Woodham A Win Team Handicap Cup

Woodham A emerged victors of this season’s Team Handicap competition, ten years on from last winning it in 2007/08. Hosted by Steve Scholz at Drapers Farm, the Final saw Woodham’s Gus Heath (-14), Lee McHugh (-14) and George Ashley (-4) face off against Cold Norton A’s Mike Hayes (-16), Sam Lowman (-15) and Steve Maltby (-14). In the opening doubles McHugh/Ashley tore off to a promising start taking the first end 21-10 against Hayes/Maltby and for a moment it looked like the Norton duo would not get off of minus, before recovering a string of points near the end of the game. Norton bit back taking the second end 21-18, before Woodham dug deep to close 21-16 in the third. The second match and first singles saw Heath race into a lead of similar fashion as he led Lowman by fifteen points, but Lowman got his attack firing and only missed out 19-21 in the first end. Heath took advantage of the momentum though by closing out 21-16 in the second to put Woodham into a two nil lead. Next saw McHugh versus Hayes and in a match full of great rallies Hayes really upped his game to take Norton’s first point of the evening 21-19, 14-21, 21-12. In the Ashley versus Maltby match the first, nail-biting end proved crucial which Ashley edged 21-19 and then really got his forehand kills firing to take the second end convincingly 21-12. In the second doubles McHugh/Heath took on Hayes/Lowman and the Norton partnership proved too strong winning 21-14, 21-17. So 3-2 to Woodham overall and the Final looked to be headed to the wire and a late finish, however Ashley stepped up to the plate to battle his Danbury teammate Lowman, and Ashley showed his class by performing way above his given handicap to win 21-16, 21-2. It was then up to Hayes to salvage the match as he took on Heath in a real clash of styles, and in a match that could scarcely have been closer Heath hit a multitude of forehand attacks to get Woodham over the finish line and into the history books winning 21-19, 21-19 and making the score overall Woodham 5 Cold Norton 2. Thank you to Steve Scholz for a well organized and enjoyable cup competition.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 30 - Hear Ye Hear Ye, I Declare Tis Season End And The Champions To Be...

In Division One Fambridge A are the champions, adding an eighth first division title to their record, since last winning it in the 2014/15 season. Congratulations are extended to their core squad of Mark Stones, Keith Adams, John Poysden and Gary Young, plus Gurjit Bhambra, Peter Mynard and Bruce Kettle, captained by Peter Ballard. Mapledene A, who have won the title countless times, are runners-up and likely to finish about seven points short. Down the bottom, West Maldon A finish in last place and they will be relegated alongside Maldon B. Third-placed Maldon A showed no sympathy to their B team when they hammered them 9-1 in the final week of fixtures; Hamish Innes taking his team’s sole point by beating Jon Stokes.

In Division Two Maldon C are 99.999% champions, but I cannot officially declare it due to legal reasons. To pip them to the post West Maldon B would have to win their two remaining matches 10-0, while Maldon C would have to lose their one remaining match 10-0. So, premature congratulations are extended to Bryn Thomas, Roger Hance, Mervyn Perriman and Bryan Speller, plus Adam Cuthbert and Martin Hogg. In relegation positions are Woodham D, and West Maldon C unless they are able to secure 15 points from their two remaining matches to shift above Woodham B who are third from bottom. Some notable performances from the final weeks; Restricted Singles winner Daniel Young scored a fine treble over a strong Maldon C, and Woodham C’s juniors Luca Bailey and Kieran Stanley scored outstanding hat tricks over Stow Maries B including scalps for both of them against Dave Marsh.

In Division Three the champions are, and in my mind’s eye I can see Louis Gunn joyfully jumping up and down, West Maldon D. Congratulations are extended to Louis, David Razzell and Tim Huxtable, plus junior reserves Oliver Wylie, Noah Sage, Blaydon Farmer and not-so-junior Peter Mortensen. Runners-up are Stow Maries D and once they have completed their remaining two fixtures they are likely to finish just one or two points behind. This division had the closest finish of the three this season, and the crunch game was in the final week with West Maldon D beating Stow Maries D 8-2 – almost the exact amount of points they needed to secure the title – Stow’s Richard Allen saved face by getting the better of Tim Huxtable over five ends. Bronze placed Maldon U3A A were not so far behind and they completed their season by defeating their own B team 9-1, league stalwart Norman Hayes on top form.

The Team Handicap Cup Final will be played on Tues 10th April at Drapers Farm between Cold Norton A and Woodham A, and it is quite a rarity for both finalists to be from the first division.

 

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 26 – West Maldon to keep top flight status [Alternative title: It’s Windy at Woodham!]

All of the Siberian snow melted away, allowing the Burnham pingers to get on with their season.

In Division One West Maldon A’s fate is sealed as they will now definitely finish in the bottom two, following an 8-2 loss to a Cold Norton A that featured Duncan Taylor, whom received fantastic support from Sam Lowman who scored a fine treble over Gavin Price, Tim Cramphorn and Glen Laing, while Price and Cramphorn picked up their side’s points by each getting the better of Neil Want. Mapledene A kept up their chase for the title by beating Maldon B 10-0, although the match was not without its difficulties with Steve Muth needing five ends to see off reigning Ladies’ Singles champion Dawn Baldry, and Muth paired with Lee Prentice to just get the better of Steve Scholz/Bryn Thomas in the doubles 5, -10, 4, -10, 8. Maldon A have all but secured bronze by defeating Mapledene C 9-1; Maldon won all four of the matches that went to a fifth end, and Debbie Auvache and Simon Jacob were each involved in two of them, just missing out each time. Elsewhere, Mapledene B versus Stow Maries A finished all square in a match where no player was undefeated and every player won at least once; this result helps Stow immensely in steering away from relegation. Fambridge A faced probably their windiest conditions of the season at Champions Manor Hall where the air conditioning was malfunctioning, but nonetheless they walked away 10-0 victors over Woodham A which brings them one step closer to the title, however it looks like things will be decided in the very last week of the season, as Fambridge have yet to play Mapledene B in their final fixture while Mapledene A are set to play their own B & C teams before the fat lady sings.

In Division Two West Maldon B have now definitely achieved a promotion spot following their recent result beating Woodham B 7-3, when both Nick Duce and super-sub Louis Gunn were undefeated; Allan Steel and Chris Crooks of the opposition bit back with wins over Chris Ciniglio and the doubles over Duce/Ciniglio 7, -11, 2, 1! In the battle of the C teams it was Woodham who came out on top, 10-0 over West Maldon; Allan Steel, Luca Bailey and Kieran Stanley seemed to thrive in the windy conditions as they raised their sails and brushed aside the challenge of Steve Siggs, Tim Huxtable and Barry Evans; Stanley just clinching his win over Evans 12-10 in the fifth. Woodham D (Vince Gurney, Mike Matlin, Mike Burton) faced the wrath of Stow Maries B (Peter Hance, Dave Marsh, Nicholas Reece-Ford) as Stow ran out 10-0 winners without any matches going to five, while Stow C edged out Cold Norton C 6-4 with Tim Pulham pipping teammate John Marshall to the Player of the Match post, both players scoring hat tricks. Division leaders Maldon C beat their own E team 8-2; E’s Mark Shorney was his side’s saving grace with wins over Roger Hance and Mervyn Perriman, while Martin Hogg was unstoppable for the C team.

In Division Three things finished all square in the mid-table clash between Maldon U3A B (Alan Mills, Philip West, Kath Little) and Maldon F (Garry Eames, Robin Sach, Brian Dixon); Eames was unbeaten while Mills picked up two for U3A including a last-gasp win over Sach 2, -10, 11, -9, 8. Elsewhere though were very one-sided results with Maldon U3A A beating Mayland B, Stow Maries D beating St Lawrence A, and Woodham E beating Burnham B, all decided 10-0.

Next weekend is the annual Championships, and a preview article will follow soon together with players’ start times.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 25 - S’now matches!

P1020122 Snow on table tennis table

Actually, despite the awesome pun in the title, it’s not strictly true. On Monday, some brave souls faced the looming Antarctic conditions to complete their fixtures. West Maldon were the busiest club.

In Division One, table bottomers West Maldon A (Glen Laing, Chris Buer, Barry Evans) travelled a little east to match their wits against a different sort of ‘Beast from the East’ - Maldon A! (Paul Stephens, Steve Whiteley, Jon Stokes) Stokes was on flying form, beating all three of his opponents 3-0, however West Maldon took three points home as Laing scored an excellent 9, 7, -8, -6, 9 win over Whiteley, Buer beat Stephens 6, 10, 9, and the pimple-anti combination nightmare teamed up to take the doubles against Stephens/Stokes by a last gasp -9, 6, 10, -5, 11.

In Division Two, West Maldon C played host to Gandy’s Cold Norton C. The home team got off to a flying start, Gary Smith beating Terry Hyland and both Steve Siggs/Colin Barham getting the better of David Hancox – all of these matches decided in the fifth! – alas, the rest of the evening was not set to go their way as they eventually lost 7-3 to the Norton trio. Hyland and hat-tricker Peter Lucraft both paid fifth set vengeance by beating Smith and Siggs respectively, both 11-4 in the decider.

In Division Three, a bit further down the hall at West Maldon Community Centre, division leaders West Maldon D (Louis Gunn, David Razzell, Tim Huxtable) showed that they are not messing around in their title chase by thumping Burnham A (Michael Pratley, David Bateman, Terry Frost) 10-0. Huxtable earned his first Player of the Match award of the season by being the only player not to drop an end. St Lawrence B used their ability of foresight to predict the storm, or time-travelling powers to play their 2nd March match versus Stow Maries D; in my cynical reality I suspect this match was actually brought forward and played weeks ago – still, they might have foresight!

On the whole, it looks like Week 25 will be played at the end of the season. A slight shame as I was keenly anticipating two influential title/relegation results in the top flight, namely Fambridge vs Mapledene B and Stow A vs Maldon B, but the postponements of these matches will make things even tenser. Keep warm everybody!

 

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

Week 24 – The Ubiquitous Steel and Gurney

Leaders Fambridge A and second-placed Mapledene A both notched 10-0 wins last week, keeping up the pressure on each other. Mapledene now trail 15 points with a game in hand. Fambridge’s Peter Mynard was on good form against Maldon B with an impressive 11, 5, 8 win over Maldon’s best player Ciaran Whelan, while Whelan pushed Gary Young all the way in a titanic battle, missing out -8, 9, 17, -6, -7. Mapledene did not have it all their own way versus West Maldon, and Glen Laing in particular pushed the opposition, losing to Lee Prentice 13, -12, -7, -4 and Chris Jacob 6, -8, -8, 12, -8. At the other end of the table, paired alongside Maldon B’s result, Stow Maries A scored a fine 7-3 victory over Mapledene C, which now means they are ahead of second-from-bottom Maldon B by two points and level on games. Stow’s Gary Brignall secured a hat trick, while Mapledene’s Susan Body was on target with wins over Peter Layzell and a particularly hard-fought and impressive -7, 8, 10, -9, 9 over Matthew Brown. Stow A and Maldon B, both teams keen to avoid relegation, meet this week which should be a thrillingly tense affair! Elsewhere in the division last week, Mapledene B beat Woodham A 7-3, for whom Lee McHugh was unbeaten, playing alongside regular division two players Allan Steel and Scott Perry who both put in great efforts at this level, and Maldon A were 8-2 winners over Cold Norton B, Paul Stephens on devastating form with wins over Eric Green 1, 2, 8, Neil Want 6, 6, 6, and Dan Anderson 6, 1, 5.

Woodham C beat Cold Norton C 7-3 in a match where every player won at least one singles; Woodham’s Allan Steel put on a superb display to score a hat trick over Terry Hyland, Simon Lowman and David Hancox all over four ends, and Steel received support from Alan Dadswell with two wins and Vince Gurney with one. Gurney really raised his game a couple of nights later when he was his D team’s sole point earner in their 7-3 loss to Maldon D; Gurney scored his first hat trick of the season defeating Dave Whiting, John Moore and most impressively of all Mark Shorney. Woodham B are somewhat surprisingly struggling down the bottom of the table, and last week’s result did not help their cause as they were whitewashed by third-placed Stow Maries B, whose players (Dave Marsh, Peter Hance and Nicholas Reece-Ford – a strong division two team) were all in blistering form as between them they only dropped one end all evening, when Chris Crooks took the second game off Marsh.

In Division 3 it was 10-0 galore last week, which marks the strength differences in this division. West Maldon D go top with their whitewash of Maldon U3A B, and they dusted off the Fambridge Trophy holder Peter Mortensen for only his third match of the season, who did not disappoint as he was Player of the Match winning all his games in straight sets. Woodham E’s flawless victory over Maldon F is impressive considering they are lower down the table; young Ewan Hynd of Woodham broke his losing streak in some style as he beat Garry Eames, Ross Wheeler and Kym Eames, only dropping two ends. Bottom-placed St Lawrence B were at the mercy of Burnham A; Ivan Joslin was his team’s best player as he took ends off of Terry Frost and very impressively Michael Pratley, one of the division’s strongest players.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 23 – Team Handicap Cup

Both Handicap Cup Semi-Finals were played this week; let’s see what happened! Played best of 3 games, up to 21 points, with pre-determined handicaps, it is always great fun.

The first Semi was fought out on Wednesday at Latchingdon Hall, between Cold Norton C and Woodham A. Norton’s line up was Dave Hancox (-2), Terry Hyland (0) and Roy Gandy (+1), while Woodham’s was Lee McHugh (-14), George Ashley (-4) and Alan Dadswell (-2). To reach this stage, second division’s Norton C had beaten Maldon U3A B and Cold Norton B – a mixture of third and first division sides – while Woodham had done the same, beating St Lawrence B and West Maldon A. The match started well for Cold Norton in the opening Doubles when Hyland/Gandy just got past McHugh/Dadswell in a thrilling deuce decider 17, -15, 22. Woodham displayed prowess in the Singles though by winning the next three matches, although all were decided 2-1; Ashley beating Hancox, McHugh beating Hyland and Dadswell beating Gandy (somewhat fashionably 21-8 in the third). Norton bit back with yet another Doubles success, when Hancox/Hyland defeated McHugh/Ashley 19, 18. So the overall score stood at 3-2 in Woodham’s favour, and the youngest player in the room Ashley dealt admirably with the pressure, getting past Gandy 15, 22. Captain McHugh, infamously chokey (especially in Handicap!), surprised by securing Woodham’s place in the final, beating Hancox -15, 17, 15. Final score Woodham 5, Cold Norton 2.

The second Semi took place on Thursday at Champions Manor Hall, between Cold Norton A and Woodham B, another first versus second division clash. Woodham B was essentially Woodham C’s regular league team, Captain Allan Steel (-2) leading the young guns Kieran Stanley (-1) and Luca Bailey (-1), and they were up against the rather intimidating Norton A of Duncan Taylor (-20), Minda Sinkus (-20) and Sam Lowman (-15). Minus 20 is the lowest possible handicap in the Burnham league. To reach this stage, Woodham B had beaten Maldon U3A A, while Norton A had gotten past West Maldon B and Stow Maries. The opening doubles saw all sorts of young talent involved (I’m including you in that Duncan!), Stanley/Bailey taking on Taylor/Lowman. I wasn’t witness, but in my mind’s eye I see the Norton pair being a bit too steady for their opposition, winning 16, 15. Steel versus Sinkus was next and Steel got Woodham’s first end on the board taking it 21-15, however the Sinkus who Sunk Us did not delay in retaliating 11, 13 and making it 2 nil to Norton in the overall score. Stanley, who is a bit of a Handicap specialist (runner up in both Singles and Doubles at the 2017 Burnham Championships), was up against Taylor next (recently crowned Chelmsford Mens Singles Champion), and I imagine that a thrilling attack versus defence battle ensued, Taylor winning 17, 13. Things looking bleak for Woodham, Bailey was up against Lowman and things swung this way and that, Lowman impressively coming out as victor 16, -16, 16. With Norton leading 4 nil it was all or nothing for Woodham in the second Doubles, with Steel/Stanley (combined -1) versus Taylor/Sinkus (combined -20). Steel/Stanley pummelled their opponents in the first end taking it 21-7 (I mean, that’s not far off scratch!), but alas perhaps Taylor/Sinkus were luring them into a false sense of security as they won the next two ends 16, 15. Final score Cold Norton 5, Woodham 0.

So, there was a potential Derby Final on the cards with Norton v Norton or Woodham v Woodham, but against all odds it was both of the Away teams that prevailed, and in what I think has been some time it will be two first division sides fighting out for honours; Woodham A versus Cold Norton A in the Team Handicap Cup Final which will take place in March.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 22 – Give me Moore

 

In Division 2 Maldon E’s John Moore impressed last week with his first hat trick and PotM award of the season, and a fine performance it was with fight-back wins over Woodham B’s Chris Crooks, Val Board and Eamonn Hall, which helped his team secure a 5-5 draw. Moore nobly stepped down from the doubles and it proved wise as his compatriots Bob King and Roger Clarke beat Crooks n Hall topsy turvely 10, -9, 9, -3, 3. It was a good week for Maldon in fact as their C and D teams also notched up good wins over West Maldon C and Woodham C respectively. For Maldon C Roger Hance was unfazed with a straight-sets hat trick while his teammate Adam Cuthbert also provided a treble, and for Maldon D Karl Baldwin - who is enjoying a good season - was the man to beat as he got past Woodham youngsters Luca Bailey and Kieran Stanley as well as their captain Allan Steel; the closest match of the night was the finale when stalwart Shirley Carroll fought from 2 games down to edge out Bailey -9, -7, 10, 10, 7. Third placed Stow Maries B were held to a draw by Cold Norton C; Roy Gandy impressed with a superb five-set victory over Dave ‘The Tart’ Marsh. Two-man Mayland A (Colin Barrell, Steve Aspland) were 7-3 winners over Woodham D, both players were pushed however especially by Vince Gurney who went down to Barrell -19, -5, 6, 3, -7.

In Division 3 West Maldon D kept up the pressure on Stow D by beating Mayland B 9-1, young Oliver Wylie providing great support to his elders (Louis Gunn, David Razzell) by picking up wins over Carol Surman and Ken Stevens; Gunn was pushed all the way by Jonathan Stevens before winning 11-8 in the fifth end. In fact, all received scorecards for last week’s results were tremendously one-sided; Maldon U3A A whitewashing Burnham B with only two matches going beyond three ends, and Maldon U3A B doing the same to St Lawrence B, meanwhile unfortunately St Lawrence A had to concede their match against Maldon F which pushes Maldon further up the table.

In Divsion 1 Maldon A (Paul Stephens, Jon Stokes, Steve Whiteley) were 6-4 winners against Cold Norton A, despite Minda ‘Sunk Us’ Sinkus scoring a flawless hat trick without dropping an end, and he received fine support from Sam Lowman who scored a great five-set win over Stephens; the doubles just went the way of Stephens/Stokes as they defeated Sinkus/Lowman 13-11 in the fifth end. Fambridge A increased their lead over Mapledene A slightly, thanks to a 9-1 win over Mapledene C for whom Simon Jacob picked up the sole point over Bruce Kettle, meanwhile Mapledene A dropped 3 points to Cold Norton B where Eric Green, John Holland and Neil Want all defeated an out-of-sorts Chris Jacob; Norton nearly took the doubles too when ace defensive pairing Holland/Green went down in five to Steve Muth and reigning Mens Singles Champion Reece Seddon. Third-from-bottom Maldon B will not be pleased to hear that fellow relegation scrappers Stow Maries A won 9-1 last week; Maldon B lost 6-4 to Woodham A, Lee McHugh unbeaten for Woodham while Maldon’s Ciaran Whelan picked up two including an impressive 7, 8, 5 win over Alan Burgess.

Good luck to the teams competing in the Handicap Cup Semi-Finals this week. The entry deadline for the Individual Championships has now passed, however a polite request to Alan Dadswell might still allow you in.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Press Report 6th Feb 2018

Important Reminder: 

BURNHAM CLOSED TOURNAMENT March 17th and 18th 2018

Finals night held Thursday 22nd March.

Entry deadline February 12th - you can find the form under the Tournament tab of the home page - please email your completed form to Alan Dadswell at alandadswell@outlook.com or by post to Alan's new address 53 Eastwood Park Drive, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 5RP. If you are able to pay by bank transfer, you will find the league's account details on the form, and please include your name in the payment reference.

Please note that any entries already sent to Alan's old email address will NOT be received by him as he no longer has access to the account - IGNORE the email address printed in the handbook - you will need to resend to alandadswell@outlook.com.

It is a fantastic tournament and we hope you can take part.

 

Division 1 Week 21- Young against Young, the Epic

 

A humdinger of a week in Division One. First I’ll cover what I alluded to in the title, West Maldon A versus Fambridge A, when Fambridge (Mark Stones, Keith Adams, Gary Young) notched another valuable 10-0 win to keep their nose ahead of Mapledene A. The West Maldon side of Gavin Price, Glen Laing and Daniel Young could not put a dent in the Fambridgians throughout the evening; that was until the final game of the night when Gary, under the lights of his former club, faced the prospect of his very own son, Daniel. Father and son gave everything they got to one another and so ensued an extremely close match, Gary taking the first end 11-7, Dan biting back viciously in the second 11-1, and in a very tight third end Dan shaded it 11-9 to take a 2-1 lead. His dad wasn’t through yet, levelling 11-6 and 2-2. In the fifth and final, Dan led 7-4 before Gary played a shot with the faintest of edges to bring it back to a two point gap; Dan wasn’t done yet though and had not one, not two but three match points over Gary, but with all his experience the Elder Young edged home 15-13 to secure his team’s whitewash victory.

Dan’s would-of-been success over Gary would have been the win of the week in the top flight, but the other candidate – which is now certainly win of the week – is also mighty impressive. Aspiring defender Dan Anderson of Cold Norton B scored a gem of win, -15, 9, 4, 8, over the two-winged powerhouse Stow A’s Gary Brignall, helping his team to a 7-3 win in a match where no player remained unbeaten. What makes Anderson’s victory stand out particularly, is that Brignall had already beaten ace defender Eric Green in the first game of the night, over four close ends -10, 8, 9, 15. Neil Want needed four ends to get past yet another defender, Peter Layzell (there must be a joke about too many defenders in one room?) and Matthew Brown pushed Want even further, succumbing 11-5 in the fifth.

Elsewhere in the first division last week, Cold Norton A brought out the Sinkus to fire a few rounds at Mapledene A; Kevin Read was unflappable, just dropping one end in the evening to Sam Lowman, but Minda bit back with 3-0 victories over Charles Sweeny and Babul McLeod – final score Norton 2 Mapledene 8. Mapledene’s C side (John Tendler, Michael Tappenden, Susan Body) racked up the same amount of points as their A team, and they faced a Woodham A consisting of George Ashley and the Woodham B gallant reserves Eamonn Hall and Chris Crooks. Player of the Match Sue Body carried all before her, but not without danger as Hall (and I think this is Hall’s first ever match in the first division) held two match points over Body before Body’s greater experience helped her home 12-10 in the fifth. Hall also led John Tendler 2-0 in games before succumbing 3-2, a match that must have involved a lot of “chop-back-at-ya-ing” (a new, much needed term coined by Eamonn). Ashley repeated his earlier season success with another fine win over Tappenden, and paired with Crooks in the doubles for a quick-fire 3-0 win over Body and some guy called Bill Smith who I think lives somewhere near there?

So only one result left to discuss and a 9-1 loss could not have been what Maldon B hoped for when they faced Mapledene B (Stuart Gibbs, Barrie Delf, Glenn Johnson – not a bad Mapledene B side admittedly!); things looked bleak at 9 nil down for Ciaran Whelan, Colin Napper and Hamish Innes, however Whelan saved some face with a rather fine 3-2 win over the Delfanator. Not everything went Mapledene’s way though as both Napper and Innes pushed Johnson to five ends, Innes coming especially close just missing out 11-9 in the final game. So the local legend Stuart Gibbs earns himself Player of the Match, but as an aside I feel it worth mentioning that the previous week Delf pipped Gibbs to the PotM post against Mapledene C, when Delf dropped a total of 39 points all evening – quite a feat!

Division 2 January Review - The Board & the Barrel

 

Div 2 has now taken its shape and the likely sub-divisions have been established – it’s a two horse race for the title betwixt Mervyn Perriman’s Maldon C, and the Nicky Duce’s West Maldon B allstars – it is unlikely anyone will catch them although both Mayland A and Stow C certainly have the squads to challenge them but do not regularly play their strongest threesome, or in Mayland’s case any threesome. Maldon C have won 4/4 over the period but have dropped points along the way – with the previously untouchable Bryn Thomas being outdone by Dave Marsh from Stow and the Woodham pairing of Allan Steel and Kieran Stanley.

West Maldon have racked up more points than their adversaries from Maldon courtesy of a couple of whitewashes but could only draw against a resurgent Woodham C team. Then the teams from 3rd to 7th are fighting out for 3rd place – and this is likely to be decided on the number of times Mayland A can field a full complement. With Woodham D firmly at the foot of the table the rest of the teams are fighting for points and pride. Both Cold Norton C and Woodham C pulling away from that relegation zone courtesy of high scoring wins over the Woodham B and D teams. Woodham B look most likely to fill the second relegation space but still have some fight in them picking up a well earned draw with the all-conquering Mayland duet this week – with Val Board taking the divisional win of the month in a 4 set thriller with Colin Barrel.

Mayland secured that draw with their 14th out of 15 doubles win for the season – amazing stats. In the average honours things have changed dramatically with 80s West Ham Throwback Tim Pulham smashing his way to the top of the pile with a handy 92%, as Maldon’s Bryn Thomas falls to 2nd spot on 89% following those recent defeats at the hands of Woodham C. Not surprising to see Loopy Neil Freeman up there on 89%, with deadbat Dave Porter hot on his heels on 88% (could you get two more different styles of play!) – Mayland’s Colin Barrel squeezes into 5th on 83%.

Division 3 Week 21 - Jo Hart goalkeeps for Woodham in season debut

 

Woodham’s Jo Hart made her season debut under the banner of the E team, and Hart simply could not have found herself up against tougher opponents; West Maldon D’s David Razzell, Louis Gunn and Tim Huxtable. Playing alongside Roger Maidment and Captain Mitch Davies, Woodham E were downed 10-0 by the West Maldonites, however the night was not without its challenges for the opposition; there were three five-setters which West Maldon came out on top of, the closest was a corking match between Maidment and Razzell 10, -8, 9, -9, -10 (Razzell is still undefeated this season – just!).

 

 

This result puts West Maldon D at the top of table, one point ahead of Stow Maries D, although Stow have a game in hand. At least, that was true until... Stow’s latest scorecard came through; and somewhat surprisingly they were held to a draw by Maldon U3A A courtesy of impressive efforts by Denis Balic, Roger Tiffin and Jason Bush [https://tabletennis365.com/Burnham/Results/Winter_2017-18/Division_Three/MatchCard/266063] – so now things are even tighter at the top!

Earlier in the week, in a mid-table clash Burnham A were impressive 9-1 victors over Maldon U3A B. U3A’s Christopher Cooper saved the whitewash by scoring his first win of the season, and a fine one indeed over Burnham’s Terry Frost. That was the only point that U3A could muster however, despite Philip West stretching Frost to five ends, and pairing up with Christopher Collins to push Frost/David Bateman all the way in the doubles, succumbing -8, -8, 8, 9, -8.  In the match between Burnham B and Maldon F, Maldon’s Garry Eames was undefeated, but Burnham’s Neil Hitchcock scored an outstanding win over Kym Eames, and William Hitchcock finished off the evening on a high note by fighting back from 2 nil down against Brian Dixon to win -10, -9, 7, 6, 10.

Eamonn Hall & Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officers - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Can the West Maldonites catch the Stow Marians? - Div 3 Season Update By Lee McHugh

Division Three has turned into a two-horse race... actually, it is bordering on a one-horse race as the equestrian Stow Maries D have tore off into the distance in recent weeks with a few faultless 10-0 victories. Stow top the table on 125 points from 14 matches played, while West Maldon D on equal matches played trail 9 points behind, so all is not lost for the West Maldonite horsies but with just six fixtures left they will surely be required to heavily thrash their rivals when the two teams meet for their final match of the season on March 26th – in the first half the teams drew 5-5.

Despite being in second place, West Maldon D boast the two best averages in the division; David Razzell on 100% and 26/26 and Louis Gunn on 97.5% and 40/41 – none of the Stow D players are far behind of course and also boast high percentages across the board. David Razzell, apart from Richard Allen, is the only player still undefeated this season and in fact he has only been taken to five ends once; very recently by the canny Tom Elder, just getting past him 11-9 in the decider. Actually, I may start calling David the ‘Ruthless Razzell’ and if you were to look at some of his game scores you will see why! West Maldon D scored an impressive whitewash over fourth-placed Maldon F, when Razzell, Gunn and Tim Huxtable managed to win all four of the matches that went to five ends against the challenging trio of Tom Elder, Ross Wheeler and Thomas Page. Young Thomas Page of Maldon is quickly improving and not only is he beating plenty of players in the third division, he has played up for Maldon D in the second division a couple of times and had an especially notable and superb success over Chris Crooks. West Maldon D is also providing league opportunities to its juniors with Oliver Wylie, Noah Sage and Blaydon Farmer all having stepped up to the plate this season; Oliver Wylie has scored a few fine wins recently, namely over William Hitchcock and Fen Fennessy of Burnham B, and most impressively of all Alan Petfield of St Lawrence B.

The table status of the rest of the teams in the division is a little hard to decipher due to the contrast in number of matches played, but the points between teams look fairly tight with not much to separate them. I will focus on some individual successes from recent weeks; in the St Lawrence ‘Derby of the Dengie’ the B team’s Alan Petfield helped his team to a draw by scoring excellent scalps over David Siggins and Roy Hutchins; Maldon U3A B’s Alan Mills is another player to have notched a solid hat trick over St Lawrence A’s trio; and Woodham E’s Roger Maidment clearly had a thing or two to say about Stow D’s reign, and Maidment must have been firing well to defeat John Knights and Brian Ellis, just missing out to Richard Allen in the fifth end.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Fambridge versus Mapledene, a battle set to go to the wire - Div 1 Season Update By Lee McHugh

In Division One the table is fascinatingly close no matter where you look – top, middle or bottom. Stow Maries A began to lift themselves from the relegation zone with a series of good results; Matthew Brown excelled with an excellent hat trick over Mapledene B’s Glenn Johnson, Colin Chatfield and Cameron Gray – Gray in turn scored a good win over Ryan Pitt – Brown picked up another treble over a Mapledene C side of awkward styles: Barrie Delf, Michael Tappenden and John Tendler. Stow A’s Gary Brignall and Hector Rogers were a two-man side against a strong West Maldon A (Gavin Price, Chris Buer, Tim Cramphorn) and the Stow duo came away impressive 6-4 winners as the only match they lost was the doubles – Brignall was also on fine form against Maldon B when he was unbeaten including a straight-games win over Ciaran Whelan, while on that occasion Maldon’s Steve Scholz had a superb scalp over Hector Rogers. Stow A have since slipped back down the table a little with a series of not-so-good results, and are now second-from-bottom and three points adrift of their relegation rivals Maldon B; the two teams are scheduled to face each other on March 1st, which should prove a competitive affair. A particularly interesting fact about Stow A’s record, is that at this point last year they were top of the table, and ended up finishing fourth – and they had exactly the same players!

West Maldon A, currently bottom, look doomed for relegation unless they have an influx of points – they will be hoping that their B team can achieve promotion from Division Two (which does look likely) so that the club can keep its top flight status. Interestingly, the three clubs involved in the first division’s relegation scrap are the same three clubs most likely involved in the second division’s promotion chase.  Maldon B continue to put up the good fight and Colin Napper has notched a couple of great wins; namely over Woodham A’s Alan Burgess and Mapledene A’s Steve Muth. Woodham A, enjoying their first season in the top flight for the past few years, are impressing with a solidified mid-table status; it will be curious to see if they are able to challenge Maldon A in moving further up the table, or whether they will fall beneath Cold Norton B since Lee McHugh’s transfer between the two sides.

At the top of the table, leaders Fambridge A continue to set a hot pace and they completed their first-half fixtures with a 100% win record – most impressively winning five of their last six matches 10-0, not to mention some tricky opposition including third-placed Cold Norton A who featured Minda Sinkus, and fourth-placed Maldon A’s strongest side. Fambridge’s one recent result that wasn’t a whitewash win, however, was a rather heavy and you might say surprising 8-2 loss to their rivals Mapledene A; Charles Sweeny and Kevin Read impressed with trebles over Keith Adams, Gary Young and John Poysden, while Adams and Young each beat Reece Seddon, and the doubles was the pick of the action with Read/Sweeny coming back to beat Adams/Young from two nil down -15, -5, 5, 9, 9. The title battle between Fambridge A and Mapledene A is surely set to go to the wire, and what makes the race especially interesting is that the two sides have now already played each other twice, so it will be their scores against other teams that will influence where the trophy ends up; Fambridge A will be wary of another Stuart Gibbs turn-out when they face Mapledene’s C and B teams in the coming weeks, while Mapledene A’s final fixture will be against their own B team, by which point Fambridge A will have finished due to them ending on a no-match week. Over the last 10 years Mapledene have won the title 7 times while Fambridge have won it thrice, but it is currently Fambridge who lead their rivals by 21 points, being two matches ahead.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

The Knightsmares Before Christmas - Div 2 season Update by Eamonn Hall

It’s been a right old battle in Div 2 this season so far with the quality of players going up yet again – it’s a very tough division to come into from Div 3 that’s for sure. But we’ll get to that. However getting to games has never been easier – 5 Maldon teams, 3 from Woodham, and 2 from Stow, we are the most eco friendly of the divisions for sure! Sitting proudly at the top are the Maldon C quartet of Bryn Thomas (96%), Roger Hance (75%), Bryan Speller (67%), and Merv Perriman (58%) – a very tough squad to come up against no matter whom plays. Well that’s what you would have thought, until Bryn came up against the ‘Whirlwind from Stow’ – take a bow Mr John Knights, the only man to defeat Bryn all season so far, gaining 25 ranking points for his trouble, and helping to compound Maldon’s only loss to date. And talking of those rare 25 ranking point matches did you hear the one about Knights Snr defeating Nick Duce of West Maldon B…. Despite that loss the West Maldonites are riding high in second place just a few points behind the Maldon quartet – although they have been very canny with their squad rotation, adopting a rolling subs approach Nick, Chris Ciniglio, and Barry Evans are the main players but their bench has been phenomenal – young Daniel Young 11/11, Neil Freeman 9/10, Victor Chan 6/6 – doesn’t really help the rest of us! At the far end of the table the promoted Woodham D team has struggled for points all season, although they did notch an early victory over the Maldon D team to at least give them some hope.

 

The Woodham D team are somewhat adrift but the chasing pack consists of 4 teams, and surprisingly at the bottom of this reverse peloton is the usually consistent Cold Norton C team – time for Roy to shake up his troops! The Woodham B team has now been dragged into the dogfight too as they lost form over the last 3 or 4 rounds – can they turn it around in the New Year? We now turn to the individual averages and take a look at those players providing the most valuable contributions to their teams’ efforts. Five players are currently in the Over 80% club – Karl Baldwin hanging on in their at the 80 mark, finally in Div 2 Steve Apsland is holding 4th spot on 81%, in 3rd is the 80s Hammer Throwback Mr Tim Pulham on an impressive 88%. So the top 2 – in reverse order we have Mr Smooth himsef Mr Colin Barrell on a whopping 91%, and … drum roll .. yes in top spot on a gut wrenching 95% is Mr Knightmares himself the Maldon Maestro Mr Bryn Thomas – cracking effort. And finally a nod to the youngsters – we have at least 4 teenagers holding their own in the Division this year – Daniel Young on a measly 100% - how long ‘til we see a Young Combo in the top flight of all the Essex leagues?; Luca Bailey (53%) and Kieran Stanley (38%) finally turning potential into points for the Woodham C team; and young Thom Page (50%) at Maldon who is showing tremendous potential when he’s played up. Can anyone stop the Maldon boys?

 

 

 

Eamonn Hall - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League



Week 6 – The Stow Stalwarts

It’s a pleasure to look upon some names on this week’s scorecards, highlighting what a sport for life table tennis truly is (and that isn’t supposed to make anyone feel old!). In the third division Stow Maries D fielded the team of Mick Robinson, Kevin Briggs and Jean Chasmer – all three of these players have represented various clubs in the league over the years and if you look through the Honours pages you will find their names dotted here and there, from Robinson’s Mens Singles title in the first ever Championships in 1967, to Briggs’ Restricted Singles win in 1999, to Chasmer’s Ladies Doubles success in the most recent Championships of 2017! The Stow team were 8-2 winners over Maldon U3A A, with Bill Puxley and Denis Balic both beating Chasmer, while Chasmer got the better of Jason Bush and teamed up with Robinson to take the doubles. This result keeps Stow D at the top of table with 45 points, meanwhile West Maldon D (David Razzell, Louis Gunn, Tim Huxtable) are hot on their heels with 43 points, most recently accumulating 9 points over Woodham E; Scott Perry beating Huxtable for their point, playing alongside Marina Partridge and Tracey Perry who has made her Burnham League debut! A close match saw Burnham A shade a 6-4 victory over Maldon U3A B, Burnham’s Michael Pratley going unbeaten while Alan Mills won twice for U3A.

Maldon C lead in division two following their destruction of Woodham C (Vince Gurney, Kieran Stanley, Mitch Davies). The strong Maldon side carried all before them until Stanley avenged his 2017 Handicap Singles final defeat by besting Meryvn Perriman 13-11 in the fifth end. Woodham haven’t had a very good week in this division as their D team (Mike Burton, Mike Matlin, Vince Gurney – again! He gets around) suffered a 10-0 whitewash at the hands of  the Stow Maries C (Tim Pulham, Ken Sheard, Rod Maclennan), arguably their strongest side. Stow proceeded through the evening without dropping an end in the singles matches, with the exception of Sheard who won 3-1 against Matlin, but compensated by winning the fourth end 11-0 (sorry, Mike!). The duo of Mikes made a fight in the doubles however, stretching Sheard/Pulham to a decider. Things finished all square over at the West Maldon derby between their B and C teams; C’s Steve Siggs in particular impressed with wins over Chris Ciniglio and Nick Duce, while B’s Victor Chan scored a treble; though he had to work for it, needing five ends to beat Siggs and Barry Evans.

In the top flight Mapledene A continue their determined pursuit with a 9-1 victory over Cold Norton A, who were missing Duncan Taylor; the night was not without its close games, Kevin Read looking relatively untroubled, while Sam Lowman just succumbed to Lee Prentice 11-9 in the fifth, and Stephen Maltby scored a great win over Babul McLeod. The encounter between Stow Maries A and Cold Norton B was exceptionally tight, with every player being involved in matches that went to a fifth; Norton’s Chris Hancox provided the topsy-turvy pick of the action by beating Peter Layzell -2, 6, 2, -7, 10. The final match of the night was a clash of the undefeated with Gary Brignall versus Neil Want, and Stow’s Brignall earned himself Player of the Match by beating Want 13, 13, 8 and completing a stellar hat trick that included an 11-9 in the fifth win over Eric Green – maybe Want should endeavour to eat a few more pies. Woodham A were 7-3 winners over Mapledene C and George Ashley impressed in his division one debut, scoring fine wins over Michael Tappenden and Tony Jacks, and also teaming up with Lee McHugh to win the doubles fighting back from a 2-0 deficit, meanwhile Simon Jacob proved too strong for all the Woodhamers. Mapledene B’s Colin Chatfield made a rare appearance against Maldon B, duly winning all his singles - while Colin Napper scored an excellent win over Ian Rattray, 11-9 in the fifth in the closing game of the night.

There will be no league report next week due to the first round of the Handicap Cup – good luck to those playing.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 5 – Skippy to the rescue

Second division’s Woodham D are struggling down the bottom, but they notched up four points against West Maldon C this week to help their survival campaign. In a match where no player remained undefeated, Scott ‘Skippy’ Perry was awarded Player of the Match; he was the only player to beat Barry Evans on the night, and also fought back to win against Neil Thompson -9, -10, 13. 5, 7. Vince Gurney also won twice for Woodham, being the only player to beat Steve Siggs, while both Evans and Siggs won twice for West Maldon. Woodham B versus Stow Maries C finished in a draw, Stow’s David Porter employing his somewhat unique style to take a hat trick; Eamonn Hall came closest to thwarting him, losing a topsy-turvy match 11-8 in the fifth. Mayland A’s Colin Barrell made his season debut, although Mayland was still a two-man side, and Barrell teamed up with Steve Aspland to take all available points for a 7-3 victory. For the Maldon club Karl Baldwin and Bryn Thomas were on target, both scoring trebles for their respective teams over Stow Maries B and Cold Norton C; David Hancox saved his Norton team from being whitewashed by beating Bryan Speller and Roger Hance, both 11-7 in the fifth.

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Stow Maries D, with a 10-0 thumping of Maldon U3A B, have replaced West Maldon D as the leaders in division three; John Knights, Mick Robinson and Brian Ellis could not be stopped on the night, but both Kath Little and Phil West pushed Knights to a fifth end – Knights, I’m told, used the home net to great effect at 9-9 in the fifth against West, but with all the time he’s spent around Neil Want should we really be surprised? Woodham E also won 10-0, against St Lawrence B; fast-improving Ewan Hynd has already put his first treble under his name, and St Lawrence’s Philip Bevan/Dave Toe made a fight for the doubles, leading 2-1 against Mitch Davies/Roger Maidment before succumbing in the fifth end. Maldon F achieved a good draw versus Maldon U3A A; Thomas Page was on good form winning all three of his singles, and he received good support from Garry Eames who won twice, while Denis Balic won twice for U3A and both Bill Puxley and Jason Bush got the better of Robin Sach 3-2. The experience of St Lawrence A faced the youth of West Maldon D – perhaps with the exception of Louis Gunn – Noah Sage joined Gunn in being unbeaten, while Oliver Wylie took a point for his side by beating St Lawrence’s Philip Bevan.

In the first division, it’s starting to look like we can expect a nice race for the title between age-old rivals Fambridge A and Mapledene A. The two sides have already met in the first half, and Fambridge now top the table following their 10-0 whitewash of Cold Norton B; classy Mark Stones had his work cut out, edging past Graham Briggs 11-9 in the fifth, and Neil Want 16-14 in the fifth! Mapledene A also showed their class this week by beating Maldon A 8-2; Lee Prentice and George Reeves both scored hat tricks while Maldon’s Jon Stokes and Paul Stephens both got the better of Chris Jacob. Another team doing exceptionally well so far is Mapledene C, who only trail their A team by a single point, and this week they beat their own B team 8-2! With their vast array of players, this Mapledene-off featured Barrie Delf, Tony Jacks and Michael Tappenden (C team) versus Ian Rattray, Dave Moles and Lin Roff (B team); Delf was unbeaten while Rattray picked up the two points for his side – the C team doing well to win all four matches that were decided 11-9 in the fifth! In a match where no player was unbeaten, West Maldon A beat Woodham A 6-4; the pick of the action looked to be when Chris Buer edged past Woodham super-sub Chris Crooks -9, 9, -10, 7, 12. Top defender Duncan Taylor led Cold Norton A to victory over Stow Maries A, and if you asked him to what he owes his success I suspect it might be a Christmas sandwich from Boots.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 4 – Wrath of Roff

My pick for performance of the week in the first division is Lin Roff’s treble over Maldon B, made more impressive by the fact it was on away turf. Roff opened the evening with an excellent and hard-fought 6, -11, -7, 9, 9 win over Ciaran Whelan, then got the better of Colin Napper over four ends, then closed by defeating Dawn Baldry 8, 6, 10; another great result considering that Baldry was victorious over Roff in both the Burnham and Chelmsford Championship finals last season. With two wins from John Tendler (who only lost to Whelan), it was enough to secure a draw for the two-player Mapledene C side. Maldon A (Paul Stephens, Steve Whiteley, Jon Stokes) were impressive 10-0 winners over Stow Maries A (Gary Brignall, Richard Storey, Ryan Pitt); Brignall will have come away gutted, having fought back from 2-0 down against Stephens and Whiteley, and losing 11-9 in the fifth end in both matches. Fambridge A dominated over Cold Norton A, Norton’s only point coming when Sam Lowman impressively beat Bruce Kettle in straight sets; Lowman also pushed Keith Adams, succumbing 11-8 in the fifth. Fambridge’s Gurj Bhambra worked hard for his hat trick, having to come back from behind to defeat both Neil Want and Steve Sawyer in five. Lee McHugh faced his demons in the form of his old team Cold Norton B, and after a competitive evening of close matches things ended all square between Woodham A and Norton, the best match arguably the doubles when Chris Hancox/Eric Green pipped Alan Burgess/McHugh to the post. The battle between Mapledene B and West Maldon A ended 6-4 in West Maldon’s favour, and featured a jubilant Glen Laing who beat Ian Rattray for the first time, 6, 6, -10, -10, 10. Another hat trick from Gavin Price helped secure victory; Price actually returns to the Burnham league since last playing here in 1978, and first playing for Southminster as a junior around the season of 1970!

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In division two only Woodham C managed to rack up a big win this week, and that was a 9-1 victory over their D team fellows; Nat Ravlic led the way with a hat trick, and Luca Bailey also with three wins, slightly harder fought and needing five ends to get the better of Vince Gurney and Mike Matlin. Vince Gurney made his mark by beating Alan Dadswell 10, 9, 8. It was a bit of a surprise to see usual top division player Ian Whiteside feature for Stow Maries B against Mayland A; Whiteside was unbeaten but had to work hard against Steve Aspland, winning -12, 14, 5, 4. In a match where every player won at least once, Cold Norton C versus West Maldon B ended in a draw; the closest match of the night was between Roy Gandy and Chris Ciniglio, which Ciniglio won -10, 9, 9, -8, 8. Each of the West Maldon C team players (Steve Siggs, Gary Smith, Louis Gunn) won once in their 3-7 loss to Woodham B; Chris Crooks was unbeaten for the winners, and his teammates Scott Perry and Eamonn Hall both came through close matches, Perry beating Siggs 12-10 in the fifth and Hall beating Gunn by the same margin. In a match that featured a whopping six five-setters Maldon C beat their own D team 6-4; Kelly Yuenyongpknan pushed Bryan Speller all the way, just missing out -9, -4, 9, 11, -14. For Stow Maries C against Maldon E it was West Ham all the way as Stow’s Tim Pulham won all his matches, but he had to pull out all the stops to beat Roger Clarke, -11, -9, 5, 4, 6.

West Maldon D are the new leaders in the third division and their strong team of Louis Gunn, David Razzell and Tim Huxtable were comfortable 10-0 winners over Burnham B. Burnham’s A team fared a little better, picking up two points against Woodham E; Michael Pratley credited for both with wins over Ewan Hynd and Roger Maidment. In an interesting match-up where every player won at least once and no player remained undefeated, things between Maldon U3A B and St Lawrence A ended in a draw; U3A’s Kath Little was her team’s best player with two wins, while Patrick Harrington and David Siggins equalled the feat for St Lawrence. The pick of the action looked to be Angela Clarke’s victory over Alan Petfield, Clarke just shading it 9, -9, -4, 8, 11.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 3 – No Breakaway Leaders

Rounding up week three in the Burnham league and in division three it is Maldon U3A A who rule the roost although Stow Maries D are hot on their heels with a game in hand. The U3A team suffered a 7-3 loss to West Maldon D; young Blaydon Farmer was unlucky to come away without a point as he led U3A’s Jason Bush 2-0 before Bush fought back to take the next three ends. Burnham A could only turn out a two-player team of Michael Pratley and Terry Frost but still it was enough to see them win 7-3 over St Lawrence A (Dave Toe, David Siggins, Ivan Joslin) as every match was decided in straight sets. Stow Maries D and Woodham E both scored comprehensive 9-1 victories, over Mayland B and Maldon U3A B respectively; Woodham’s Roger Maidment was Player of the Match while U3A’s Alan Mills picked up their sole point by beating league newcomer Paul Thirkettle, and for Mayland it was Jonathan Stevens who picked up their point by beating John Knights but apart from that the Stow team (Knights, Brian Ellis, Mick Robinson) carried all before them and surely if they continue putting out that calibre they’ll find their way to the top, especially with their team bolstered by Kevin Briggs who returns to playing in Burnham after some years.

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In the first division it couldn’t be closer in the top half of the table with Fambridge A, Mapledene A and both Cold Norton teams all tied on 19 points after playing their first three fixtures, with Mapledene C and Woodham A just trailing. The fixture between West Maldon A and Maldon B saw another two new faces in the Burnham league – Gavin Price for the home team and Martin Hogg for the away – Maldon won 6-4 but the PotM award went to Price who won all his matches. A short Stow Maries A team (Hector Rogers, Matthew Brown) were downed 9-1 by Mapledene A, but Rogers will have been pleased with his win over Andrew Halling; the closest match of the night came when Babul McLeod beat Brown -7, 7, -10, 9, 9. Glenn Johnson’s treble and Ian Rattray’s brace secured their Mapledene B team’s draw with Cold Norton B, while Gary Young and John Poysden were both undefeated for Fambridge A against Maldon A; in the doubles it was Maldon who pulled out the stops however as Jon Stokes/Steve Whiteley beat Poysden/Young over five ends. Woodham A beat Cold Norton A 6-4 with Lee McHugh unbeaten and the match of the night had to be between Steve Maltby and Alan Burgess – who hadn’t played each other before – which Maltby won over four close ends -12, 7, 12, 10.

Division two is also tight in the top half with few points to separate the sides. Woodham D were flattened by Cold Norton C for whom Player of the Match David Hancox was on good form, while Woodham’s Vince Gurney picked up their only point by scoring a fine win over Peter Lucraft -6, 5, 10, -3, 11. Chris Ciniglio led West Maldon B to victory over Maldon D; after fighting back from 2-0 down to Garry Eames in his first match, Ciniglio did not drop an end the rest of the evening, while Maldon’s Kelly Yuenyongpknan picked up two wins for her team. Another week, another draw for two-man Mayland A who had Steve Aspland unbeaten and he had to fight back from 2-1 down to get the better of Rod Maclennan. Stow Maries B versus Maldon C also ended all square; Stow’s Dave Marsh can’t have exclaimed too many tarts as he won all his matches, and for Maldon Mervyn Perriman scored a fine straight-sets win over Nicholas Reece-Ford 10, 12 ,7. Perhaps win of the week in the second division was West Maldon C’s Gary Smith beating Maldon E’s Mark Shorney 7, -7, -14, 6, 10, and Smith was well supported by Steve Siggs who beat the other two Maldon players, Bob King and Roger Clarke. In a Woodham derby where every player won at least one match, their B and C teams fought out a draw; reigning Restricted Singles champion David Gatheral with a modest hat trick although he looked to be pushed by young talent Luca Bailey, meanwhile Bailey and Alan Dadswell both scored good five-end wins over Chris Crooks, and hard-hitting Kieran Stanley got the better of Eamonn Hall.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

Week 2 – Young Young one to keep an eye on

The second division had a fun filled week of close matches with three draws and two six-fours. The only one-sided result was a Stow-off between their B and C teams; Dave Marsh and Herbie Smith undefeated for the B side and C’s Rod Maclennan stopping the whitewash by beating the lovable Dave Goody in the final match of the night; the doubles was a thriller with the pair of Daves beating Maclennan and Knights (Martin) 6, -10, -11, 13, 8. Mayland A continued a familiar theme from last season by fielding a two-man squad although they still managed to finish things all-square with West Maldon C; Steve Siggs pushed Ralph Gibson all the way in the evening’s finale, leading 2-0 before finally succumbing 8-11 in the fifth end. A youngster to keep an eye on, Daniel Young, finished his second week of the season with six out six singles wins, this time helping his West Maldon B team to a draw by beating Maldon C’s Mervyn Perriman, Martin Hogg and Roger Hance. Maldon E beat Woodham C 6-4 but the Player of the Match was on the losing side, Woodham’s Allan Steel with a hat trick. Steel also turned out for Woodham B versus Cold Norton C, in a match that finished in a draw with no player undefeated, a surprise appearance from Woodham’s Scott Perry who beat Roy Gandy and Peter Lucraft. In another match with no player undefeated Woodham D defeated Maldon D 6-4, Vince Gurney and Mike Burton each winning two for the winners while Thomas Page and Kelly Yuenyongpknan equalled the feat for Maldon; the night opened with a thriller when Mike Matlin got the better of Denis Crapnell 9, -6, -10, 9, 14.

In the third division West Maldon D proved too strong for Maldon F as Louis Gunn, David Razzell and Tim Huxtable (a very strong Div 3 side) raced home to a 9-1 victory over Thomas Page, Ross Wheeler and Garry Eames. Young Page was his team’s saving grace and he scored a superb win over the verbal Huxtable -9, 7, 5, 4.

In the first division the match between Maldon B and Cold Norton looked like a humdinger. It was one of those evening’s where no player was unbeaten and featured plenty of close matches; five five-setters, no less. Player of the Match was Maldon’s hook-spinning lefty Ciaran Whelan who recorded excellent wins over two ace Norton defenders, Eric Green and John Holland; Whelan showed tenacity to beat Green 9, 10, -16, 10. Neil Want showed how it’s done as he beat Whelan over four ends, and Hamish Innes in turn beat Want by a last-gasp 14-12 in the fifth. 2017 Womens Singles Champion, Maldon’s Dawn Baldry could not register a win, and she just missed out in the fifth end to Want in the final match of the night. Norton A were impressive 8-2 winners over Mapledene B and it was Mike Hayes who led the way with a treble, Neil of House Want also made an appearance in this match and Norton did well to win five out of the six five-setters on the night. Fambridge A, champions in 2014/15, beat reigning champions Mapledene A 6-4; Fambridge’s Keith Adams was on fine form with a hat trick and he opened proceedings with a hard-fought win over 2017 Mens Singles Champion Reece Seddon, while John Poysden provided excellent support with five-setter victories over Kevin Read and Charles Sweeny. In a somewhat surprising result Woodham A won 7-3 against Maldon A (Steve Whiteley, Jon Stokes, Dawn Baldry); Lee McHugh with a hat trick and teammates Alan Burgess and David Gatheral with two wins apiece. In another surprising result West Maldon A were whitewashed by Mapledene C; Ben Matthews, Simon Jacob and Tony Jacks carrying all before them over Dick Wyman, Glen Laing and Dave Calleja.

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League

 

 

Week 1 – Briggs stars for Cold Norton B

The opening week of the 2017/18 season saw competitive results in the first division, with no team winning by a margin higher than 7-3; we’ve also already had our first conceded match (that was quick!) as Mapledene B could not get a side out against Maldon A. The most notable performance was Norton B’s Graham Briggs' solid hat trick over Mapledene C; newcomer Michael Tappenden impressed for Mapledene by beating John Holland. Newly promoted Woodham A got their survival campaign to a good start picking up four points against reigning champions Mapledene A; Gus Heath winning two singles for Woodham including a close finish in the evening’s final match when Heath beat combination twiddler Andrew Halling -4, 3, 4, -11, 10. Maldon B put up a fight against a Cold Norton A side that included Duncan Taylor, and although Maldon lost 7-3 each of their players (Ciaran Whelan, Colin Napper, Steve Scholz) each picked up a win over Norton’s other players Steve Sawyer and Steve Maltby.

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In the second division the strong Stow Maries C side of Tim Pulham, David Porter and Martin Knights raced home to an 8-2 win over West Maldon C; Pulham and Porter both undefeated and West Maldon’s Steve Siggs and Colin Barham each getting the better of Knights. Peter Lucraft was on form for Cold Norton C and his treble over Maldon E’s Roger Clarke, Rob King and Clive Forster helped his team shade a 6-4 victory; Clarke picked up two points for Maldon which included a 4, -12, 6, 9 win over Norton stalwart David Hancox.

In the third division Burnham B (Neil Hitchcock, William Hitchcock, Lawton Fennessy) suffered a heavy 10-0 defeat to Maldon U3A B (Kath Little, Alan Mills, Phil West); Neil Hitchcock was involved in the two closest matches of the night, unfortunately for him neither of which went his way, as he lost out in five to both Little and West, his match versus Little exceptionally close 8, 10, -10, -10, -9. In a battle of the aforementioned clubs’ A teams, Maldon U3A A beat Burnham A 7-3; the Player of the Match was on the losing side as Burnham’s Michael Pratley was undefeated against Bill Puxley, Jason Bush and Dennis Balic, his win over Balic having to come back from 2-1 down to close out 11-9 in the fifth.   

Lee McHugh - Press & Publicity Officer - Burnham Table Tennis League


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