Great performance by Chelmsford A

The battle to avoid relegation from Division One of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League is as exciting this year as the race for the title and this week it took another twist as Chelmsford A scored an unexpected 7-3 victory over third-placed Rawreth & Hullbridge. Greg Green, Peter Barrett and Bradley Hudgell all won twice in what was a fine all-round team performance. John Poysden with wins over Bradley Hudgell and Greg Green was the best of the Rawreth players. Joint leaders Maldon A weren’t particularly convincing in beating bottom side OCs A 6-4. Maldon’s Dave Bassett again won his three singles, and this included a second victory over Paul Davison although Davison hit back and he avenged his first half defeat against Minda Sinkus. The other joint leaders Bocking A were unable to field their best team against Chelmsford A and they had to make do with a 6-4 victory. Rik James and Kevin Gowlett both won their three singles with Gowlett doing well to down Colchester Mens Singles Champion Greg Green 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4. Chelmsford in turn found themselves well beaten 8-2 by Maldon B, a team whose results have lacked consistency this Season. This was certainly one of Maldon’s better performances with Peter Ballard and Hamish Innes both winning their three singles. Ballard got his team off to a winning start by beating Greg Green 11-5, 9-11, 8-11, 11- 6, 11-7 and they never looked back after that. Innes produced his best display of the Season and this included a well executed 13-11, 10-12, 3-11, 11-3, 11-3 win over Waseem Qureshi.

Writtle A, second Division “Champions elect” extended their lead to a massive 20 points as they beat Chelmsford C 9-1. Kevin Worthington and Gary Ward were both undefeated. Second-placed Hatfield Peverel A also won 9-1, beating Club- mates Hatfield Peverel B. John Webber and John Gagg were both undefeated. Neil Freeman responded for the B team and he scored an excellent four game win over Ray Eldridge. However, Hatfield Peverel A fell back by losing 6-4 to a strong Liberals team. No player won all three singles in this match and in a widely fluctuating last game Ray Eldridge got the better of Steve Pennell 11-5, 6-11, 11-1, 10-12, 11-9. Peter Mynard was the player on top form as Hatfield Peverel C beat Chelmsford C 6-4. He clinched victory for his team by winning the tenth game, beating newcomer Sam Clarke 11-4, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8. Hatfield Peverel B scored a notable 7-3 victory over Chelmsford B, bolstering themselves considerably by the inclusion of Dave Carter in their side. Carter scored an excellent hat-trick of wins, beating Ray Lawrence, Julie Vansertima and Alastair Piper, not bad going for a player who has been playing in Division six to help his son and grand-son progress in the Sport. Danbury B scored a vital 7-
3 victory over OCs B in a game the football pundits would class as a “relegation six-pointer”. The hard-hitting Dave Calleja won his three singles for Danbury.

Hylands School A with games in hand look the team to beat in Division three, and they made short work of OCs C winning 9-1, no mean performance this, as OCs are in second place. Rising star Brandon Crouchman (a Quarter-Finalist in the Cadet Boys Singles at the recent East Midlands Four Star Tournament) and mentor Terry Dowsett were both undefeated whilst Scott Dowsett won twice. The games were well contested throughout this match it was just that Hylands kept on winning them !. Nat Ravlic eventually came up trumps for the Old Boys in game no. eight, beating Scott Dowsett 9-11.10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8. Leaders Writtle B were impressive 9-1 winners over Bocking B. Two players who continue to improve - Hector Rogers and Matthew Brown both stayed undefeated and both beat Richard Jennings in the process. Writtle B added another nine points to their total by beating Danbury D 9-1. Matthew Brown and Trevor Carter were undefeated this time with League President Norman Smith picking up Danbury’s
sole success - a 12-10, 11-9, 10-12, 11-2 victory over Hector Rogers.

Third-placed Danbury E and Rawrerth were the big winners in Division four.
Danbury E raced home 9-1 against Writtle C. Gordon Gatherall and Robert Kneale were both undefeated whilst Andy Fox replied for Writtle by beating Trevor Palmer in four ends. Rawreth fielded County Chairman Ken Field as they beat Chelmsford D 9-1 but Gordon Fairchild showed little respect for his illustrious opponent, beating him 11-5, 15-13, 14-12. Fairchild was also involved in a real tussle with Paul Churn, just missing out 7-11, 14-12, 13-15, 18-20. Leaders Excalibur C were pushed harder, and had to rely on their leading player Richard Hiskey to make sure they beat ECC F 6-4. Hiskey won his singles fairly comfortably against Allan Thompson, Richard Storey and Colin Barham.

The two leading teams- Danbury K and Excalibur D were both 8-2 winners in Division five, both beating Danbury J. Danbury K’s Lee McHugh and Graham Briggs were both undefeated whilst Excalibur D’s Steve Cheesman dominated proceedings as well. The mid-table clash between EPHQ and Danbury H fittingly ended as s 5-
5 draw after Craig Foster had won his three singles for Danbury and Ian Hockley and Francis Whitbread both won twice for EPHQ. Hockley had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Tony Reece-Ford 11-8, 7-11,12-14, 11-6, 14-
12. ECC G produced their best display of the Season to beat the higher-placed
Hatfield Peverel D 7-3. Peter Sun was on excellent form and he won his three singles for the County Council team.

OCs F stay top in Division six after beating OCs G 7-3. Dave Newman won his three singles and he received good support from Charles Eaton and Dave Burke who both won twice. OCs E went one better and they beat Hylands B 8-2 - with Mathew Porter and Tony Cohen both staying undefeated. Tatiana Golikova picked up one victory for the Old Chelmsfordians side, a hard fought one : a 11-8, 8- 11, 9-11, 11-9, 14-12 success against Bradley Sheridan. Excalibur E also won 8- 2, and they had Keith Pallett and Martin Hiskey undefeated. Pallett’s win over Chris Denyer was one of the closest of the Season with the more experienced Excalibur player triumphing 9-11, 19-17, 4-11, 14-12, 11-9. Quite a battle !.

CLICK leaders Chelmsford L suffered their first defeat of the Season, losing 3-
2 to second placed Black Notley. Oliver Hicks won his two singles for Chelmsford whilst Warren Bains and Matthew Wallis won one each for Black Notley. Notley returned to winning ways by beating OCs H 4-1 with Bains winning his two singles on this occasion. Matthew Wallis had to dig deep to get the better of Charlie Hand 11-6, 7-11, 17-15, 12-10.

Essex Veterans First team have capped a magnificent Season by winning Division One (B) of the English Table Tennis Association County Championships and thereby returning to the Premier Division after a three year absence. Three Chelmsford League players have represented this team - Julie Vansertima, Kevin Caldon and Steve Kerns and Julie and Steve both played their part in securing promotion as Essex beat Wiltshire I (9-1) and Kent II (7-3) at the BATTS Club, Harlow at the weekend. With the other leading contender Middlesex I only managing to draw against Berkshire Essex have an unassailable three point lead with just one round of matches left to play. The match against Kent saw all Essex players play their part. Julie Vansertima, unbeaten in her previous five singles just missed out in five ends against England no. 13 Diane Pearce but her two wins in the Mixed Doubles was still a major contribution. England no.
16 Clive Carthy won both his singles for Essex (which included a Championship clinching 3-2 victory over Phil Cox) and John Payne (Central London) and Steve Kerns both played their part by beating Kent no. three Peter Ives. Kerns paired up with Payne to win the Mens Doubles, to retain a perfect record of four wins out of four for the Season. Kent’s side included the formidable Chris Knight, a member of the Chelmsford Championship wining Old Chelmsfordians side of the late 1980s. Kerns took a shock 2-0 lead against his all-action rival before
Chris “re-grouped” and fought back strongly to win 3-2.

Steve Kerns

Press & Publicity Officer

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League