Lots of ups and downs in the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League this week as the leaders of Divisions 1 and 3 increase their points margin, while leaders Maldon A of Division 2 suffer a rare and humiliating defeat.
But the story of the week has to be Cold Norton D in Division 2 – the only winless team in the entire competition so far – coming out of nowhere to pull off a stunning 9-1 victory over a very tough opponent.
Cold Norton B have maintained their drive to retain the League crown over the Christmas period and came through a tricky draw with in-form Mapledene B this week. The final score was 7-3, but Mapledene were a player behind and the scores could have been much closer had they been fully loaded.
That night, Cold Norton’s hitman Ian Wall was in good shape and didn’t drop a match all evening. Mapledene’s Kieran Skeggs took two wins, including a very notable victory over Sam Lowman.
Fambridge continues to maintain contact with the leaders and now poses the only credible threat. This week they triumphed over a young and energetic Woodham A side with a standout victory for the stoic Mark Stones over recently crowned Chelmsford Singles champion Dan Young. That epic win was enough to give Stones a hat-trick and a much-deserved player of the match award.
Stones was ably supported by Paul Sayer with two wins and Bruce Kettle with one point – a classic ‘Dusty Bin’ 3-2-1 combo. For Woodham, Young won his other matches and Dan Zeffie came through a tough five-setter with Kettle to finish 12-10 at the death. To complete the scoring Woodham took the doubles for an overall 6-4 win for Fambridge.
Mapledene A defeated Cold Norton A with a 7-3 win. Liam Squirrell remains the man to beat, but none of the Nortonians came close as Squirrell added to his impressive winning percentage to remain at the top of the singles chart with just one defeat all season.
Steve Muth added two points to the Mapledene tally and George Reeves came in with a very narrow victory over the tricky Kim Shead – all the way to 14-12 in the decider. Norton’s Matt Stringer showed some metal from behind in both of his five-set victories over Muth and Reeves.
Division 2 Leaders Maldon A were dealt a major blow this week when they were embarrassed by their own C team in a Maldon derby that could yet impact this year’s title. For the C team, both Dawn Baldry and Marty Englander scored spectacular hat-tricks, with Chris Ravenhill taking a five-set lead over Ross Kirby, and doubles with Englander. Despite the final score, the matches were all close, with none being settled in straight sets and half of the matches going to five sets – of which the C team won four!
Fortunately for Maldon A, their nearest rivals were in contention this week and Mapledene C came away with a very narrow 6-4 win over Blackwater A, with a five-set doubles win being enough to separate the pack pushers. Another match with a plethora of five-setters – including Tony Ayliffe hanging on for dear life against the defensive talents of Denis Balic, with Ayliffe scoring a hat-trick to secure victory in the final match of the evening. Lin Roff had a good night with wins over Noah Sage and Neil Freeman, and she teamed up with Ayliffe for that important doubles point.
The shock of the week was winless Cold Norton D who discovered a huge amount of nerve and out of nowhere destroyed the regular Stow Maries B team. What an achievement. Hat-tricks for the wily Peter Lucraft and Dick Wyman from the E-team, and two wins for the regular Terry Hyland gave the previously hapless D-team a 9-1 victory.
In the final match of the week, Woodham C condemned Maldon B to bottom place with a steady 8-2 victory. For Woodham, there were hat-tricks for Tim Pulham and Scott Perry – with Pulham hitting a nine-darter and dropping just one leg in the doubles, which he blamed on partner Alan Dadswell anyway.
It remains all about Blackwater C Division 3 as they steam towards the title – another 10 points this week as they whitewashed their own E-team. Relatively easy hat-tricks for the impressive trio of Gary Smith, Peter Davenport and Tina Hutchinson. This victory gives them a 43-point lead over their nearest rivals.
Maldon D had a good week as they came out strong in their encounter with Blackwater F. At 9-0 it looked like a whitewash was a certainty. In the final match, Shirley Carroll was 2-0 up against David McHattie, but as her colleagues began gathering their belongings to leave, McHattie came alive and rattled off the next three legs for an unexpected whitewash to avoid victory – a major effort. Hat tricks for both James Raymond and Luca Riedling.
#Burnham #Dist #Finally #win #Cold #Norton #Table #Tennis #England