TWO VERY CONTRASTING RESULTS FOR ECC B

ECC B were involved in the two most eye-catching results in the second division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis - a stunning 9-1 win over Danbury B and a heavy 9-1 defeat against Chelmsford A. ECC B barely put a foot wrong as they won the first nine games against Danbury B. Keith Spicer and Ken James were both undefeated and it wasn’t until the last game when Dave Richardson beat Gary Brignall 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 10-12, 12-10 that Danbury had something to show for their efforts. After such an impressive result ECC B must have been in confident mood but they met their match against a very strong Chelmsford A side of Waseem Qureshi, Bradley Hudgell and Peter Barrett. Keith Spicer broke the Council side’s "duck" with a ninth game win over Bradley Hudgell. On this showing Chelmsford A look very capable of regaining their first Division place at the first attempt.

Equally impressive was the form of Chelmsford C’s Ryan Pitt who scored three excellent wins against Hatfield Peverel A. Ryan’s trio of wins over John Parodi, Dave Carter and Peter Brownlow enabled Chelmsford to shade the match 6- 4. Elsewhere, the match between Chelmsford B and OCs B finished all square after Adrian Pitt had turned in an undefeated performance for the Chelmsford side.

In the first division it is clear even at an early stage that quite a few teams are finding it hard to raise full teams week in week out. The use of reserves is clearly going to be of paramount importance. The match between Maldon A and Excalibur A became a two-a-side clash and Maldon ran out 6-3 winners. Excalibur’s Gary Baker made his mark by beating Paul Stephens 12-14, 18-16, 11-7, 11-9 and he also gave a superb account of himself against the talented Paul Sayer before missing out 5-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-8, 9-11. Even last year’s Champions Bocking A seem to be struggling to raise a side and they had to employ a reserve in their 7-3 win against Danbury A. It was "business as usual" from the other two Bocking players and Kevin Gowlett and David Cole both stayed undefeated.

Hatfield Peverel were on the wrong end of two 6-4 defeats in the third division. They missed out to Danbury C after Peter Hance was unbeaten and they also lost to ECC D after a close fought match in which five games were decided in the fifth end. Four players won twice - Peverel’s Clive Allenby and Lorrie Austin and ECC D’s Trevor Roberts and Holly Stubbings.

In division four Elmtree Graphics B were again bolstered by the inclusion of Ev Lucas and his three wins enabled Elmtree to beat Rawreth B 6-4. Melanie Bonnett made her mark by beating former Southend League Premier Division players - Stan Owen and Gordon Swan. The other "big name player" in this division again led his side to victory - Hylands A’s Terry Dowsett took his three singles as his team beat Chelmsford D 8-2 whilst Brandon Crouchman also won his three singles and Scott Dowsett added a very impressive 11-4, 11-7, 9- 11, 11-6 win over Gordon Fairchild.

Chelmsford E were this week’s big winners in division five, beating ECC G 9-1. Bob Francis and Adrian Pitt were both undefeated. ECC F, who should be challenging for honours won 7-3, as an undefeated Richard Storey led his side to victory over Chelmsford F.

Excalibur D turned in a very impressive performance in division six as they beat Chelmsford J 9-1. Craig Mcgarrigal and Steve Cheeseman were both undefeated whilst Keith Fitzjohn won twice, only missing out against Patrick Whelpdale 9-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, 7-11. Chelmsford K edged out a two-player Excalibur E side 6-4 although it was the Excalibur players - Craig Hiskey and Keith Pallett who both won twice, who came out on top (4-3) in the games that were played.

Chelmsford M, made a flying start in the CLICK League as they ran out 5-0 winners against Chelmsford O, with Sebastian Larwill and Daniel Thomas both remaining unbeaten. Larwill had to come back from two games down to get the better of Oliver Hicks 3-2, and he fought back in determined style to win 4-11, 9-11, 11-0, 11-8, 11-8. Chelmsford L scored two wins, a 4-1 victory over Chelmsford O and a 3-2 win against Chelmsford N. They utilised the services of four different players in these matches, with Jack Crook (two wins), Max Allen (one win), Joe Land (one win) and Jamie Lawrence (two wins) all playing their part in their successes.

Steve Kerns

Press & Publicity Officer

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League