Ben Warner on top form as Maldon B impress

Maldon B produced the performance of the week to overpower OCs A 8-2 in the first division of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Both Ben Warner and Keiran Lally scored hat-tricks, whilst John Cleasby pitched in with a fine 3-2 (8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9) win over Terry Dowsett.

Ben Warner, who has made great strides in his first season back playing after a 14-year break, impressed mightily. He beat Brandon Crouchman, Terry Dowsett and Peter Hayden.

Rawreth A scored their sixth win of the season by beating ECC B 6-4. Gary Young and Glenn Johnson both picked up two wins, although neither of them were able to get the better of Rik James. Simon Webber impressed by beating Chris Jacob 3-1.

ECC A stay top, although others teams have games in hand on them. They beat Danbury B 7-3. Charles Sweeney made his mark for Danbury by beating both Lucy Wang and Peter Radford. Steve Buer came out on top against Lucy Wang after a widely fluctuating game 3-2 (11-2, 8-11, 11-8, 2-11, 12-10).

Congratulations are extended to Elmtree Excalibur (Scott Dowsett, Lee McHugh, Tony Hallett and Gus Heath), who have been crowned Division Two champions. They didn’t manage to win their last match – losing 7-3 to second-placed Chelmsford A – but they nevertheless topped the table by six points. Chelmsford’s Waseem Qureshi won his three singles, while Al Piper and Julie Johnson both won twice. Al Piper put Scott Dowsett in his place 3-1 (11-8, 11-8, 13-15, 11-7).

ECC C have finished third and they completed their campaign by beating fourth-placed ECC C 7-3. ECC’s James Hicks won his three singles.

OCs B – the runaway champions of Division Three – made it 20 wins out of 20 as they hammered Chelmsford C 10-0. Robert Burton, Steve Northcott and Nat Ravlic were all undefeated. Nat Ravlic with a 70 per cent record (40 wins out of 57) showed considerable improvement this year, whilst Steve Northcott (95 per cent) and Robert Burton (85 per cent) have already proven themselves at a higher level on many occasions.

Maldon C completed their season in style by beating ECC D 7-3. Brian Riedling won his three singles.

OCs C are relegated but they signed off for the year with a win. David Porter was the architect of this victory with a hat- trick. Porter had to pull out all the stops to beat Allan Thompson 3-2 (8-11, 11-3, 11-13, 11-8, 12-10).

Full marks to OCs E (Daniel Berry, Frank Hodge and Charlie Mariner), who have become Division Four champions by a huge margin of 33 points. They beat Danbury J 7-3 with the ever-present Daniel Berry (91 per cent – 55 wins out of 60) fittingly leading the way. Frank Hodge (82 per cent – 47 wins out of 57) has also had an excellent season.

The race for second place couldn’t have been much closer and Hatfield Peverel C (117 points) have edged out OCs D by one point. The very experienced Hatfield Peverel C team (Ray Eldridge, Adam
Carter and Dave Carter) beat Elmtree Excalibur D 7-3 after a fiercely contested match where they lost three very hard-fought five enders. Wiktor Delimat – another OCs’ success story this year with a 70 per cent record (42 wins out of 60) beat Ray Eldridge 3-2 (11-6, 12-10, 7-11, 10-12, 12-10), whilst Dave Moles got the better of Dave Carter 3-2 (11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 2-11, 16-14).

OCs D, who were so close to finishing second, also won. Charles Yeung led them to a 7-3 win over EPHQ.

Elsewhere, Danbury J beat Chelmsford D 8-2. Dave Goody and Dave Powell were both undefeated. Dave Powell had a few anxious moments to contend with before he overcame Sarah Austin 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 14-12).

In Division Five, bottom side OCs F scored their second win of the season by beating ECC G 7-3. David Newman, David Bishop and Aswin Siam all won twice, although none of them could beat the fast-improving Victor Chan. OCs F didn’t fare so well against Chelmsford E and they lost 7-3. Ian Austin and Adam Kirchell were both undefeated for Chelmsford.

OCs H, who have games in hand, could emerge as the winners of the CLICK League. Lawrence Bartlett and Aswin Siam combined to beat Buttsbury A 4-1 with Aswin Siam beating George Cobley 3-2 (9-11, 11-13, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10) in the closest game of the night. The same OCs H stamped their authority on the match against Chelmsford J and ran out 5-0 winners.

by Steve Kerns (April 7)