With only seven teams taking part in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League this season some weeks will see there being few scoresheets to report on. However, two of the sides expected to do well both made winning starts.
Bocking B (Dave Cole, Gary Cattermole and Rik James) beat last year’s champions Bocking A 9-1 with their ‘big-guns’ Cole and James both getting the better of last year’s Chelmsford Veterans champion Kevin Gowlett.
Maldon A beat Galleywood A 7-3, although it was Galleywood’s Lucy Wang who stole the plaudits as she beat both Paul Stephens and Paul Sayer. Hamish Innes won twice for Maldon, beating Wang 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-5) and a defiant Bryn Thomas by a last-gasp 3-2 (9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9) margin.
In Division Two, Chelmsford A ran out 7-3 winners over Elmtree Excalibur C after a well-contested match where five games went the distance. Chelmsford’s ever-reliable Waseem Qureshi won his three singles, although he was hard-pushed to get the better of Paul Sturton 3-2 (9-11, 15-13, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7).
Rawreth & Hullbridge B did well to beat Elmtree Graphics B 8-2. Mike Worship won his three singles and he received good support from Matt Rolfe and Paul Churn, who both won twice.
Hatfield Peverel B are the early leaders in Division Three. They made it two wins out of two by defeating Danbury F 7-3. Neil Freeman and Gordon Fairchild both recorded hat-tricks. Freeman gave Hatfield Peverel a winning start by beating Chris Hancox 3-2 (9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7) in the opening encounter.
The match between Chelmsford C and OCs C finished tied at 5-5. Paul Nicol was on excellent form for Chelmsford with a fine hat-trick of wins over Nat Ravlic, Frank Hodge and Daniel Berry.
No one team has made a particular dominant start in Division Four. OCs E won their first match 6-4, Danbury J the victims after Adrian North had won his three singles.
Danbury H ran out 6-4 winners over Danbury J. Kevin Willis was their match-winner. He eventually ran away with the fourth and fifth ends as he beat Dave Powell 3-2 (5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 11-3).
The match between Elmtree Excalibur D and Danbury H finished level at 5-5. Neil Thompson and Dave Moles both won twice for the Elmtree side, while Dan Anderson and Dave Goody both bagged two wins for Danbury H. Dave Moles had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Brian Ellis 3-2 (11-13, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 11-6).
Danbury M (George Ashley, Dan Anderson and Cameron Gray) were impressive 9-1 winners over Galleywood D in Division Five. Emily Wood was Galleywood’s lone winner and she fought back strongly to eventually get the better of George Ashley 3-2 (7-11, 7-11, 15-13, 11-9, 14-12).
Danbury L (John Knights, Alan Shrimpton and Eamon Hall) were 10-0 winners over OCs G. In the game in which they came under the most pressure, Hall held on to finally get the better of Dave Bishop 3-2 (10-12, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 12-10).
Chelmsford F had Richard Baxter to thank as they beat Maldon E 6-4. Baxter recorded a hat-trick of wins over Dave Lamb, Martin Goodman and Steve Lucas.
Buttsbury A (Nathan Fry and Matthew Elliott) made a winning start in the CLICK League, beating Black Notley B 5-0. The roles were reversed when Buttsbury C faced Black Notley A as this time Black Notley A won 4-1, Patrick Bugg beating both James Hughes and Tom Picton. The game between Picton and Bugg went all the way to the proverbial wire, with Bugg finally shading it 3-2 (8-11, 11-13, 11-3, 12-10, 12-10).
Steve Kerns (press & publicity officer)
September 29, 2014