The Burnham & District Table Tennis League is back in the business world and the opening week saw two malfunctions in the top division and an unprecedented whitewash of victories for all six of the Blackwater clubs.
What a great start for the Maldon -based outfit, while rubbing their local products in the wounds of their humble opponents.
The opening matches in Division 1 saw two of last year’s championships surpassed by much lower ranked opponents. The favorites for the Mapedenene A season fell to Woodham B in a 6-4 competition in which Woodham’s Sanjay Saptarshi (shown above) saw unbeaten for his opening hat trick of the season.
Harry Sawford walked in with two points, including an impressive straight sets victory over Steve Muth. The last point came from Captain Eamonn Hall with his own straight sets victories on Pat White.
The match of the night saw Sawford and ex-Woodham teammate than patynski toe to toe in a total five-set Slugfest that Patynski eventually won after a backlog of 2-1 earlier in the game. Patynski was the best player of Mapledene in the night when he opened his account with two singles and the Doubles in combination with Muth.
In the second shock of the week, the Galacticos of Fambridge were subdued by a very talented and hard-working Mapledene B-trio. Fambridge star player Keith Adams did not disappoint with his personal hat trick with a difficult 13-11 fifth set of triumph over the unbeaten Glenn Johnson.
For Maplede, the damage was caused by the silent and subdued combination of Johnson and Keith Willett who won two singles each and collaborated for an excellent bonus point of five set of Doubles. Simon Jacob completed the score for Mapledene with a three-set victory over Bruce Kettle. These early shocks have certainly put the pigeons under cats.
In Division 2 there were numerous familiar faces and the results were largely as expected in view of the teams shown.
Blackwater A and B both won their matches against the lower cold Norton sides. Blackwater A did not last too long to get the size of the brand new cold Norton E -where only the experienced Dick Wyman turned out to be difficult to beat. Wyman took both points from his team, but was unable to tackle the Loopy Forehand attack by Neil Freeman, who saw Freeman take his first (of many expected) hat tricks in this division. Freeman was skilled by a wingmaned by Blackwater Stalwarts Alan Scammell and Denis Balic.
The B-team placed a 7-3 victory over the stronger cold Norton D side with the ‘Dancing Queen’ that Mervyn Perriman is unbeaten all night in Singles and double for a very well-deserved player of the game shield. Louis Gunn worked together in double extraction and added two singles victories to stimulate the score for Blackwater.
Mapedene C played a strong trio for the opener against Maldon B and came away with a healthy 8-2 victory with hat tricks for Dave Woolmer and Tony Ayliffe.
In the last match of the division, Woodham C played an extremely strong line-up that comes well for the season, placing a 7-3 triumph over the tough to defeat Stow Maries B with a hat trick for the young star Peter Harverson and two wins for new supplier Scott Perry and new signing Tim Pulham.
The Siege van Blackwater remained unabated in Division 3 when Blackwater teams C to F won all four of the division competitions to completely dominate the early classification.
The highly talented C-team quickly made work of the Maldon E-side with Maldon’s trusted John Leavett who saves the Whitewash with a respectable four-set victory over Andrea Alleyne. For Blackwater there were hat tricks for both Colin Barham and Gary Smith.
The D-side included a winning return to Burnham for Roger Tiffin in a 7-3 turnover of Maldon D. All three of the D-team booked two victories because they all fell into the defensive know-how of Maldon’s transfer window that signed Tim HXTTABLE. For Blackwater, Dave Benstead and Jacqui Treace gave the remaining points.
The e-team had the most difficult evening when they pressed Woodham D with a tight 6-4 margin in a team effort in which the trio of Kath Little, Keith Thompson and Deb Ginn all won two each. For Woodham, Chris Crooks won two and debutant Jean Chasmer added another point before they arrived an excellent double voucher.
The F-team had a much easier time against St. Lawrence when they conquered with a considerable 8-2 point distance. A ‘nine-dart’ hat trick for Jason Bush while he starts the season in style, and a laudable hat trick for David Mchattie, with Peter Hughes who maintained two victories with an epic battle with five set with the bustling Dave Siggins. Siggins and Nigel Brand then strained the opportunities with an unexpected double extraction to control the unbridled Blackwater Trio – a little bit!
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