Nottingham took a big step towards winning the Senior British Clubs League Championship division title as they extended their lead at the top of the table with one weekend to play.
The host club led BATTS II by three points at the start of the weekend, but increased that to five points on Sunday evening – although it wasn’t all plain sailing as both teams dropped points.
The weekend ended with a crucial 4-4 draw between the top two. A win for BATTS would have closed the gap to three, which would have left them feeling still in the hunt for the title. As things stand, it would take a major turnaround in the final weekend of March 28-29 for Nottingham to emerge victorious.
BATTS must have had the confidence to close the gap – they came from 1-0 and 2-1 down to lead the match 4-2 after Abraham Sellado scored a double and Djen Bakx defeated Oliver Cornish 3-2 (9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9).
But Maxim Stevens pulled one back for Nottingham by beating Luc Miller 3-2 (11-6, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7) and James Hobson (pictured above) saved the draw when he beat Ethan Walsh in four.
In the first round on Saturday, BATTS got off to a poor start as they were brushed aside 6-2 by Hurricane, who led 2-0 and 5-1, with Joe Sawyer and Daniel O’Connell both taking doubles – including Sawyer beating Sellado in the fifth.
Nottingham started with a 5-3 win over Ormeau, although they had to fight as they were three times down before winning the last three matches, including Joseph Dennison beating Adam Faulkner 3-2 (11-6, 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 11-7) in the penultimate match and Hobson beating Christopher Allsop 3-2 (13-11, 11-4, 7-11, 6-11, 11-5) to seal it in the final.
Also in Saturday morning’s matches, Ormesby II defeated Woodford Wells 6-2. One of the matches against Ormesby was an eye-catching 3-2 (12-10, 4-11, 12-10, 7-11, 16-14) win for Sinan Surensoy over Zac Greenhough – Surensoy also defeated Thomas Rayner 12-10 in the fifth.
It was the same score for Perry Dale against Finsbury, as Wymondham defeated three-player Urban 5-3.
In Saturday afternoon’s matches, BATTS bounced back from their opening defeat with an 8-0 romp against Woodford Wells, while Hurricane also recorded a whitewash against Finsbury. Ormeau won 5-3 against Perry Dale, who closed from 4-1 to 4-3 before Allsop defeated Mari Baldwin in four to take the points for Ormeau.
The other two matches were draws, including leaders Nottingham’s match with Wymondham. Nottingham led 3-1 after winning three five-setters but were 4-3 behind when Wymondham hit back, including a fine 3-2 (6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-2, 13-11) win for Umair Mauthoor over Adam Dennison. Hobson’s victory over Dan Ives in the final match sealed a point for Nottingham.
The other tie was between the three men of Urban and Ormesby II. Urban’s Gabriel Achampong defeated Greenhough 3-1 (11-13, 19-17, 14-12, 14-12) in a close arm wrestle.
Greenhough recovered on Sunday morning to score a double against Nottingham, including an 11-8 win over Stevens in the fifth, but his wins were the only ones for Middlesbrough as the leaders won 6-2.
BATTS dropped another point in a 4-4 draw against an Urban side, now with a full complement of players. BATTS will be fooling themselves as they led three times, including 4-2, only for Barney Mindlin to beat Bakx 3-2 (13-11, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4) and Kanayo Onuma to then beat Walsh 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9).
Hurricane beat Woodford Wells 6-2, and it was 7-1 for Perry Dale against Wymondham (although none were decided in three consecutive matches). Finsbury versus Ormeau ended 5-3 in favor of the former, despite Paul McCreery’s double for Ormeau, including beating Ho Yin Tam 16-14 in the fifth.
Sunday afternoon’s matches were the 14th of 18 this season, including the 4-4 draw between Nottingham and BATTS. There was also a draw between Perry Dale and Ormesby – the latter coming from 3-0 up, and from 4-3 down, gaining a point with Josh Harland’s win in the fifth over Baldwin. Greenhough was involved in another thriller, beating Mircea Neagu 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 5-11, 13-11, 14-12).
It was 6-2 for Wymondham at Ormeau, while the other two games were 5-3 wins for Hurricanes and Finsbury over Urban and Woodford Wells respectively.
So, with one weekend and four games to go, Nottingham has 24 points, with BATTS second in 19 and Hurricane third on 1.
Ormeau are bottom with seven points, but they do have the best player in the division in the averages – McCreery has won all 16 games, a 100% record. BATTS’ Sellado is next, on 91.67% (11/12), with Nottingham duo Adam Fuzes and Hobson on 87.5% (14/16).
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