13, 7-11, 7-11. Elsewhere, OCs F recorded their first win of the season as they beat their E side 6-4. Team-work was the order of the day here as James Stapley, Robbie Hotchkiss and Ian Hotchkiss all won twice to cancel out the four wins that Hector MacFarlane achieved.

Second-placed Baddow Village M consolidated their position in the CLICK League with a very impressive 5-0 victory over third-placed Baddow Village O. Tom Lee set the M side on their way with an odd-looking 11-4, 9-11, 11-1, 7-11, 11-8 victory over Claire Austin and Matthew Davis added to the O team's woes by beating James Austin by an equally unlikely looking scoreline of 13-11, 11-1, 7-11, 13-15, 12-10. The M side went on to notch up all five games. Baddow Village M added another four points to their total with a 4-1 victory over Danbury L. Tom Lee was again undefeated and Gavon Trod won once, missing out against Ben Bailey.

Chelmsford Closed Tournament - All players are reminded that the closing date for entering the League's Annual Closed Tournament is Monday 5 December 2005. Entry forms are available in the centre of the League's Handbook and should be sent either direct or via Club Secretaries to the Competition Organiser - Arthur Clark, 2 Top Road, Woodham Walter, Chelmsford, Essex, CM9 6RQ.