Premier Division Week 28
Rawreth A dropped only one game, a good win for Justine Jeffrey over Charles Sweeney, in their match against Rawreth D.
Their main rivals, Thorpe Bay A, were only able to make up one game on the leaders with their own 9-0 win over Lentern A. It was a good Lentern side which makes the scoreline and performance from Mark Stones, Paul Sayer and Alex Abbott even more impressive.
Second placed Hullbridge A were only able to record a 5-4 win over Rayleigh Mill, in the main due to a great performance from the Millers’ Minda Sinkus who won all three against the strong trio of Kevin Caldon, Stuart Gibbs and Dave Bowles. Peter Radford with the other win against Dave Bowles in a 4 set match that couldn’t have been closer with all four sets going to deuce.
There was a very enjoyable match this week between Hadleigh Forum A and Castle Point A in which every player recorded at least one win, but the result and spoils went to Castle Point who triumphed 6-3.
Finally this week there was another 6-3 win, this time for Thorpe Bay B as their two man team of Gurj Bhambra and Kieran Skeggs proved too strong for Lentern B
Regards, Duncan Taylor
Division 1 – Week 28
Hockley A took a big step towards the premier with an 8-1 win over Lentern C. Maximums form Tim Pang and Matt Stringer saw the league leaders to their victory, the only consolation for Lentern coming from a win for Chris Crooks over Alan Tideswell, but have probably done enough to avoid relegation. Hockley’s title aspirations will be tested this week as they meet Hullbridge C and Customs A in a re-arranged fixture.
Customs A dropped a little further behind with a 5-4 win over Warehouse B. Dale Gutteridge with a maximum backed up by two from Brian Rackham was enough to win the match despite two from Andrew Paton. It would appear that Customs will now pick up the runners up spot in the Division as they are 15 points clear from third place.
Hullbridge C went down again 5-4 this time to Hadleigh Forum C, despite a maximum from veteran Bill Smith. More bad news for Hullbridge this week is that Bill has broken his left wrist, so we can now add dodgy wrists to knees and serves. We wish him well on his recovery. In the game, Russell Bright and Mark Everard scored two each for the Forum team for the bulk of their points. Dan Zeffie playing up was unlucky to lose in 5 to Mark Everard.
Hadleigh Forum B found it tough going this week going down 6-3 to a strong Rawreth E team. In a match where no-one was unbeaten and none of the games won in three sets, the Rawreth team of Gary McCarthy, John Blackman and Mike Worship all scored two each to take the victory. Anthon Ranjit-Singh put up most resistance scoring two for the Forum side.
Two man Canvey A won a close encounter with Lentern D 5-4, with Ray Wilson unbeaten and Peter Cray scoring two. The four points for Lentern were welcome and gives them a 5 point cushion over Hockley B who have a game in hand, with the relegation spot probably going down to the last week.
Lentern E found their form and piled on more misery for Hockley B with an 8-1 victory. Things could have been different however as three games went to 5 sets and were all won by Lentern. Brian Spencer and Mark Jupe were unbeaten for Lentern, with the sole point for Hockley coming in a win for Keith Abbott over Wayne Farmer.
Invicta A found it hard going against a plucky Runnymede team going down 7-2, but this may be too little, too late with games running out for Runnymede who are at the bottom of the league although level on points with Hockley B (but played a game less). The Runnymede scoring was led by Tony Coeshall who was unbeaten with two each for Dmitry Kisil and Tony Millward. Michael Piper scored both points for the losing side to avoid the whitewash.
Regards, Barrie Delf
Division 2 – Week 28
Struggling RESSC dragged out their big guns for the visit of fellow strugglers Warehouse C to settle their nerves. Ron Coutts, Stan Dyson and Sarah Mapes all made short work of their guests, breezing to a 9 – 0 outcome. Graham Back was the pick of Warehouse’s players.
Warehouse’s D team are deeper in the relegation mire than their C team, so a 6 – 3 home win over Basildon Hospital was very welcome. The spoils were shared very evenly, with Simon Lister, Phil Mardle and Andy Humphries each winning two for the home side; whilst Gill Smith, Sid Hills and Albert Harrison each won one for the Hospital.
Another struggler, Canvey C, could only field a makeshift team at home to Hullbridge E. The home side’s Terry Castile, playing in his first season, had a great win in 5 against the talented Daniel Zeffie. However, maximums for James Goddard and Reece Harris-Griffiths gave Hullbridge a comfortable 8 – 1 victory.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Castle Point B cemented their promotion credentials with a 9 – 0 home win over their Castle: Point C team. Tony Ayliffe, Ev Lucas and man-of-the-match Keith Neville were all far too strong for their club colleagues.
A Stewart Mills hat trick made him man-of-the-match and helped his Wakering side to a 6 – 3 win away to Hockey C. Paul England chipped in with two wins, whilst the Hockley’s Stuart Adshead contributed a captain’s innings, winning a brace.
Regards David Barnes
Division 3 – Week 28
With leaders Canvey D without a game this week, there was a chance for promotion rivals Invicta B and Hullbridge F to close the gap. Both teams won. A 7-2 victory for Invicta A against Warehouse E and a 6-3 win for Hullbridge F against Invicta C, but Canvey are still 5 points clear of Invicta B and a decisive 11 points clear of Hullbridge F. Elsewhere in the division a win and a loss for Hockley F have pushed them up to 7th, their highest position this year, whilst a win for Hockley E keeps them just clear of Invicta C in 10th place.
Invicta B, still without Richard Verrinder, were grateful that Warehouse E probably didn’t have their strongest side out against them, but Tina Hutchinson fought hard to pick up both points for Warehouse and just missed out on a hat trick losing 11-9 in the fifth set to John Golding. John got his hat trick with that win and two wins apiece for Mike Keeble and Chris Gregory saw them comfortably home.
Hullbridge F, who welcomed Paul Ogden back to the team, were also made to work hard against Invicta C, for whom Keith Baxter did well winning two matches. Dave Youngman got their third point and Bob Singleton-Smith (2) and Ann Lane (1), got three points for Hullbridge, with Paul recording a Man of the Match hat trick.
Two games to report on for Hockley F who went down 7-2 to their Hockley E team with Ron Rogerson recording his second hat trick in succession, whilst man of the match Jim Nariel did likewise, and there was a point for young Josh Jones, Jim’s grandson. Can’t be many teams in the league where a grandfather and grandson are playing together! Liam Adshead and Gary Linzell got the points for the F team.
A better result in their second match when the youngsters of Hockley F and Rawreth I Juniors met with Hockley coming out on top 8-1. The match was played out in a good atmosphere with the games being a lot closer than the score might suggest. Two matches went to 5 sets and three went to 4 with very few one sided games. Liam Adshead and Dragan Benak both got three for Hockley and Alex Summers two, whilst Cho Waai Man got the consolation for Rawreth.
My Team of the Week award goes to Invicta B and my Player of the Week, from the same match, to Tina Hutchinson of Warehouse for her valiant effort against Invicta.
With just three matches left for the top three teams it looks like Canvey’s title to lose. Hullbridge F are probably too far behind to catch them now and Invicta B have the toughest matches to play against Hullbridge F and Hullbridge G with their final match providing a fitting end to the season as they meet Canvey in what could prove to be the title decider.
Regards, Paul Strutt
