A very tight run of matches in the top division of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League allowed Cold Norton B to strengthen their lead without lifting a racket.
Blackwater A are on the hunt in Division 2 and Blackwater C are returning with a bang after being retained last week.
Two draws and a narrow 6-4 victory for Cold Norton. The bonus double points show just how close the mid-table teams are in this year’s competition – the luck of the squad and the clash of styles is evident every week.
Two-way Cold Norton A held Mapledene A to a credible 5-5 draw, despite Liam Squirrell beating both Kevin Read and Chas Sweeny. Read and Sweeny won all their other singles and were clearly a duo for the doubles victory against George Reeves & Squirrell.
In their second match of the week, Cold Norton A traveled the short distance to Woodham B and got off to a disastrous start as the great Sanjay Saptarshi defeated Matt Stringer 3-0 in the opening match. Luckily Cold Norton were fit and well again, Duncan Taylor was on hand to smooth things out with two wins over Graham Briggs and Eamonn Hall – both matches were perhaps tougher than expected as the Woodham boys put up quite a fight.
The teams even went in at the break, with Hall putting in a clinical performance to beat Neil Want in straight sets. With Stringer barrier hopping for the evening, Taylor was called up to doubles and decided to play fast and furious, hitting winners on almost every shot. His partner, Want, was allowed to serve, but that was about all he was allowed to contribute as Taylor’s murder went largely unchecked and the important point was secured in record time.
With a small lead secured, it was all down to the last three singles. Because against Briggs he found some form as their chaotic match entered a deciding leg. Briggs remained most focused as his opponent left Wanting, bringing the match to a 4-4 stalemate. That didn’t last long as a relaxed Stringer stormed through Hall with a display of forehand and backloops, so the match was left to the match they had all come to watch: Saptarshi versus Taylor.
Taylor had now found his mojo and was in full winning mode, so much so that despite hitting some decent winners, Saptarshi was blown away for Taylor’s clean win of the evening, leaving Cold Norton the 6-4 victors.
Across the Woodham arena there was treble action for two of the Woodham A players. Daniel Young (pictured above opposite Matt Stringer) was in inspiring form for his unbeaten night in both singles and doubles, while Woodham debutant Dan Zeffie had a night to forget as he lost all his singles in long, hard-fought battles – losing in five to Matt Stringer after being 2-0 up, losing again in five to Kim Shead and was slightly quicker when losing in four sets to Arron Chandler.
Woodham’s management have expressed confidence in Zeffie and predict many will follow suit for a hat-trick in the future. Woodham’s Chris Hancox picked up an excellent point at the very difficult Shead to help Woodham secure the draw.
The story inside Division 2 are the Blackwater A-side’s rising fortunes as they inch closer to the top 2 each week. Another good win this week puts them closer to the podium than the pack chasing them, and that’s four wins from the last five games, with the other a draw – so watch this space.
Maldon A remain in front after an 8-2 win over Cold Norton E – trebles for the reliable Hamish Innes and Lloyd Bennett-Smith, while Colin Napper falls to the third wheel in the differing styles of Dick Wyman and Tony Forster. Wyman had a long and tough night, playing the maximum 15 legs in his three matches for just one win over Napper.
Second-placed Mapledene C fell prey to the various charms of Stow Maries B. Stow’s Peter Hance was the driving force behind his team’s 7-3 victory with a perfect evening that saw him basically just struggle with the feisty Pat White, where he had to use all five legs to come out on top. This was the last game of the night, so it could have been well past Hance’s bedtime by then.
With Mapledene dropping points, Blackwater A closed in on their podium finish with a very respectable 7-3 turnover of the Maldon B trio. In a ‘Dusty Bin 3-2-1’ performance it was Denis Balic who did the most damage with the hat-trick move, but he was ably supported by Alan Scammell with two wins and Neil Thompson who played for the final singles point with his 3-0 win over Garry Eames.
Woodham’s hard-hitting Chris Hancox was the difference between Woodham C and Blackwater B this week. With everyone else taking points from each other, it was left to Hancox to smash his way through the Blackwater barrier, dropping just one set all evening in the 6-4 win.
Maldon C are remarkably low in the division for some of the talent they have registered. This week they secured a draw against Cold Norton D, largely thanks to a fantastic treble from Marty Englander, including a remarkable win over Neil Want. In support of England’s efforts, Dawn Baldry scored two good wins to secure the draw. For he made up for his earlier loss to Englander by teaming with Terry Hyland to take the doubles away from Baldry and Englander.
After last week’s unexpected draw for Division 3 leaders Blackwater C, it was back to normal this week as they crushed Blackwater F in a hair-raising 10-0 whitewash. An undefeated evening for the C-team trio Andrea Alleyne, Gary Smith and Neil Thompson. Thompson came through the toughest match of the night as he defeated Keith Thompson in five sets of intense match play.
Blackwater D continued their futile attempts to keep pace with their rampant C team, recording a 7-3 victory over Blackwater E this week, with Roger Tiffin once again the star player with an undefeated night of ping pong. Deb Ginn was the best of the E-team and won both of her other competitions.
Tim Huxtable did well for Maldon E with three decent wins against Woodham D. Woodham’s side were just unable to break through Huxtable’s unorthodox defence. With Joh Leavett as the winner with two victories, the final score was 7-3 for Maldon E.
St Lawrence were back on track this week against Maldon D with two players. This match was like going back in time to the early 1970s, when former men’s champion Mick Robinson took on former women’s champion Shirley Carroll – with Carroll narrowly coming out on top some fifty years later. Fortunately for Robinson, his teammates fared better and both Mike Burton and Dave Bateman remained undefeated all evening as St Lawrence won 8-2.
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