It’s like being at the top of the Senior British Clubs League, Championship division, after the top two teams both took three points from a possible four during the ‘pivot’ weekend.
In the third of the five weekends there is only one day of action. Round 9 concludes the first half of the season and round 10 starts with the return matches.
Hosts Nottingham had a three-point lead over BATTS II at the start of the weekend, and that was still the case at the end of a day marked by a succession of exciting matches.
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Nottingham and BATTS started the weekend with equal 6-2 wins. Nottingham’s were against Finsbury and two wins apiece for Adam Dennison (pictured above, photo by Michael Loveder) and Adam Fuzes backed up the result as Nottingham opened a 4-0 lead. They had to wait to confirm victory when Munib Ahmed defeated Maxim Stevens in five, but Dennison’s second guaranteed the two points.
BATTS encountered more resistance from Ormesby II, who took the lead when Zac Greenhough defeated Jack Bennett. BATTS won the next three, including Ethan Walsh beating Josh Weatherby in five – a bit of a flashback to battles in their Junior days. Thomas Rayner’s win over Bennett kept Ormesby interested at 2-3 down, but when Abraham Sellado had beaten Greenhough in five minutes the momentum stayed with BATTS.
Hurricane equaled the 6-2 scoreline in their victory over Wymondham, with Joe Sawyer and Andrew Wilkinson taking two wins each. Umair Mauthoor got one of Wymondham’s points, his fine 3-2 comeback win (10-12, 11-13, 11-4, 12-10, 11-7) making it 1-1.
Incredibly, those 6-2 scores were the most emphatic of the day, with all other matches ending 5-3 or 4-4.
The last two in round 9 were both 5-3. Urban, who had a disastrous Weekend 2 that saw them fall off the table, managed to win again against Perry Dale, despite Mohammad Salameh’s double for the defeated side.
Alim Hirji provided his own support for Urban, but his teammates Liam McTiernan and Mateusz Mikosz played a key role with 3-2 wins over Lloyd Gregory and Joe Marlor in the third and fourth matches respectively, as Urban opened a 4-1 lead after losing the first end.
In the other match Woodford Wells came from 2-0 down to beat Ormeau II. Adam Faulkner and Sophie Earley put the Irish team ahead, but Woodford Wells won the next four, including a double for Sinan Surensoy and a fine comeback from Aarav Parihar, who defeated Conor Nugent 3-2 (9-11, 1-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8) in Match 4.
Nugent had his own comeback, beating Rayan Ansari 3-2 (8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-7), but Parihar completed his double against Thomas Earley to seal the result.
In round 10, four of the five matches ended in 4–4 draws, with only Hurricane bucking the trend by beating Ormesby 5–3. Sawyer and Yan Masa Hiko had a doubles match as Hurricanes led 3-0 and 4-1, although they lost two of four matches to go to a fifth match.
Leaders Nottingham faced a crisis as they trailed Perry Dale 2-0 and 4-2, but they salvaged a point in a match that saw the first five draws go to the decider.
Salameh defeated Maxim Stevens 11-9 in the fifth, before Mircea Neagu came from 2-0 down to beat Adam Dennison. Dennison youngster Joseph then beat Gregory 11-9 in the fifth, and Adam Fuzes made it 2-2, leaving Marlor 14-12 in the decider.
Neagu’s 3-2 (12-10, 6-11, 11-9, 13-15, 11-7) win over Stevens, and Salameh’s defeat of Joseph Dennison in three consecutive matches threatened to pull off an upset, but Adam Dennison defeated Marlor in four and Fuzes defeated Gregory in three to pull Nottingham out of trouble.
BATTS also had to come from behind in their draw against third-placed Finsbury. They trailed 1-0 and 2-1 but drew level on both occasions – but Ahmed and Jonathan Lancry completed the personal doubles to move Finsbury within touching distance of victory.
Sellado completed his double with a three-match win over Hassan El Kaakour but Finsbury were on the brink as Abdullah Ubaidullah Walsh led 2-0. However, Walsh roared back to take a 3-2 (5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6) victory as BATTS earned a point.
Wymondham came from 3-0 and 4-2 down to draw against Woodford Wells. Surensoy had a double for Woodford, including a 3-2 &-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10) win over Oleh Biletskyi, while Dan Ives doubled for Wymondham, including a 3-2 (5-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6) win over Parihar. It was Ryan Holland who sealed the draw for Wymondham as he defeated Parihar 11-9 in the fifth in the final tie.
Urban climbed to fourth place thanks to the draw against Ormeau, who made up four times a one-match deficit. Gabriel Achampong got the only double of the match, including a nice 3-2 (9-11, 12-14, 11-6, 11-8, 16-14) victory over Sophie Earley. It was Thomas Earley who won the last match 3-2 (11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 1-11, 11-6) against Mikosz.
James Hobson from Nottingham and Paul McCreery from Ormeau are still at the top of the averages with 8/8 but were not active this weekend. Sellado won his four matches to join the 100% club. Of the more regular players, Fuzes has 14/16 and Adam Dennison 17/20.
The next weekend of action is on February 28 and March 1, with Nottingham and BATTS meeting in the final round of play on Sunday afternoon. The last weekend is March 28-29.
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