The third round of National Cadet League matches was held at Stowupland near Stowmarket on Saturday 27

January 2007. The trip to Stowupland necessitated the scenic country route via Sudbury due to the closure of the A12 at Colchester.

In their first match against Bury St. Edmunds, four points below them after the previous round of matches, the A team commenced with a 4-2 win. Adam Pitt started off with an easy win over Bill Kilner but later lost 12-10, 5-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7 to number 1 Tom Wright. Claire Austin, who had been ill all week and sick on the way to the venue had lost her opening match to Tom three straight but later after losing the first game to George Kizis came back strongly to win 8, 9 and 3. Meanwhile Matthew Davis had managed to overcome George 4 in the fifth and secured the Chelmsford win with a 4 game victory over Bill. The next match saw a 6-0 victory over a luckless Chelmsford B. Claire had a close 7-11, 11-9 11-6, 7-11, 11-9 win over Kane Lambert  and an even closer 12-10, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10 victory over Brandon Crouchman. Adam had easy three game victories over Scott Dowsett and Kane whilst Matthew’s wins over Scott and  Brandon were much closer. The match against Stowmarket A resulted in a 3-3 draw. Adam won his opening game against Chris Porter in three but Claire lost hers to Josh Broadbent, who went through the day unbeaten, in four. Adam lost to Josh 9, 9, 10 for the A team to go 1-3 down but Claire and Matthew achieved easy wins to secure the draw. The penultimate game was against the leaders NETTS where all six matches were won three straight. Phillip Lawson and Chris Bragg won both their matches and Claire and Matthew both beat Luke Tarrant for a 4-2 defeat. The last match of the day, against bottom team Stowmarket B was quickly over with an easy 6-0 win. These results keep the A team in second place with one round of matches left on Saturday 3 March. Adam 6 wins out of 10, Claire 7 and Matthew 8. Praise must go to Claire for finding the stamina to last out the day.

When compared to the previous two rounds of matches the B team had a disappointing day. An opening 6-0 defeat by NETTS, James Austin losing the opening game to Chris Bragg (who only lost to Josh Broadbent during the day) 11-6, 12-10, 10-12. 17-15 and Kane Lambert losing the last game to Luke Tarrant 10-12, 11-6, 11-4. 5-11, 13-11 when 6-2 up in the fifth. Their next match against the A team is briefly above. Fortunately their next match was against Stowmarket B where James, Kane and Brandon won all their games easily three straight for a 6-0 win. Against the Stowmarket  A team with Josh Broadbent they achieved a credible draw. James recorded a good win over Becky Macintyre 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, Kane and Scott both had easy wins over number three Chris Porter but Scott just failed to gain the team win after winning the first two games against Becky 5 and 5 and losing the next three 9, 9 and 8. The last match against Bury St Edmunds was another draw with all games except the first settled in four. Brandon won both his games and James beat Bill Kilner. James 4 wins out of 8, Kane 3 out of 8, Scott 1 from 6 and Brandon 4 out of 8.

After three rounds of matches the Table reads:

Team	P	W	D	L	Pts
NETTS	15	12	3	0	68
Chelmsford A	15	8	5	2	60
Bury St. Edmunds	15	6	3	6	49
Chelmsford B	15	5	4	6	46
Stowmarket A	15	4	5	6	46
Stowmarket B	15	0	0	15	1

 

 

Arthur C. Clark

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League