Press Report

After a period dating back to 1936-37 the committee changed the Mens KO Cup event to an Open event reflecting the fact that there had been no Ladies KO Cup event since it was last won by ECC A in 1991-92. Unfortunately the hope that ladies registered in the league would take on the men did not materialise with Billericay not entering and Julie Vansertima unable to play after Christmas. Of all the cup competitions the Open appears to be the least competitive. In the semi final ECC’s David Cole, Paul Davison and Steve Kerns beat Writtle 5-0 although the two doubles and Paul’s singles against Gary Ward were only settled at 8 in the fifth. In the other semi final there were five five setters with Hatfield Peverel taking a 2-1 lead over Baddow Village A, John Gagg completing a nail biting victory 11-8, 8-11, 11-13, 13-11, 13-11 over Waseem Quereshi. From then on it was Baddow’s Peter Barrett and Adrian Pitt who secured the 5-2 win. In the final Aaron Fennell replaced Peter and brother-in-law Neil Charles the unavailable Paul although British Rail and the local taxi service meant a late arrival. Thus the opening match was the singles between Aaron and David which swung one way and then the other with Aaron finally giving Baddow the lead 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11. Neil and Steve secured the opening doubles 11-2 in the fifth to square the match and ECC took the first Open cup by winning the next four matches although Adrian tried his hardest to extend the match further when losing to David 8, -9, -9, -8.

Perhaps the big surprise in the Junior cup competition was the defeat of Bradley Hudgell’s Baddow Village A team by their B team compatriots in the semi final. At the halfway stage the A team led 3-2, Hannah Pitt keeping the B team in the match with a 11-9, 11-9 11-6 win over Phil Twite. A straight games win for Haydn Upson over Phil and a 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8 win for Sam Pitt against Adam Pitt (no relation) gave the B team the advantage. Bradley squared the match for the A team but Hannah and Hayden kept cool heads in the final doubles against Phil and adam to win 14-12, 10-12, 11-7, 11-5. The other semi was a straight 5-0 win for ECC over Baddow Village C although Dacre and Stevie Pell struggled to win the opening doubles 6-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-9 against Matt Davis and James Austin and the injured Stevie came back from two games down to beat James 11-13, 2-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9. Holly Stubbings easily won her singles and combined with Dacre to secure the winning doubles. In the final Dacre and Stevie beat Sam and Haydn in the opening doubles and Holly confirmed her National Ranking by beating Hannah. The unpredictable Sam opened the scoring for Baddow by defeating the inconsistent Dacre 11-8 in the fifth but Stevie restored ECC’s two game advantage with a win over Haydn 8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4. Hannah and Sam played exceedingly well by keeping the ball on the table in the middle doubles to defeat Holly and Dacre in four having narrowly lost the first game. Holly gained revenge over Haydn for a league defeat last season with an easy three game win and player of the match Stevie came back from two games down and a match point against to defeat Sam Pitt 9-11, 11-13, 13-11, 11-7, 11-8 for a 5-2 win and ECC to reclaim the cup they lost three years ago.

For the 2Down competition, a competition that excludes the top Division’s players, Writtle’s Gary Ward, Kevin Worthington and Trevor Carter achieved a 9-0 semi final win over Baddow Village C, only the final doubles needing a fourth game. The other semi was almost as dominant, O. C’s Stephen Northcott, Nikki Kennard and Robbie Burton winning 5-1 after losing the opening doubles to E2V’s Dave Richardson and Ivan Chaplin. The final was a far different game and O. C’s will mourn the loss of the opening doubles at 16-14 in the fifth. Both teams retained their semi final line ups. Writtle won the first games, O. C’s the next two and thereafter each team won alternately. The final doubles was won 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 by Gary and Trevor to enable Writtle to win their first 2Down cup. Stephen Northcott was the only player on either side to win both singles.

For the first time for several years Maldon entered a team in a cup competition, and in this instance it was the Veterans competition. Having narrowly beaten Writtle 5-4 in the previous round Maldon travelled to near neighbours Danbury A for the semi final. Peter Ballard, Hamish Innes and Paul Stephens opened up a 3-0 lead courtesy of three deuce winning games. Eric Green, Keith Philips and Chris Jacob hit back by winning three of the next four matches but Peter Ballard secured Maldon a place in the final by coming from a game down to defeat Eric. In the other semi ECC had a 5-0 win over Hatfield Peverel, the highlight for ECC being Keith Spicer’s win against John Gagg coming back from 4-10 down in the fifth game to win 12-10. In the final Maldon brought in Ray Murray to replace the holidaying Paul Stephens and ECC retained their last years cup winning team of Steve Kerns, Keith Spicer and Trevor Collin. ECC won the opening doubles and with the next six matches all won three straight Maldon led 4-3 with the two number ones to play next. Steve won the first two games 11-5, 11-6, Peter got back into the match winning the next two 11-8, 11-1 and led 5-2 at the change round in the fifth. Steve gradually clawed back this lead and finally took the game 11-9 to square the match. A similar pattern developed in the final doubles, Peter and Ray took the first two games 11-9, 15-13, Keith and Trevor the next two 12-10, 11-8. In the final game the Maldon duo developed an early lead that ECC were unable to retrieve and won 11-5 to take the cup for the first time since Maldon last won it nineteen years ago.

In the Mixed competition Elmtree Graphics were seeking to extend their winning run to nine and they knew they would only have one team in the final when their two teams were drawn against one another in one of the semis. Paul and Ev Lucas and Nicola Pippen took on Arturas Rybakas, John Holland and Melanie Bonnett. The match score swung back and forth, Ev succumbing 5 in the fifth against Arturas but the A Team finally beat the B Team 5-3 when Arturas beat Paul 14-12, 14-12, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10. In the other semi Baddow Village A also beat Danbury A 5-3 with Neil Gooday and Aaron Fennell winning four of the singles and the middle doubles. With both teams playing their semi final sides a fluctuating match developed. Elmtree started off determined not to let go of the cup they had held for eight years, John and Melanie winning the first two games of the opening doubles 4 and 3 but Aaron and Hannah Pitt hit back winning the next two games 9 and 9 and turning round a 6-9 deficit in the fifth to win 11-9. The next four matches were all won in four, Arturas overcoming Neil, Aaron beating John, Hannah beating Melanie 12-10 in the fourth and Arturas and John taking the middle doubles to give Baddow a 3-2 lead at the halfway stage. With the next two matches shared the stage was set for the battle of the number ones. However a three straight win for Aaron over Arturas gave Baddow a 5-3 win and their first Mixed KO cup honour.

The popular Handicap cup competition with its 21 up formula always receives the biggest entry and this year was no exception with 34 teams entering. Progress depends on the Competitions Committee getting the handicaps as near correct as possible at the start of the season based on last season’s performances, which players make a considerable improvement during the season and players new to the league who have to be assessed on only a game or two played at the start of the season. In spite of this there were a large number of 5-3 and 5-4 results and reports of a number of cup matches being completed well after 11.00pm.

Kings Road, a new team joining the league this season with players also new to the league had two 5-2 and one 5-1 win on their way to the semi final whilst Danbury C had wins of 6-0, 5-3 and 5-2. In the semi final Danbury’s two wins off -14 handicaps came via wins over Phil Kyriacou (-4) whilst Kings Road’s five were gained by Rob Haine (-2) and Martin Eyles (-10). The other semi final was played between Writtle A ( whose team of the same three players reached three semis) had wins of 6-0, 5-2 and 5-4 on the way and ECC E who had wins of 5-4, 5-4 and 5-0 in previous rounds. Although the final score line doesn’t show it the result of all bar one of the matches played could have gone either way. The opening two matches went Writtle’s way with 16 in the third and 17 in the third wins for Trevor Carter (-27) over Stevie Pell (-6) and Gary Ward (-29) over Holly Stubbings (-14) and a long evening was in prospect with each game played being a game and a half in total points. Kevin Worthington (-27) then lost to an on fire Dacre Pell (-10) two straight and Holly defending and blocking the loops beat Trevor in the match that turned out to be the lowest total of points played in any match that evening to bring the match score level. Stevie then beat Kevin 21-19, 22-20 to give ECC the lead. As Trevor’s post match note on the back of the card states ‘Age has a rather debilitating affect when up against such opposition - as the energy levels dried up our resistance capitulated’. This was evident from the last two matches when Gary took the second at 25-23 off Dacre only to find the handicap and energy loss too much in the third and Kevin suffering the same fate in the third against Holly. Trev’s final note - ‘well done the youngsters for keeping up the concentration well past their normal bedtime’. Incidentally the match finished at 11.35pm with two matches still unplayed.

The final was much shorter in its duration with the handicaps of players on both sides being significant as only two matches needed a third and deciding game, both of these being against Kings Road’s Martin Eyles which he lost at 21-18. Rob Hayne won his three matches comfortably and he remained unbeaten during the whole of their cup run. Dacre had won the opening match, Holly two and Stevie one to set up a 4-2 lead but with Rob beating Holly and Dacre losing to Martin in the only scratch match the scene was set for the deciding match between Stevie and Phil. With Phil making a number of service mistakes and being on the receiving end of some devastating forehand shots from Stevie the result of this match was never really in doubt to give ECC a 5-4 win.

Danbury D conceded their semi final match to Elmtree Graphics in the 4 Down event but Danbury A were taken to the very last game in the other semi by O. C’s A before being able to secure a position in the final. Danbury won three of the first four matches and O. C’s came back with three of the next four to set up the decider. Ken Sheard and Mick Robinson won this comfortably after losing the first game 4-11, 11-6,11-4, 11-8. Ken Sheard was the only player to win two singles. In a marathon final six matches went to five games, three to each side. Unusually Elmtree won the first three matches and looked well on the way to an early win. Not to be. Danbury then won the next four matches for a 4-3 lead but Tony Vassallo then beat Paul Durrands 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-3 to set up another last match decider. In a tense final match Paul and Mick Robinson just got the better of Competition Secretary Rod Maclennan and Nicola Pippen 9-11, 13-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-5 to win the silverware.

The Click Handicap KO Cup is for those players playing in the Introductory League and played on the 11 up system. Nine teams entered and the first round of matches were played in three groups, two of three teams and one of two teams as one team withdrew on the evening. The three winning teams, Baddow Village E, Baddow Village C and Hylands Boys then formed their own group in the second round of matches with the other five teams in the remaining two groups to determine fourth to eighth position. In the winners group Baddow’s C and E teams played one another first. The E teams Roland Johnson (-9) beat Michael Whelpdale (+1) 0-11, 13-11, 11-8, 12-10 in the opening match. Patrick Whelpdale (+3)(Baddow C) then beat Mitchell Carter (-2) in four and the brothers then combined to come back from two games down to win the doubles. Michael completed the 3-1 win for the C Team by beating Mitchell. Hylands Boys, Brandon Crouchman (-11) and Kane Lambert (-8) quickly beat Roland and Mitchell in the next match 3-0. This left Hylands Boys to play Baddow C to determine the winners and runners up positions. Kane Lambert beat Patrick 11-9,11-9, 11-9 in the first game and Michael squared the match by beating Scott Dowsett 6-11,11-6,11-6, 12-14, 11-1. Scott and Kane then both beat the Whelpdales in four games in the reverse singles to win the Shield 3-1 for Hylands Boys to leave Patrick and Michael Whelpdale the Runners up.

The 6 Down event was the last final to be played with Baddow Village’s A and C teams achieving easy semi final wins to reach the final. Sam Pitt, Hayden Upson and Richard Upson beat Danbury A 5-0 with only one game going to four and Baddow C’s team of Ian Austin, son James Austin and Matthew Davis gaining an identical scoreline. This match was played out for a final 7-2 scoreline. The final was about to commence at the Melbourne Sports Centre when the A team’s captain learned that Sam Pitt would not be playing. Enquiries from the adjacent Baddow Club players and the Competition Secretary’s mobile call home eventually established that Sam’s granddad Fred Henwood was eligible to play. With a delayed start the match was played for the most part on two tables. James Austin and Matt Davis won the opening doubles in four against Fred and Richard Upson whilst on the other table Haydn Upson beat Ian Austin, also in four. The next two matches were also shared. For the middle doubles it was father and son on both sides, with the Austins pulling back the loss of the first two games only to lose the fifth 12-10 after having a match point. Would this be crucial in determining the result of the match. The next two matches were won by the C team Matt having an excellent 14-12, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9 win over Haydn whilst James was involved in a marathon with Fred, Fred finally running out of energy to lose 11-8, 13-15, 13-15, 11-8, 11-2. With the C team now ahead Richard was the winner in straight sets of the ‘dads’ match so another final went to the last match. Although losing the first game 9-11 the C team were victorious winning the next three games 11-6,11-8,11-8. The A team will be disappointed that Sam pulled out at such short notice whilst the C team will view Matt’s win over Haydn as the turning point of the match.

Would all Chelmsford League players note that the AGM will be held at Old Chelmsfordians Lawford Lane premises on Thursday 31 May 2007 at 7.30pm. when the league trophies will be presented to all Divisional winners and runners up.

Open runners up - Aaron Fennell, Adrian Pitt, Waseem Qureshi.

Open winners - Neil Charles, David Cole, Steve Kerns.

Junior winners - Stevie Pell, Dacre Pell, Holly Stubbings (Team also Handicap Cup Winners)

Mixed winners - Neil Gooday, Hannah Pitt, Aaron Fennell.

Vets winners - Hamish Innes, Ray Murray, Peter Ballard.

Click Handicap cup winners - Scott Dowsett, Kane Lambert, Brandon Crouchman.