Such was their dominance, Blackwater C have won the Division 3 title of the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League with three matches to go after their 7-3 victory over their nearest rivals Blackwater D.
Blackwater secured victory with their 7-3 victory over second-placed Blackwater D, which was enough to widen the gap beyond the reach of the rest of the division. It was a traditional ‘dusty bin’ 3-2-1 performance for the champions, with Andrea Alleyne scoring a hat-trick, supported by Peter Davenport with two wins and Tina Hutchinson taking a point from Roger Tiffin.
Hutchinson was unlucky not to be able to add to her numbers as her other matches all went deep into the deciding sets – with her match with Dave Benstead ultimately ending with a 15-13 energy loss.
While Blackwater D dropped points in the top-of-the-table match, Maldon D sneaked into second place with a 7-3 win over Blackwater E. James Raymond continued his impressive form with another hat-trick, with Luca Riedling taking two wins and Shirley Carroll taking a single point.
Maldon E had a good week with an 8-2 win over St Lawrence A, followed by a draw against Woodham D. Kym Eames was the star of the St Lawrence battle as she recorded her first treble of the season against experienced opposition. This included a four-set victory over Dave Bateman, who himself was in excellent form as he won all his other matches.
In the Woodham match Maldon had a 3–0 lead as Woodham were one player short and unfortunately encountered the determined Simon Thomas who remained unbeaten all night despite a very tight five-setter against John Leavett.
Thomas continued his undefeated antics as his Woodham team (full complement this time) recorded a 7-3 victory over Blackwater F. The toughest match of the evening saw Thomas and Jason Bush go head-to-head in a five-set battle that saw Thomas have to come back from 2-0 down to maintain his winning form. The sartorial explosion that is Chris Crooks won two of his singles to support the Thomas haul, and the two combined for a comfortable doubles point.
In Division 1, Fambridge have finally overtaken long-time leaders Cold Norton B after their 9-1 defeat to Cold Norton C this week. Leaders Cold Norton B have Arron Chandler to thank for taking the only Cold Norton point against Mark Stones, keeping Cold Norton B in first place based on the number of games won alone.
What a run-in we have now – especially with the two leads meeting next week in the mother of all winner-takes-all clashes. Fambridge’s Keith Adams and John Poysden both hit trebles that evening to keep the pressure on.
An unusual looking Woodham A side put aside concerns about availability as they brushed aside the upcoming Stow Maries trio in a 9-1 turnover. The Woodham trio of Harry Sawford, Dan Piggott and especially Dave Penrose all scored hat-tricks on the night. That would be Penrose’s first top-flight hat-trick at Burnham, and his first ‘Player of the Match’ award. Despite crushing singles defeats, Stow’s Gary Brignall and Ken Sheard rallied for the doubles to take the unexpected bonus point in straight sets from Piglet and Sawford.
The final match of the week saw Mapledene B host Woodham B at their beautiful alternative venue. Woodham were a little out of control and left in awe of the venue and facilities and in dismay at their performance as they fell to a 9-1 defeat with Peter Harverson saving the whitewash with a last set win over David Jacob.
Jacob won his other matches and came back from 2-0 down against Eamonn Hall in an opening thriller. Mapledene’s Simon Jacob and Colin Chatfield both remained unbeaten in excellent displays, making excellent use of their variety of bats and rubbers, and the Jacobs brushed aside the Woodham doubles duo for the extra point.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Woodham B side this week as they powered their way into the Handicap Cup final with a 5-1 win over the highly-fancied Blackwater A. Blackwater got off to a great start and took the opening double, but that only allowed Woodham to further improve his game in the remaining evenly contested matches.
Peter Harverson got past Neil Freeman 19 & 20, and Graham Briggs came through a tricky encounter with Denis Balic. Noah Sage was in good form all evening for Blackwater, playing a thoughtful and mature style that caused problems for his opponents. The match against Eamonn Hall lasted three legs and remained largely in the balance until the final few points, where Hall produced a masterful set of five serves to take the final leg.
The middle doubles was extremely even and well contested throughout. At the end of the deciding leg, Blackwater had five match points to extend the match but failed to take them – eventually Woodham had a match point at 25–24 and duly wrapped up the match to take an overall 4–1 lead. Blackwater’s hearts were broken.
Sage stepped up to face Harverson and he powered his way into the opening leg. Harverson came back to get things sorted in the second, but fell significantly behind on the final stage – it was time to dig deep. Harverson eventually tied the game at 16, but relaxed a little too much and trailed 19-17 with Sage on the march. Time to dig deep again, and Harverson scored four points to take the stage of that game and secure his team’s path to the Finals later in the season.
Maldon A continue their march towards the Division 2 title. This week they defeated a spirited Stow B side in a 7-3 scoreline, with all three Maldonites gaining two singles, but none were able to beat Adi Kamma’s fireball. Kamma took his second hat-trick for his new Club, including a ding dong 5-setter with Colin Napper.
Blackwater A, in second place, failed to take advantage of Kamma’s gift as they were in the hands of an unusually strong Cold Norton D trio. Blackwater’s defensive master Denis Balic was in top form as he completed his hat-trick with a decisive set victory over unbeaten Neil Want. With just three games left to play, this week’s draw may have dashed any championship hopes for the Blackwater Gang.
Mapledene C had a busy week. In their opening match they met the challenge of Blackwater B with an Andy Seaman-inspired 7-3 win, and that was followed by defeat to Woodham C where they lost by the same 7-3 scoreline.
Although Seaman was a model of concentration for his high notes in the first match, the same could not be said for the Blackwater comedy trio as they suffered a wardrobe malfunction as they had to play the matches in a variety of random and ill-fitting shoes due to a lack of care in packing for the match. In the doubles, both Mervyn Perriman and Simon Quelch wore one of Roger Slade’s shoes to make Roger feel better about being dropped – they lost and Roger was not happy!
In the second match it was Woodham’s Tim Pulham who caused the most trouble as he remained unbeaten in his three tough matches, including an edge-of-your-seat victory over Sue Body in the final set 12-10. Body had a busy night as all her singles went the distance. She came out on the right side in a last two set against Alan Dadswell, but lost 11-6 to Allan Steel in another fifth set.
Dawn Baldry was on fire for Maldon C this week as she led her team to a tight 6-4 win over Cold Norton E. Baldry powered his way to a hat-trick of wins in singles and teamed with Marty Englander to get the crucial match-winning point in doubles. For Cold Norton, both Dick Wyman and Tony Forster won two singles, but could not come close to the hard-hitting Baldry.
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