Division two of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League saw a number of stand-out performances this week. Sam Lowman led the way. He impressed for Danbury D and his hat-trick enabled his team to draw against second-placed Chelmsford B. Lowman won a close encounter against Robert Shrimpton 11-5, 11- 13,12-14, 11-8, 11-8 and he also defeated Mark Allaway 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9 in another well-contested battle. He completed his hat-trick with a quick-fire 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 victory over Victor Chan. Neil Want was on top form for Danbury B and his hat-trick enabled his side to share the points with Danbury C. Want came through a real “hum-dinger” in his first singles against Chris Buer 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-13, 12-10 and he also beat Daniel Young 11-4, 3-11, 11-6, 13-11.
He completed an excellent evening’s work by beating Steve Buer 11- 6, 11-8, 11-6. The leaders Writtle Excalibur A pulled further ahead by beating Liberal C 8-2. Lee McHugh (who has a 93 % record to date) was again on top form winning is three singles. He had a five set tussle with Paul Lombardi before he pulled clear in the fifth end to win 12-14, 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4. Gary Ward is always hard to beat at this level and he led Hatfield Peverel A to a 8-2 win over OCs C whilst Chelmsford C also won 8-2. Waseem Qureshi was undefeated against OCs B. Qureshi secured three hard-fought successes. He beat Trevor Carter (7-11, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-4), Stephen Northcott (11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-6) and Robbie Burton (16-14, 15-13, 11-1). Three good wins !
Only one result for division one this week and it saw last year’s Champions Maldon A produce another top-notch performance to beat Danbury A 9-1. Trevor Lloyd and John Poysden were both undefeated. Lloyd now has a record of 18 wins out of 18 and he has been the League‘s outstanding player so far this season.
John Poysden – the County Over 60s first team Captain was also on fine form and he scored an excellent 11-7, 10-12, 11-4, 11-7 win over Gary Young. It was Young who picked up the Danbury A win. He in turn scored a superb 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 victory over Alex Abbott.
In division three David Gatherall’s excellent run of wins came to an end as Danbury E lost 6-4 to Maldon C. Maldon were bolstered by the inclusion of the redoubtable five time’s Chelmsford Veterans Champion John Holland and he duly defeated Gatherall 11-6, 11-8, 12-10. Gatherall also tasted defeat in his third singles with current M&G Investments Chelmsford Ladies Singles Champion Dawn Baldry coming out on top 1-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10. Leaders Maldon B pulled further clear by beating Hatfield Peverel C 8-2. Hamish Innes and Ciaran Whelan were both undefeated and with these two players fronting their challenge it is hard to see any team beating them.
Colin Barham scored a fine 7-11, 1-11, 11-8, 11-6, 13-11 victory over Colin Napper after having looked to be well off the pace in the first two games. Second placed Hatfield Peverel B slipped back after losing 7-3 to Chelmsford D. They only had two players and paid a heavy price. Jarek Pietraszuk excelled for the Chelmsford side. He beat Gareth Davies (11-8, 11-13, 11-2, 15-13) and most impressively Neil Freeman (11-5, 11-3, 14- 12). The match between OCs D and Danbury F finished tied at 5-5. Tony Forster excelled for Danbury F with three wins and he received solid support from Dave Marsh who won twice. Mick Richardson secured the draw for the Old Chelmsfordians team by beating Dave Marsh by a widely fluctuating 8-11, 11-5, 6- 11, 12-10, 11-1 margin in the last game of the evening.
OCs E consolidated second place in division four by beating fourth placed Danbury J 7-3. Adam Yardley was their match-winner with three wins. He had a real tussle with Dave Hancox before he finally took control to win 17-19, 11-8, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6. OCs F were 6-4 winners against Writtle Excalibur D with Terry Dowsett again leading the way. He retained his 100 % singles record and it is difficult to see anyone getting the better of him at this level. Writtle C also won 6-4. Steve Siggs led the way with a hat-trick as they defeated OCs G. Siggs completed his trio of wins by beating David Bishop 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 8- 11, 11-5.
Chelmsford F inflicted the first defeat of the season on Highwood A and they stay top in division five although Highwood have two matches in hand. Adi Kamma led the way with three wins as Chelmsford edged the match 6-4. In the best game of the evening Kamma had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Francis Whitbread 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 3-11, 18-16. Quite a battle!
Chelmsford G were well served by Steven Chambers and Michael Whelpdale who were both unbeaten against Chelmsford J. The G team ran out 8-2 winners. Chelmsford J in turn beat Anglia Ruskin University 6-4. Richard Gardner led the way with three wins. Galleywood B were strengthened by the inclusion of Colin Blore in his first appearance of the Season and his hat-trick was instrumental in Galleywood beating Highwood B 7-3. Ron Salton bagged two wins for the Galleywood team whilst Melanie Bonnett won twice for the Highwood B side.
Chelmsford Jaguars completed their fixtures in division 1B of the CLICK League by beating Chelmsford Tigers 3-2. Ryan Armstrong was undefeated for the Tigers. He beat Nyree Marsh (11-7, 11-5, 13-11) and Melinda Abraham Victor (8-11, 11- 8,11-9, 11-8). Melinda Abraham Victor came out on top 11-5, 8-11, 5-11, 11-3, 16-14 after a really testing encounter with Louis Burnett.
All players are reminded that the Closing date for entry to the M&G Investments Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Closed Championships is Friday 15 December 2017. Entries must be sent to the Tournament Organiser Arthur Clark on line or directly. The event takes place at Hylands School, Chelmsford over the weekend of Friday to Sunday 03 to 05 February 2018. Late entries will not be allowed. An entry form is available in the League Handbook and on line.