Improving Gary Baker undefeated for Elmtree Excalibur A against Writtle A
The battle to avoid relegation from Division One of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League is one of the closest in recent years. Neither Elmtree Excalibur A or Writtle A will want to be relegated and these two sides met this week. Elmtree ran out 6-4 winners with both the still-improving Gary Baker and M&G Investments Chelmsford Closed Tournament Mens Singles semi-finalist Gary Young winning all three singles. Both of them beat Peter Radford in hard-fought five enders whilst Gary Young also beat Kevin Worthington by a last-gasp 3-2 (11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 8-11, 12-10) margin.
Leaders Elmtree Excalibur B march on in Division Two. John Holland and Mark Smith were both undefeated as they hammered Liberal 9-1. ECC C had James Hicks unbeaten as they saw off Hatfield Peverel C 8-2 whilst Hector Rogers picked up his three singles as Writtle B beat Chelmsford B 6-4.
Matthew Brown won twice for Writtle and he fought back from 2-0 down to get the better of Mike Johnston 3-2 (8-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-8) in the opening game of the night.
Danbury C remain in second place in Division Three after drawing with Danbury D. Dave Richardson won his three singles for the C side whilst Herbie Smith and Peter Hance both picked up two wins for the D team. Herbie Smith beat Mo Hardy 3-2 (12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 4-11, 15-13) in the closest game of the night.
Elmtree Excalibur D stay third and they beat fourth-placed ECC D 6-4 despite the fact that it was ECC’s Peter Layzell who won his three singles. Layzell got the better of Tony Hallett 3-2 (1-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10) and in the last game of the evening Steve Cheesman sealed the Excalibur victory by beating Neil Thompson 3-2 (11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11).
Danbury G were the week’s big winners in Division Four. They defeated Hatfield Peverel D 9-1 with both Dave Goody and Brian Ellis winning their three singles. Keith Cullen picked up his side’s sole success.
Bottom-placed EPHQ drew with ECC F for whom Peter Sun won his three singles. Francis Whitbread won twice for EPHQ and this included a late 3-2 (7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 15-13) victory over Mohammed Mohseni. Elsewhere Danbury J had Bradley Smith and Robert Kneale on unbeaten form as they beat Danbury H 7-3.
In Division Five OCs H beat Chelmsford G 6-4 despite the fact that Chelmsford’s Ian Austin won his three singles. Rebecca Denyer won once for the Chelmsford team and she fought back from 2-0 down to get the better of Hassam Ahmed 3-2 (8-11,6-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-7).
CLICK League Leaders Writtle D (Peter Windley, David Meah and Alex Warway) were 5-0 winners against Chelmsford L although the Chelmsford side acquitted themselves well. Alex Warway was forced to pull out all the stops to get the better of Sarah Bell 3-1 (11-2, 11-8, 10-12, 12-10). ECC G (Ben Clifford and Emily Wood) beat Black Notley 4-1. William Brazier was unlucky to lose both of his games. He missed out 3-2 (14-12, 8-11, 13-11, 4-11, 3-11) to Emily Wood and 3-2 (2-11,11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 7-11) to Ben Clifford.