Rawreth win top class clash

The battle between third-placed Rawreth A and second-placed Bocking A in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League produced a top class encounter - one of the best matches of the Season, and one in which no single player remained unbeaten. Rawreth came out on top 6-4 after Kevin Caldon, Kevin Read and Adam Brewer had all won twice. The 2010 Southend Mens Singles Champion Kevin Caldon did well to beat Dave Cole 11-6, 11-13, 14-12, 11-7 although he missed out against Peter Hayden 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11. Kevin Read scored a fine win over Hayden 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 whilst Caldon had to dig deep to overcome Kevin Gowlett 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 12-10. ECC A’s 9-1 victory over Chelmsford A may have consigned Chelmsford to relegation. Bradley Hudgell with a 3-1 victory over David Evans was the Chelmsford’s side’s only winner. They would certainly have hoped to have picked up more points from this match. Meanwhile, OCs A threw themselves a life-line in their efforts to avoid relegation by beating Maldon B 6-4. Three times Braintree League Mens Singles Champion Paul Davison was their match-winner. He had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Hamish Innes 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11,13, 11-7.

Division two Champions Writtle B could afford the luxury of drawing against third-placed Liberal this week. Steve Elmes, making a rare appearance for the Liberal side scored three excellent wins whilst Debby Auvache with victories against Barry Pritchard and Robin Armstrong was the best of the Writtle players. ECC B produced their best performance of the Season, beating Chelmsford C 8-2. Trevor Collin and Ken James both bagged hat-tricks and this included wins over the M&G Investments Chelmsford Closed Tournament Two-Down Singles Runner-Up Duncan Elloy.

The division three match between Danbury D and Excalibur B featured three Smiths. Danbury’s Herbie Smith came out on top with wins over George Pavitt and Bill Smith whilst Norman Smith made his presence felt by getting the better of Kevin Smart. It finished tied at 5-5. ECC E had Colin Blore to thank as they beat ECC C 7-3. Blore completed his trio of wins with a 3-0 success against Andy Hanlon. Newcomer Roy Hooper made his mark as Bocking B beat EC D 8-2. Hooper completed his hat-trick with a hard-fought 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 5-11, 11-8 success against Trevor Roberts.

ECC F were convincing 8-2 winners over Danbury E in division four. Allan Thompson and Malcolm Storey both won their three singles whilst Richard Storey who won twice was successful in the closest game of the night. He beat Robert Kneale 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10 in the first game of the evening.

In division six Hylands School B did well to beat the higher-placed OCs G 6-4. Jack Crook led the way with a hat-trick which included an excellent win over Tom Adam. Crook fought back strongly from 2-0 down to win 5-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4, 11-5. OCs E were that little bit too strong for Writtle D and Tatiana Golikova (two wins), Tony Cohen (three wins) and Matthew Porter (three wins) ran out 9-1 winners.

Steve Kerns

Press & Publicity Officer

Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League