Maldon A are setting a very hot pace in division one of the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League and 69 points out of 80- eight wins out of eight is a fair indication of their level of dominance so far.

You wouldn’t normally expect a Danbury A side containing Gary Young and Dave Richardson to lose 10-0 but that was their fate against Maldon A this week. Trevor Lloyd, Alex Abott and John Poysden were all on top form. Abbott set the ball rolling with a 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-9) win over Dave Richardson in the first game and Maldon never let up.

Chelmsford A (63 points) are Maldon’s only realistic challengers and they ran out 9-1 winners against Liberal A – their seventh win of the season. Wal Bada and Ugur Saglik were both undefeated whilst Adam Buxton impressed for the losers. He scored a convincing 3-0 win over Casey Cross.

The third and fourth placed teams both won. Terry Dowsett led OCs A to a 6-4 win over Danbury B. The big shock here was that Daniel Berry scored a superb 3-1 victory over Daniel Young. Chris Buer impressed for Danbury B, beating both Berry (3-2) and Peter Windley (again 3-2).

Rawreth A are fourth and they beat Galleywood A 7-3. Liam Squirrell and Bruce Kettle were both undefeated. Rawreth A also lost 4-6 to Danbury A after being a player short. Squirrell was again unbeaten and with 12 wins out of 12 it is clear that he is a player to look out for. On the flip side this team have used 11 players in seven matches – and it is clear that they are unable to field a settled team even at this early stage of the season.

OCs B top the division two table with 57 points out of 80. However they didn’t have it all their own way in beating Maldon C 6-4. The hugely experienced John Holland – just one defeat in 21 games beat all three OCs players – David Porter (3-0), Stephen Northcott (3-0) and Trevor Carter (3-1). Carter was involved in the best match of the night and he saw off Dawn Baldry – just – 3-2 (11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 6-11, 12-10).

Chelmsford C suffered their first defeat of the season. They lost 7-3 to second placed Maldon B. Waseem Quereshi hit top form for the Chelmsford side with three wins but Colin Napper, Hamish Innes and Ciaran Whelan all won twice to give Maldon the ascendancy. Maldon helped their cause considerably by winning all four five-setters, with Hamish Innes setting them on their way with a 3-2 (11-5, 9-11, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10) victory over Wiktor Delimat.

Sam Lowman is another player who continues to impress and he was unbeaten as Danbury D beat OCs C 7-3. Dan Anderson was involved in three close games. He beat Tom Barker 3-2 (11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 9-11, 11-9) and Charles Yeung 3-1 (8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9) but he missed out in five against Frank Hodge (11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 10-12).

The big-hitting Gary Ward is another very experienced performer at this level and he was undefeated for Writtle C against Danbury C. Unfortunately that was all Writtle were able to win as Danbury won the other seven games. Glen Laing prevailed in five ends against John Parodi (9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10).

Hatfield Peverel B were indebted to Neil Freeman as they beat Danbury E 6-4. Freeman completed his hat-trick with a 3-2 (8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9) win over Ken Sheard.

Division three is very evenly matched and after eight rounds of matches OCs D and Chelmsford D are tied on 51 points.  OCs D fared better this week. Gareth Joice was unbeaten in their 7-3 win over Writtle D. David Porter completed proceedings with a 3-2 (8-11, 11-7, 11-13, 13-11, 14-12) victory over Bob Garson.

Chelmsford D were held to a 5-5 draw by third placed Maldon D. Chelmsford D‘s Dave Parker was involved in two gruelling five enders. His match against Thomas Page looked very evenly poised after they had shared games (10-12, 10-12, 12-10, 14-12) but the fifth end was one-sided and Page raced away to win 11-2. Parker came back well to beat Mervyn Perriman 3-2 (9-11, 11-4, 6-11, 16-14, 12-10) in his last game.

Nicky Reece-Ford impressed for Danbury G who drew 5-5 with Danbury H. He completed his hat-trick with a hard-fought five-end win over Eamon Hall (9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 9-11, 12-10). The “bubble burst” for Mo Hardy – just one defeat up to this match – and he lost all three singles this time.

Danbury F scored their second win of the season by beating Writtle E 8-2. Richard Gardiner and Dave Marsh were both undefeated. The comment on the scorecard is well worth repeating – Marsh highlighted the fact that his 3-1 (11-7, 12-10, 2-11, 11-7) win over Malcolm Storey was “revenge” for his loss in the Chelmsford Under-17 Boys’ Singles Championships semi-final – in 1969!

Writtle E in turn did better against OCs F and Neil Thompson led them to a 7-3 success. Bob Francis won twice for the losers which included a narrow 3-2 (6-11, 12-10, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9) win over Alan Offord.

OCs F also tasted success. They beat OCs E 7-3. Ashton Parker led the way with three wins and Tanishq Kotwal won twice.

With eight wins out of eight, Danbury J (Rob Kneale / Dave Goody / Richard Allen) are comfortable leaders in division four. They beat Writtle F this week 6-4 although they all lost to David Meah who now has a record of 11 wins out of 12. Meah beat Allen 3-1 (12-10, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10) in a well contested opening game and Kneale 3-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6) in his second singles. Undoubtedly seeing the ball “like a football” in his third singles he powered to a 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-9) win over Goody.

Chelmsford E are second and they surged to a 8-2 win over Highwood A. Dusan Doszkoty and Martin Hiskey were both undefeated as they beat Highwood A 8-2. Hiskey prevailed against Melanie Bonnett by the unusual scoreline of 3-2 (11-1, 10-12, 4-11, 11-2, 11-8).

Chelmsford E relied on team-work to beat Chelmsford F 7-3.  Jon Dyson, James Donald and Dusan Doszkoty all won twice. Donald fought back from 2-0 down to get the better of Vineeth Kamma 3-2 (6-11, 6-11, 11-5, 13-11, 12-10).

It was a similar story for Highwood B who beat Galleywood B 6-4. Frank Neill, Francis Whitbread and
Martin Goddard all won twice to repel Colin Blore’s three wins for Galleywood B.

Galleywood C lead the way in division five and second-placed Chelmsford G were not able to close on them this week. Their match finished as a 5-5 draw. Mark Glenister and Aidan Noguchi won twice for Galleywood whilst Andy Swales and Sarah Austin picked up two wins for Chelmsford G. Austin excelled by beating Glenister 3-1 (11-8, 7-11, 11-2, 11-9) whilst Glenister looked sharp as he disposed of Swales 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-8).

OCs H were 6-4 winners over Hatfield Peverel D – courtesy of a Stuart Wintle hat-trick whilst Hatfield
Peverel E ran out 7-3 winners against Chelmsford J. John Kuhl, Kath Little and Phil West all won twice to counter Jacqui Smith’s trio of wins for the Chelmsford side.

All four results in CLICK division 1A produced clear-cut winners this week. The leaders Danbury Dragons made it 26 points out of 30 by beating second-placed Chelmsford Cougars 4-1. Sam Mortimer-Ford was undefeated whilst Ben Porter was close to staying unbeaten as well. He only missed out to Sudheep Kamma 3-2 (10-12, 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 10-12).

The other three matches produced 5-0 scorelines. Danbury Demons (Elliot Gardiner and Ewan Hynd) dominated against Buttsbury Bears whereas Chelmsford Cougars (Sudheep Kamma and Harry Chivers) impressed against Chelmsford Leopards. Danbury Dragons (Sam Mortimer-Ford and Connor Hall on this occasion) didn’t drop a game in beating Chelmsford Jaguars.

The leaders OCs Lions were a player short in CLICK division 1B. However, Josh Peasgood retained his 100% record (12 wins out of 12) so they only lost to Chelmsford Wildcats 3-2. With Peasgood again firing on all cylinders they beat second-placed Chelmsford Rhinos 4-1. Dan Wise was on target for the losers with a 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-5) win over Tom Bird but he lost his 100% record to Peasgood, who stormed home 3-0 (11-2, 11-3, 11-8).

Buttsbury Bulldogs ran out 4-1 winners against Danbury Griffins after Max Samuels had beaten both William Ratcliffe (11-6, 11-7, 11-8) and Finley Bailey (11-5, 11-9, 12-10). With Theo Griffiths winning his two singles Chelmsford Panthers were 4-1 winners against Chelmsford Wildcats. Georgina Riches beat Prayrak Gupta 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-8) for the losers.

Local players excelled at the VETTS Eastern Masters Tournament at Norwich over the weekend of 10/11 November 2018. Maldon A’s John Poysden had a fantastic weekend winning the Men’s Over-60s’ Doubles with Scottish partner Peter Aird and he also pushed hard-hitting left-hander and top seed Phil Cawser (Yorkshire) all the way to 12-10 in the fifth end in the singles.

Lucy Wang (Galleywood) scored one of the biggest upsets of the season. She won the Ladies’ Over-50s’ singles, beating top seed and England No 1 Sue Collier (Berkshire) in the final.

And yet another reminder – all players are reminded that the closing date for entry to the M&G Investments Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Closed Tournament (which will be held over the weekend of 1, 2 & 3 February 2019), is 14 December 2018. Entries should be forwarded to Arthur Clark, 2 Top Road, Woodham Walter, Nr. Maldon, Essex, CM9 6RQ with the payment.

Electronic entries to [email protected] will also be accepted provided that payment is made to the Leagues Bank Account stated at the bottom of the entry form and the box is ticked. The Entry Form is in the middle of your handbook. Please note that it was agreed at the AGM that entries will only be accepted if payment is made by the closing date. Late entries or entries without payment will not be accepted.