Rawreth A have climbed into second place in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League – and with three games in hand on leaders OCs A they are clearly very well placed.
Glenn Johnson won all three singles as they beat Bocking A 8-2 and this included a superb 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-6) win over Kevin Gowlett, who also had a good night, scoring fine wins over Gary Young (12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9) and Ben Warner (14-12, 8-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-9).
Maldon A included Alex Abbott in their line-up for the second time this season and his three singles wins were instrumental in their beating OCs A 6-4. Brandon Crouchman won twice for OCs, which included a fine 3-0 win over Peter Norcott, whilst John Cleasby (playing against his old club) secured an excellent 3-0 victory over old rival Hamish Innes.
Danbury B impressed in Division Two and they consolidated second place by beating Chelmsford A 8-2. Newcomer Lewis Ewers (nine wins out of nine to date) led the way with a clean sheet and Chris Buer and Steve Buer both won twice. The ever-reliable Waseem Qureshi replied with two victories for the Chelmsford team.
Danbury D (Dave Richardson, Steve Whiteley and Ian Whiteside) beat Galleywood B 7-3, Ian Whiteside leading the way with three wins.
The match between Danbury C and Liberal finished as a 5-5 draw. It marked a first for Liberal’ s Adam Buxton in the Chelmsford League – a fine hat-trick of successes against Neil Want, Glenn Laing and Eric Green.
Maldon C (Brian Riedling, Tom Elder and Dawn Baldry) were the week‘s big winners in Division Three. They raced to a 9-1 victory over Hatfield Peverel C. Ray Eldridge beat Dawn Baldry in five games for Hatfield Peverel‘s sole win.
Maldon C didn’t fare so well against the leaders OCs C, losing 7-3. Frank Hodge remained undefeated for the old Chelmsfordians team.
The match between Chelmsford C and Danbury E was a close one and four games went the distance. Chelmsford C edged home 6-4 after Chelmsford’s Dave Parker and Paul Nicol and Danbury’s Peter Hance had all won twice. Nicol had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Herbie Smith 3-2 (4-11, 11-4, 9-11, 17-15, 11-6).
Maldon D, with just one defeat in nine matches, remain the side to beat in Division Four. Ciaran Whelan was undefeated as they beat third-placed Danbury H 7-3. Maldon’s Colin Napper won twice and this included a last-gasp 3-2 (11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9) victory against Dave Goody.
Second-placed OCs F also won 7-3. Peter Windley stayed undefeated and he received good support from Tom Barker (two wins) and Charlie Mariner (one win).
Galleywood C ran out 6-4 winners against EPHQ. No single player dominated and Galleywood’s David Gatherall and Mohammed Mohseni and EPHQ’S Francis Whitbread and Calvin Wright all won twice.
EPHQ in turn scored a welcome 6-4 victory over Writtle. Pip French was the difference between the sides and he won his three singles. Writtle’s Tom Griffiths fought back strongly to get the better of Calvin Wright 3-2 (10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-3) in the last game of the night.
Table-toppers Danbury M (George Ashley, Dan Anderson and Dan Richardson) are setting a hot pace in Division Five and they made no mistake in beating Hatfield Peverel D 9-1. Barry Evans was the sole Hatfield Peverel winner with a 3-1 (10-12, 11-4, 11-6, 11-7) victory against George Ashley. Highwood impressed by beating the higher-placed Maldon E 8-2. Martin Goddard and Kevin Barber both won their three singles.
Buttsbury C’s Tom Picton won his two singles and this enabled his side to beat Black Notley A 3-2 in the CLICK League. Picton defeated Patrick Bugg 3-2 (11-8, 12-14, 6-11, 11-9, 12-10) in the closest game of the night.
Chelmsford H’s Kristian Krejirik was undefeated as the Melbourne Park based club beat Black Notley A 3-2. The Notley duo – Jamie Brooks and Oliver Ledwith – did well to beat Chelmsford’s Krejirik and Callum Day 3-2 (9-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10) in the doubles encounter.
All players are reminded that the 2014-5 Chelmsford & DTTL Individual Championships take place over the weekend of January 30 to February 1, 2015 at Hylands School, Chelmsford Road, Chelmsford, CM1 3ET. Late entries will not be allowed this year so all players are reminded to submit their entries to Tournament Organiser Arthur Clark immediately.
Steve Kerns (press & publicity officer)
December 15, 2014