Week 1 Report
Week Commencing 21st September 2015
Premier Division - DRS Duncan Taylor Duncan.Taylor@essex.gov.uk
Week 1. A great match to open the Premier Division season as Thorpe Bay A, in their new venue, went down 4-5 to Hullbridge A. Kevin Caldon went unbeaten for Hullbridge and there was a good win for Richard Brown over Alex Abbott. John Poysden was in good form for the ‘Bay’ as he recorded wins over Richard Brown and Dave Bowles. Another equally tight affair saw Rawreth C overcame Lentern A 5-4. Steve Kerns proving the difference with 3 wins, ably assisted by Chris Buer with two wins, one of which against Paul Brown after being 2 sets and 10-6 down. Rawreth B blushes were saved by Keith Phillips winning two as Castle Point A ran away with the rest of the spoils 7-2. Richard Jackman with a fine maximum and a brace each from Barrie Delf and Simon Jacob for Castle Point .Title holders Rawreth A started the season in good form as they produced a solid performance to beat Thorpe Bay B 8-1. Lee Prentice particularly impressing with a good maximum against the Thorpe Bay trio. Another 8-1 result came as a strong Rayleigh Mill side overcame Rawreth D. Peter Radford making his debut for the ‘Miller’ picked up three wins as did Duncan Taylor and 2 victories for Steve Sawyer. It was a tough introduction to the Premier Division for Lentern B as they went down 7-2 to Warehouse A. Kim Shead continued his good form from last season with a maximum with two each from Berti Makoli and Martin West. Steve Appleby with both of Lentern’s wins. Duncan
Division 1 - DRS - Barrie Delf bdelf@castlepoint.gov.uk
Week 1. One of the title favourites, Hockley A started the week off with a convincing win over their B team, winning 8-1 with Matt Stringer and new team member Dave Colwill, both taking maximums. On the same night, another Title contender, Rawreth E just pipped Hadleigh Forum C, with Chris Nunn taking his three. The following day, Warehouse B showed that they will be a match for anyone in this Division, winning 9-0 against Lentern D, with maximums from Tony Wright, Tarun Goel and Jim Stait. A close match between Canvey C and Lentern E ended at 5-4 to the islanders with Terry Giddens taking his 3. A close match between Lentern C and Hullbridge C saw Lentern win 5-4 with a fine maximum from Chris Crooks: both these teams will be challenging for the top positions. The final match of the week reported was Customs 6.3 win over Invicta A, with yet another high class performance from Roy Thomas and Customs A will also be in the fight for the top positions this Season. With Hadleigh Forum B’s result to come in, it is clear that this Division will be very exciting and closely contested this Season. Barrie
Division 2 - DRS - David Barnes dbarnes89@btinternet.com
Week 1. Perhaps the strangest match in any division this week occurred in Division 2 when the two players of Castle Point C turned up at Basildon Hospital to discover that the home side consisted of only one player! With the benefit of hindsight, it would not have been unreasonable for the game to be postponed. However, it went ahead. Congratulations to Basildon’s Sid Hills for turning up. He managed to win one and lost one, so the match finished up 2 – 5! Two teams tipped to do well got off to flying starts in the opening round of this season’s matches. Canvey B were unfortunate to be relegated from Division 1 last season, and look strong candidates to bounce straight back this campaign. The combined talents of Talbot Wiseman, Tony Westwell and Des Duffield were too strong for hosts Wakering, the visitors running out easy 9-0 winners. Castle Point B have finished strongly in this division for a couple of seasons, and look well placed to do so again. Maximums from Martin Roberts, Keith Neville and Tony Ayliffe gave them a comfortable 9 – 0 victory over RESSC when christening their new Shoebury venue. In a game involving a fair smattering of youth, the young men from Rawreth G suffered a reversal on their trip to Hockley C, going down 4 – 5. The home side’s Josh Copeland was the man of the match, ably assisted with two wins from Stuart Adshead. James McDowell had two wins for Rawreth. Another fairly young team had slightly more success when they visited Warehouse D. Despite spirited opposition from Tomas Meza and Andy Humphreys with two wins each, Hullbridge E edged it, thanks to two wins each for Dan Zeffie and James Goddard, and a crucial single win for Adam Jackman. Hullbridge D proved too strong for visitors Warehouse C. Both Matt Rolfe and Daniel Payne recorded maximums for the home side, whilst Ro Brett’s single success spared Warehouse’s blushes. David
Division 3 - DRS Paul Strutt paulstrut@tiscali.co.uk
Week 1. Only 1 match reported for the first week, so Captains do please send in the results promptly, thank you. The match played saw hot favourites for the title, Hullbridge F, relegated last season and looking to bounce straight back, winning their first match 9-0, with maximums from perennials, Janet Finch, Bob Shingleton-Smith and Sue Reece. Hoping that next week will see more results to report on. Paul
