Final Summer League Report 2018 (by David Cue)

We atttracted 17 teams for this summers programme, mainly teams from Iron Room, Ruckinge, Lydd & Ashford Table Tennis Club.  My sincere thanks to all those players who turned out in what is proving to be one of the hotest summers ever.

I am happy to report that all matches have been played with many congratulations to Challock (Darren Richardson, Nigel Griffiths, and Captain Jamie MacDonald) who won division 1 for the first time,  Division Two was won by Ruckinge C (Clive Devlin, Dani Simmons and Captain Richard Wright).

The 2018 is also the third time that we have handicapped the league, which I think in general has been successful.  May be we could have given the Ruckinge C team a lower handicap in the beginning.  Also one or two of the players in division one needed an extra point or two.  The handicapping is of course based on Steve Bispham's excellent winter ranking list.

I would welcome your comments on wether we should continue to use the handicapping for the next years summer league or not.

Firstly to Challock where Darren Richardson (0) played a major part for his team by only losing one match all season, and that to Lydd A's Keith Yarnley who despite starting with a handicap of (-9) managed to overhaul Darren to win 22-20, 21-17.  However Jamie MacDonald managed to overcome Alison Yarnley's pimple rubber, both players starting from (+4) to win 21-17, 13-21, 21-17.  This proved to be the vital rubber as Darren had a comfortable win against Alison Yarnley whose (+4) was not nearly enough against Darren (0) with the Challock player winning 21-18, 21-17.  Darren and Jamie paired up to win the doubles 21-9, 21-2 to give Challock a 3-2 win.

Nigel Griffiths (0) also played a major part for the Challock team.  Playing with Darren Richardson (0) they both proved too strong for last seasons champions Iron Room B with Kevin Beasley (-5) and Michelle Kingsland (-2) who could never quite make up the handicap with the Challock team winning 5-0.  However Michelle (-2) played really well taking Darren to three legs before losing21-18, 18-21, 11-21.

A special mention must go to Keith Yarnley (-9) who played in every match for Lydd A.  He never lost a rubber all season, even when playing against a strong Iron Room A side he still overcame Joe Britnell (-7) and Paul Walmsley (-7).

Iron Room A finished the season in second place but could not field their strongest side against Ashford B and also had the disadvantage of having to play away at Ashfords venue.  Reuben Tozer (+1) proved too steady against Iron Room's Michael Lee (-3) who could not make the handicap up, losing 18-21, 13-21.  Ashford B's Jenny Swain (+8) surprised Iron Room A's Paul Walmsley (-7) who also had difficulty making the handicap up, finally losing 21-17, 16-21, 15-21.  However Walmsley showed his defensive skills, pulling the handicap back against Reuben to win 21-18, 21-16.  Paul and Michael secured a narrow victory against Reuben and Jenny winning the doubles for the Iron Room team 15-21, 21-18, 25-23.

Iron Room A's only other defeat was again against a strong Ashford A side which included Louis Bigallwt (-8) again losing 2-3.  Here Paul Walmsley (-7) only just lost to Louis who showed that he is a quality player having all the shots at his disposal, with Paul just losing 20-22, 21-9, 18-21.

Longest match of the summer with all five rubbers being decided in the final game with Iron Room D beating Iron Room C 4-1.  Iron Room D team Colin Sleap (+4) and Peter Coles (+4).  Iron Room C team Michael Lee (-3), and Keith Harris (0).

Ashford A ended the season tied with Lydd A in 3rd position.  Louis Bigalett (-8) played a major part, together with Roger Harris (-4) and the very promising Tom Down (-4), and captained by Russel Swain (+1).  Apart for their win against Iron Room A, one of their best wins of the summer was their 3-2 win against Lydd A with both Tom Down (-4) and Russel Swain (+1) beating Lydd's Alison Yarnley (+4), finishing with a fine win in the doubles against Keith and Alison Yarnley 16-21, 21-14, 21-12.

Congratualtions to the Ruckinge C team for winning Division 2.  They were outstanding this summer remaining unbeaten throughout the season.  Perhaps we got the handicap slightly wrong at the beginning of the season but we adjusted the handicap so that all the Ruckinge side had +2.

The Ruckinge side included Dan Simmons, Clive Devlin and Richard Wright.  Although winning 5-0 against Ruckinge F the match was keenly contested by Julian Thorne (-5), and Charlie Thorne (+14) for the "F" team with Richard Wright pulling back the handicap to win in three games 21-20, 15-21, 21-19.  Julian Thorne also fought hard but could not quite make up the handicap also losing out to Richard 21-18, 19-21, 17-21.

Congratulations also to the Ashford C team of Keith Young (+7), and Jack Westbrook (+12) they gave Ruckinge C perhaps their hardest match of the Summer onlyjust losing 2-3 with both Jack and Kieth beating CLive Devlin, and Jack just losing to Richard Wright 21-20, 17-21, 20-21.  While the doubles was just won by the Ruckinge team winning 21-18, 18-21, 21-20.

Division 1

Divison 2