NATIONAL CADET LEAGUE 13 MARCH 2011

SUCCESS FOR THE CHELMSFORD CADET TEAMS

The fourth and last round of National Cadet League matches was held at Stowupland on Sunday 13 March 2011and there was success for the Chelmsford teams.

In Division 1 the Chelmsford team, two points behind the leaders Wymondham A, expected a tough opening match against second placed Bury St. Edmunds who were one point above them. However half an hour before the start of matches the Bury team withdrew, two players ill and the third injured. Thus Chelmsford were awarded a 6-0 win but with Wymondham A beating their B team 6-0 the points difference remained the same.

Their second match was against NETTS A, a match where all matches were won 3-0 except that it took Oliver Hicks four games to overcome Joe Nourse. Jane Li won both her matches for NETTS against Sarah Austin and Chris Denyer and Sarah finished the match by beating Chris Hillman. A 4-2 win but a further two points behind the leaders.

The third match was against the leaders Wymondham A, so this was the classic six pointer. In her opening match against Tom Fox Sarah put up a titanic fight before being defeated 9, -14, 8, 14 whilst on the other table Chris was repeating last times win against Mark Waity 5, 7, 8. This time Oliver beat Daniel Hawes 3-1 with Chris losing narrowly again to Tom -9, 9, 7, 10. In the last two matches Sarah this time beat Daniel 3-0 and Oliver repeated his win over Mark 3-1 for a 4-2 win and the Wymondham team’s first defeat of the season. More important the Chelmsford team were back to two points behind the leaders and had the bottom team Wymondham B to play.

Chris, Sarah and Oliver duly achieved their 6-0 win comfortably but Wymondham A were not giving up the title as they dealt with the Rougham team also 6-0. Thus the Chelmsford team finished runners up but it was made so much easier by the withdrawal of the Bury St. Edmunds team.

At least this time there were six teams in Division 2 after last times fiasco although two teams only had two players.

Chelmsford/Netts started the day four points (they had had four points deducted as Jack Goodens absence last time could not count in matches awarded to the team) behind the leaders Framlingham Tigers, one point ahead of Stowmarket and two points ahead of Rowhedge , thus all four teams had chances of honours.

In their match they faced the leaders Fram Tigers where all matches were won 3-0 except Wiktor Delimat’s opening match with Rhiannon Evans where his 9, -3, -7, 2, 11 win proved so crucial at the end of the day. Martin had lost his opening match to Natalie Wills 9, 10, 10 but Jack Gooden, back after illness last time chipped in with a win over Oliver Lamb. Jack lost his second match but with Martin and Wiktor winning theirs a 4-2 win resulted and thus now only two points behind their opponents.

Next team to play were Rowhedge, now only one point behind them. Rowhedge’s Jermaine Fearon beat both Martin and Wiktor but the boys won their other matches easily enough. Jack had beaten Josh Burrows 3-1 and 5-2 up at the change round in the last match with Ben Jackson a win looked on the cards but a loss of eight consecutive points resulted in a 3-3 draw. Status quo as all matches in the Division were drawn.

Bottom team Amberfield were next and a 6-0 win achieved, all by 3-0 margins, with little difficulty. More importantly they were now a point ahead of Fram Tigers and four points ahead of Rowhedge.

The last match was against a two player NETTS B who had recruited Black Notley’s Warren Baines to their side. A 6-0 win would give Chelmsford/Netts the title but Warren‘s two 3-0 wins over Wiktor, 7, 11, 12 and Martin 3-0 scuppered that. Martin and Jack both beat Chloe Hawes 3-0 for a 4-2 win. So they had to await the result of Fram Tigers match but they knew now that Rowhedge could not catch them despite winning 6-0. Fram Tigers beat Stowmarket 5-1 so both teams finished on 40 points. Chelmsford/Netts took the title by virtue of losing four sets less than Fram Tigers

FINAL TABLES

                        DIVISION 1                                                                             DIVISION2

                        P          W         L                                            P          W         L

CHRIS             6          5          1                      MARTIN          8          5          3

SARAH            6          4          2                      WIKTOR        7          5          2

OLIVER           6          6          0                      JACK              7          5          2

Chelmsford/Netts team, Wiktor Delimat, Martin Hiskey and Jack Gooden
Chelmsford team, Sarah Austin, Oliver Hicks and Chris Denyer

Arthur C. Clark

Chelmsford League Junior Match Secretary