OCs A produced a superb performance to beat a strong Maldon A side 9-1 in Division One of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Brandon Crouchman, who has made an excellent start to the season with 12 wins out of 15, and new signing Michael Andrews (seven wins out of nine to date) were both undefeated, whilst Terry Dowsett won two singles. Paul Sayer was the sole Maldon winner with a four-games success against Terry Dowsett, whilst Maldon’s new signing Peter Norcutt wasn‘t able to register a win.
Galleywood played twice and with a varying degree of success. Peter Radford and John Holland were both undefeated in their 8-2 win over Elmtree Excalibur A, whilst they were well beaten 9-1 by Bocking B, who made it three wins out of three. Dave Cole and Rik James were both undefeated, whilst Gary Cattermole tasted success against Lucy Wang and John Holland. On this showing Bocking could well be the side to beat.
Rawreth A (Gary Young, Minda Sinkus and Ben Warner) also ran out impressive 9-1 winners against Bocking A. Young and Sinkus both won their three singles. Two games went the full distance – Simon Webber scoring a superb 12-10, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11, 11-9 win over Ben Warner for the losers, whilst the still improving Gary Young defeated Paul Lucas 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9 for the winning side.
Elmtree Excalibur B impressed against Danbury C in Division Two and Lee McHugh remained undefeated as they beat Danbury C 7-3. McHugh needed five ends to see off Graham Briggs 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7 and Neil Want 3-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8.
The match between OCs B and Chelmsford A finished tied at 5-5. Robbie Burton and Tim Cramphorn both won twice for the Old Chelmsfordians side, whilst Mike Johnston picked up two wins for the Chelmsford team. There were some hard-fought games – not least the 3-2 (6-11, 14-12, 10-12, 13-11, 11-6) win for Robbie Burton over Alistair Piper.
The match between Hatfield Peverel A and Liberal also ended as a 5-5 draw. Gary Ward “ran the show” with a hat-trick of wins over Dean Andrews, Adam Buxton and Steve Pennell.
OCs top the table in Division Three and they produced their best performance of the season to date as they romped to a 10-0 win over Hatfield Peverel C. Frank Hodge, Nat Ravlic and Daniel Berry gave nothing away.
Hatfield Peverel C in turn did much better against Danbury G and they ran out 7-3 winners. Ray Eldridge, Dave Carter and Adam Carter all won twice, although they all drew blanks against Dave Marsh.
Maldon C beat Chelmsford C 6-4. Dawn Baldry and Brian Riedling both won their three singles. Dawn Baldry just prevailed in a knife-edge five-setter against Dave Parker, fighting back from 2-0 down to win 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9.
The points were shared in the match between Danbury G and OCs D. Dave Marsh (nine wins out of nine to date) was again on top form and he stayed undefeated for Danbury G.
The match between Danbury F and Chelmsford C also finished tied at 5-5. Danbury’s Ken Sheard won his three singles.
In Division Four Danbury H excelled to beat Galleywood C 8-2. Dave Powell (three wins), Brian Ellis (two wins) and Dave Goody (two wins) all contributed.
Leaders Maldon D made it five wins out of five and they beat Elmtree Excalibur D 7-3. Ciaran Whelan won his three singles whilst Neil Thompson, who beat Colin Napper and Steve Scholz, was the best of the Elmtree players.
Writtle scored their first win of the season – an impressive 7-3 success against Danbury K. Frank Neill won his three singles and he completed his hat-trick with a 3-2 (8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8) victory against Roger Tiffin.
It was “honours even” in the match between Chelmsford D and EPHQ. Philip French won his three singles for EPHQ whilst Jarolsaw Pietraszuk and Ian Austin both won twice for the Chelmsford side. Ian Austin had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Ian Hockley 3-2 (11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 0-11, 11-9).
Chelmsford F were 8-2 winners against Highwood in Division Five. Richard Baxter and Richard Upson were both undefeated. Richard Baxter saw Chelmsford off to a winning start by beating Martin Goddard 3-2 (10-12, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4) in the opening game of the evening.
Steve Kerns (press & publicity officer)
October 27, 2014