NATIONAL CADET LEAGUE 28 MARCH 2009

The fourth and final round of National Cadet League matches was held at Stowupland on Saturday 28 March 2009 and this round would determine the winners and runners up of each Division. Only the results of the third and fourth rounds of matches would count. After the last round of matches there were two teams in each Division well clear of the rest so the other teams would have to do exceedingly well to catch these leaders. All matches played on two tables in a six match format.

Chelmsford A started the day in fourth place in Division 1, eight points behind the team in second place. With James Austin unavailable it was always going to be difficult to even maintain this position. Jack Crook was added to the second team squad and he would rotate with Jamie Dowsett in playing up. With the team due to play the runaway leaders Wymondham in the first match, they only lost one out of thirty in the previous round, Jamie was given the short straw. As expected neither Robert Shrimpton, Sarah Austin or Jamie could make any impact on Sam Rock, Will Lawes or Dani Dalmay, all matches lost 3-0 for a team 6-0 defeat.

Their next match was against bottom of the Table Framlingham Earl A who they had beaten 5-1 last time. Against the same opposition the scoreline was reversed. Sarah, now having to play in the number 2 position, lost her first two games 9 and 10 to Tom Fox and the third 5 whilst Robert 2-0 up lost -7, -4, 12, 10, 8 to Sam Dismore, failing to convert three match points in the third. Jack played up, losing the first to Jake Rolph 12-10, winning the second 11-5 but losing the next two 11-4, 13-11. On the other table Robert was involved in another five setter against Tom, eventually winning 11, -5, -9, 4, 6. Both Sarah and Jack lost the last two matches 3-1.

Chelmsford A now had to face Bury St Edmunds, the team in second place and the scoreline was the same as in their opening match of the day – a 6-0 loss. The only difference was that Jamie took a game off Will Hall whilst George Kizis and Rhys Davies won their matches three straight.

For their fourth match they faced NETTS B and Robert and Sarah lost their opening matches 3-0 to Patrick Gilbert and Luke Tarrant respectively. Here cometh the knight in shining armour. Whilst Robert was losing to Luke 3-0 Jack was opening up his Division 1 account with a 3-1 win over Rebecca Lockwood. He followed this up with an even better 3-1 win over Patrick having lost the fist 11-3. Not to be outdone Sarah, having lost the first game to Rebecca 11-9 proceeded to take the next three 9, 7, 3 to earn the team a draw.

For their last match the decision was made that Jamie would play up against Stowmarket A. Robert won the opening match against Rhaididh Penman -6, 8, 4, -11, 2 but lost his last match to Chris Porter with similar scores -6, 8, -7, 8, 2. Jamie and Sarah lost their first matches 3-1 and their second 3-0, two of which were to the rapidly improving Lucy Zhu.

As a result of these matches Chelmsford A dropped one place in the table to finish second bottom in the Table.

For Chelmsford B they were looking for an improvement on the disastrous previous round where they only achieved one draw from the five matches and just avoided finishing bottom.

Their first match was against second placed Stowmarket D. Chris Denyer played Connor Laird in the opening match, a player he had lost heavily to last time out. This time it was much much closer and although he lost 10, 8, -9, 9 the improvement was there which was to show for the rest of the day. Meanwhile on the other table, pole position on his head, Jack Crook was to lead the team to a momentous day. After a cautious start he defeated Harry Hughes 11, -9, 10, 2 and followed this win up by beating Connor 8, 4, 6. Rebecca avenged her last time’s defeat by Alasdair Penman by winning three straight 6, 7, 6 but was unable to make any headway against Harry. Chris gave the team a great opening 4-2 win with a battling 9, 6, -7, 11 win over Alasdair. This was to be Stowmarket D’s only loss of the day.

For the next match against Stowmarket C, with Jack playing up for the A Team, the teams on both sides were exactly the same as last time. Last time Chelmsford went 3-0 down but this time, with the same players playing one another, this time they went 3-0 up. Jamie won the opening game against William Eden -10, 5, -10, 3, 6, Chris beat Sam Betts-Davies 6, -4, 7, 7  and Rebecca beat Max Betts-Davies -8, 8, -7, 7,4. The reverse of fortunes continued with Jamie losing 3-1 to Sam this time. Although Rebecca’s match with William was much closer this time an 8, -9 10, 3 defeat ensued but Chris beat Max 3-0 this time (it was 9 in the fifth last time) for a 4-2 win.

Their third match of the day was against NETTS C, the only team they achieved a draw with last time. Shauna Harrison was the only NETTS player that played last time. Jack and Chris each won their two matches comfortably 3-0 but Rebecca was taken to five by Sam Johnson, winning 11-8 in the final game, and avenged her previous five game defeat by beating Shauna -3, 5, 6, 10 for a 6-0 whitewash.

For the match against the table leaders, Stowmarket B only Liam Pinney remained to play after the Holmes brothers left early for a tennis tournament so the Chelmsford team started 4-0 up. They were unable to add to this scoreline, Jamie this time losing to Liam Pinney after being 2-0 up and Chris losing 3-1 to Liam.

For the last match of the day against Framlingham Earl B they needed to avoid defeat against the same Team they had lost 5-1 to last time to secure third place in the Final Table. Once again Chris had a very close match with Isaac Rolph, losing 17-15, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, but thereafter Jack, Rebecca and Chris won the rest of the matches 3-0 for a Team 5-1 win and third place. A wonderful achievement considering they were almost bottom at the start of the day.

Results were:              DIVISION 1

NETTS B 0 Bury St Edmunds 6

Framlingham Earl A 2 Stowmarket A 4

Wymondham 6 Chelmsford A 0

 

Stowmarket A 1 Bury St. Edmunds 5

Framlingham Earl A 5 Chelmsford A 1

NETTS B 0 Wymondham 6

 

Stowmarket A 3 NETTS B 3

Bury St. Edmunds 6 Chelmsford A 0

Wymondham 6 Framlingham Earl A 0

 

Wymondham 6 Stowmarket A 0

Chelmsford A 3 NETTS B 3

Bury St. Edmunds 5 Framlingham Earl A 1

 

Chelmsford A 1 Stowmarket A 5

Bury St. Edmunds 1 Wymondham 5

Framligham Earl A 0 NETTS B 6

DIVISION 2

Stowmarket B 6 NETTS C 0

Stowmarket D 2 Chelmsford B 4

Stowmarket C 4 Framlingham Earl B 2

 

Framlingham Earl B 0 Stowmarket B 6

Chelmsford B 4 Stowmarket C 2

Stowmarket D 6 NETTS C 0

 

Framlingham Earl B 1 Stowmarket D 5

Stowmarket B 5 Stowmarket C 1

NETTS C 0 Chelmsford B 6

 

Stowmarket C 6 NETTS C 0

Stowmarket D 5 Stowmarket B 1

Framlingham Earl B 1 Chelmsford B 5

FINAL TABLEs

DIVISION 1

                                                P          W         D         L          Pts

WYMONDHAM                          10         10         0          0          58

BURY St. EDMUNDS                10         8          0          2          44

NETTS B                                   10         4          2          4          27

STOWMARKET A                      10         3          1          6          20

CHELMSFORD A                      10         2          1          7          18

FRAMLINGHAM A                     10         1          0          9          13

DIVISION 2

STOWMARKET B                      10         8          0          2          48

STOWMARKET D                      10         8          0          2          44

CHELMSFORD B                      10         5          1          4          32

FRAMLINGHAM EARL B            10         4          0          6          24

STOWMARKET C                      10         4          0          6          24

NETTS C           `                       10         0          1          9          10

AVERAGES (Round 4)                                                              FINAL AVERAGES

                                                P          W         L          %                                             P          W         L          %

                                                                                                JAMES AUSTIN            30         23           7        76

ROBERT SHRIMPTON               10         2            8        20         ROBERT SHRIMPTON   40         16         24         40

SARAH AUSTIN                        10         1            9        10         SARAH AUSTIN            40           6        34         15

JAMIE DOWSETT                       6        0            6          0        JAMIE DOWSETT           6          0          6          0

JACK CROOK                             4        2            2        50         JACK CROOK                 4          2          2        50

 

JAMIE DOWSETT                       3        1            2        33         JAMIE DOWSETT         32         16         16         50

CHRIS DENYER                          9        6            3        66         CHRIS DENYER            38         21         17         55

REBECCA DENYER                    8        6            2        75         REBECCA DENYER      37         11         26         29

JACK CROOK                             6        6            0        100       JACK CROOK                 6          6          0        100

 

Arthur C. Clark

Junior Match Secretary