SDTTL - SUMMER LEAGUE 2014
WEEK 1 REPORT from Chris Jacob
The Southend & District summer league has now started and results have been a bit slow in coming in. In Division 1 the Hullbridge team that has carried all before them in recent years have not entered and this will give Lentern a clear run to win the Division. They had a strong enough team to have been able to win it with their original players but captain Paul Brown has been on a recruiting campaign and has even signed Kevin Read from the old Hullbridge team, so it will be a case of all of the other teams playing for the runners up position. This week they played the sandpaper boys and even though they included the sandpaper expert in Fred Dove, they still managed to win 9-0, with Fred being the only player to take a game to 5 ends. In the only other match received this week Castle Point had a good 7-2 win over Kingswood thanks to unbeaten performances from the father and son combination of Chris and Simon Jacob, Simon did very well to beat both Gus Heath and Scott Dowsett without dropping a set.
Bluehouse have played two games this week in Division 2 and have set the pattern by winning both of them. In the 5-4 victory over Hadleigh Forum Chris Crooks was the star, winning all of his games including an excellent singles win over John Tendler. In their 7-2 victory over Hockley “A” no one in either team remained unbeaten and every player won at least one game. The same thing happened in Invicta “A” 5-4 victory over Kingswood “B”, no one remained unbeaten.
There was a hard fought game between two of the teams who would expect to finish near the top of Division 3. Tarin Goel was unbeaten for Warehouse “B” in their 6-3 victory over Canvey “A” and Tony Westwell was unbeaten in his two singles for Canvey. This game was given extra spice as it would appear that both teams had expected to sign Phil Puckey and he has opted to play for Warehouse. Castle Point “B” had a good 8-1 victory over Hockley “B” with Tony Ayliffe and Martin Roberts, (playing for the first time with his £100 plus bat) unbeaten and Jon Knight beating Dave Humphreys for Hockley’s solitary point. In the game between Hullbridge “D” and Runnymede Tony Molisso of Hullbridge got his side’s two points, by winning both of his singles including a good 5 set victory over Phil Digby. Steve Giles was unbeaten on the night for Runnymede.
I cannot see anyone other than Basildon Hospital winning Division 4 and this week they beat Warehouse “C” 7-2 thanks to an unbeaten performance from Kevin Smart. Another unbeaten player to lead his team to victory was Stuart Adshead of Hockley “C” over Customs, although this game was a lot closer and the win was 5-4. The game between the youngsters of Hullbridge “E” and Canvey “B” also ended up as a 5-4 win for Hullbridge. The comments on the match were “This was a solid team performance from the Hullbridge youngsters, which could have been a 6-3 victory but for Alec Taylor and Gordon Johnstone winning the last doubles at 12-10 in the fifth”. In this game Geoff Banthorpe’s retrieving skills made him unbeaten in his singles. The game between Hullbridge “F” and Canvey “C” could have been a lot closer than the 7-2 victory for Canvey as no one remained unbeaten and five of the games were decided in the fifth end. Finally Richard Riebold’s coaching from both Desmond Douglas and Barrie Delf is starting to pay off as he was unbeaten in leading his team Castle Point “C” to a 6-3 victory over Invicta “B”. Well done Richard we are expecting great things from you and it is a credit that even oldies like yourself are prepared to get coaching.
Chris Jacob, Summer League
