Gus Heath turned in what was arguably the best performance of the week in Division Two of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League. Heath won his three singles as Elmtree Excalibur B held Liberal to a draw. He beat Peter Hayden (playing with a hard-bat) in five ends, Robin Armstrong (3-1) and Steve Pennell (3-2) to score three excellent wins. Pennell prevailed against Richard Storey in the week’s closest game, eventually winning 3-2 (10-12, 11-4, 9-11, 13-11, 17-15).
Liberal did better against Galleywood B and won 7-3. Pennell was at his best and he won his three singles this time.
Danbury B are currently in second place. They beat Hatfield Peverel A 6-4 after Chris Buer and Sid Dorn had both secured hat-tricks but they lost 6-4 against OCs B. Kevin Worthington was the OCs match-winner on this occasion.
Eric Green, playing in his first match of the Season was undefeated for third-placed Danbury C, who beat Danbury D 9-1. Glen Laing also scored a hat-trick as Danbury C raced through the singles. Somewhat unusually, none of the 10 games were decided three-straight.
Elmtree Excalibur B impressed by beating Chelmsford A 7-3. Tony Hallett and Richard Storey both won their three singles.
In Division One, Brandon Crouchman’s excellent start to the Season shows no sign of a down-turn. He secured a notable hat-trick of wins as OCs A beat Galleywood A 6-4. Crouchman beat Peter Lau (3-1), and then ace defender John Holland – fighting back from 2-0 down to edge home 3-2 (4-11, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10, 12-10) and finally Lucy Wang 3-0 to secure the victory for his side.
Rawreth & Hullbridge A (Gary Young, Duncan Taylor and Chris Jacob) ran out convincing 9-1 winners against Elmtree Excalibur A. Scott Dowsett prevented the whitewash with a four-game success against Chelmsford Over-60s Singles champion Chris Jacob.
Hatfield Peverel B were double-winners in Division Three. They beat both Danbury G and Chelmsford C 7-3. Gordon Fairchild won his three singles against Danbury G, whilst Dave Fiddeman scored a hat-trick of wins against Chelmsford C. Danbury G had to battle really hard to win their three games. The determined Dave Marsh defeated Gareth Davies 3-2 (11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 12-10) and he also had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Neil Freeman 3-2 (10-12, 11-8, 7-11, 11-2, 12-10).
There was a shock of sorts in Division Four, where leaders Maldon D suffered their first defeat of the season. What’s more, so did their top player – Ciaran Whelan. Newcomer Jarolsaw Pietraszuk not only won his three singles but he defeated Whelan 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-7) to complete his hat-trick as Chelmsford ran out 6-4 winners. This was Whelan’s first defeat in 18 singles. Pietraszuk also beat Maldon’s Steve Scholz (17 wins out of 21 singles to date) in four ends: 8-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-4.
Writtle’s Tom Griffiths was another player to hit top form. He beat all three Galleywood C players – Allison Millard, David Gatherall and Colin Barham – in a match which finished tied at 5-5. Colin Barham defeated Colin Griffiths 3-2 (13-11, 7-11, 11-8, 6-11, 13-11) in a game which could have clearly gone either way.
Writtle didn’t fare so well against OCs F, who ran out 8-2 winners. Tom Barker (three wins), Charlie Mariner (two wins) and Peter Windley (two wins) were very much in control. Frank Neill fought his way to a five-game win over Peter Windley (16-18, 11-5, 11-3, 9-11, 13-11).
Danbury H beat OCs E 6-4. Danbury’s Craig Foster stayed unbeaten and he just saw off Charles Yeung 3-2 (11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-13, 12-10).
Danbury M (Dan Richardson, Dan Anderson and Cameron Gray) are the current leaders in Division Five and they made it six wins out of six by beating Elmtree Graphics E 8-2. The evergreen Nicola Pippen won two singles for the Elmtree side.
Highwood scored their second win of the campaign as Martin Goddard led them to a 7-3 victory against Danbury L.
Chelmsford F (Richard Baxter, Richard Upson and Jamie Dowsett) were 8-2 winners against Hatfield Peverel D, whilst they also beat OCs G 9-1. Richard Upson, Jamie Dowsett and Mike Pitt were on target this time.
Steve Kerns (press & publicity officer)
November 17, 2014