If it’s not already clear, Netts A’s hold on the Braintree Table Tennis League championship title is quite firmly established at the halfway point of the competition.
With nine wins out of nine, the league champions entered the new year 20 points ahead of the pack, on 57 points, against second-placed Black Notley A on 37.
After combining their A and B teams from last season, Netts have successfully deployed their resources to ensure they never fall short.
Paul Davison, still unbeaten, James Hicks and Andy Holmes, the core of last season’s title-winning team, once again formed the starting line-up, with at least two featuring in every match.
The exception was against Rayne B, where Joe Meleschko, playing in six of the nine matches, Szczepan Ziobro, making his only appearance of the season, and Charles Calisin, playing from the second division, comfortably secured an 8–2 win.
Davison had identified Sudbury Nomads as their most likely challengers for the season and took no chances when the teams faced off by showing his top team, who responded by taking all 10 sets.
Nomads are in the pack of four teams with four points from second to fifth place and will jump to second place if they gain four points from their match in hand, but that is against Rayne A, who will join the chasing pack if they take the expected points in their two excellent matches.
The foot of the table has the not unexpected appearance of two of the promoted teams in the bottom three places.
Division two champions Sudbury Wanderers are two places above the bottom and have achieved some strong results for a newly promoted side.
Notley B, unexpectedly promoted from second place, have found life more difficult but have secured a few draws and are only just behind Liberal B, a combination of last season’s B and C teams.
Individual averages (qualifying one third of team matches): 1 Paul Davison 15 wins in 15 sets, average 100; 2 James Hicks 20-21, 95.2; 3 Aron Jordan 13-15, 86.7; 4= Alistair Hill, James Mullane, Ian Whiteside 7-9, 77.8; 7 Luke Burridge 18-24, 75; 8 Andy Holmes 8-11, 72.7; 9 Richard Fifield 16-24, 66.7; 10 Sean Clift 17-27, 62.9; 11 Zach Harrington 13-21, 61.9; 12 Steve Noble 11-18, 61.1; 13 Chris Parr 16-27, 59.3; 14=Steve Pennell 10-18, David Razzell 5-9, 55.6; 16 Joe Meleschko 9-17, 52.9; 17= Karl Baldwin, Neil Freeman 11-21, 52.4; 19 Adam Clift 12-24, 50; 20 Sam Burrows 10-21, 47.6.
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