SDTTL - 2017/8 - Week 13

Premier Division

In the game of the week the top two teams in the division went head to head, with all six players picking up at least one win. Hullbridge A’s Kevin Caldon was the top performer on the night winning his three games against Thorpe Bay A’s Paul Sayer, James Denyer and Mark Stones. Sam Hume added two more wins to the Hullbridge cause against Stones and Sayer, with Reece Seddon’s sole win against James Denyer making up the 6-3 win for the league leaders.

It was a good week for Hockley’s Matt Stringer, who played for the Essex Juniors team over the weekend, winning his last two matches in straight sets. He carried this fine form into the league by beating Rayleigh Mill’s Steve Sawyer in three. Harry Small also beat Sawyer, this time in four ends, but no Hockley player could get the better of Minda Sinkus or Colin Chatfield, resulting in a 7-2 win for the Millers.

Babul McLeod and Mike Hayes were unbeaten for Rawreth B in their match against Stanford-le-Hope, with Rahul Sharma and Andrew Paton picking up the two points for the home team in another 7-2 result.

Man of the match Glenn Johnson and Gary Young both picked up hat-tricks in Hullbridge B’s 7-2 win over Hadleigh Forum A. Dave Bassett and Neal Barker recorded impressive wins over John Holland for the Forum.

There was another heavy defeat for Hadleigh Forum 'B'. The Rawreth 'A' trio of Charles Sweeney, George Reeves and Kevin Read won in convincing style, with only Anthon Ranjit Singh, against George Reeves, and Tony Jacks, playing Kevin Read, managing to extend their games to a 4th set.

And in the final match this week Thorpe Bay B had a resounding 8-1 win over Brand Identity A. Keiran Skeggs and Gurj Bhambra were unbeaten with Liam Squirrel winning two, only ‘coming a cropper’ against the wily Chris Jacob.

Duncan Taylor Premier Division DRS

Division 1

Coming up to the halfway stage, we have joint leaders in the Division with identical records.

Hullbridge E have been up there all season and this week scored a good 5-4 win over Warehouse B and with other results going their way. Dan Zeffie and Reece Harris-Griffiths scored two each for the Hullbridge team, with Adam Jackman adding the final point. Mark Rudland scored a convincing hat trick for Warehouse but only one point for Tony Wright could be added by his team mates, Tony Millward unable to help

Lentern B are the other team that have led from the front all season, although this week the Lentern derby with bottom team, Lentern C, ended in a surprising 6-3 reverse, doing their title aspirations no favours. Peter Pond was unbeaten on the night for the C team, with Peter Lucraft adding two and a great point for Sue Body with a win over John Lott. John Lott, Brian Spencer and Jan Fuller all added a point for the B side. The victory for the C side lifts them from bottom spot and provides some inspiration going into the second half of the season.

Another team that have been up with the pacesetters are Canvey A, currently in 3rd position. Unfortunately this week, due to sickness, they were unable to field a side and forfeited the game to Hullbridge C who climb to 6th in the table

Hockley C are another team that have been near the top but this week fell short at Customs A, going down 7-2. Roy Thomas scored three points and POTM and was backed up with two points apiece for Dave Morgan and Brian Rackham. David Chenery scored both consolation points for Hockley in good wins.

Rawreth C had a good 7-2 win over Hockley B, which moves them up to 7th and relegates Hockley to the foot of the table. Gary Hartgrove and Colin Clements scored 3 each with Gary McCarthy adding the 7th point. Joe Lock and the returning Dennis Squirrell scored a point each for Hockley.

rand Identity B had a good 6-3 win over Hadleigh Forum C, with Mick Grout leading from the front, with an unbeaten night. David Jacob added two points and Sean McNabb one for the six point total. Graham Farmer scored two and Mark Everard one for the Forum team.

Barrie Delf Division 1 DRS

Division 2

Hat tricks from both Mike Worship and Rob Skews in a 7 - 2 home win over Stanford Le Hope B consolidated their position at the top of the table. Adrian Armstrong and John Handscombe shared Stanford’s points. Dave Newton got the home side’s other win.

Rawreth D’s Sam Thompson retained his 100% record against Invicta B in a comfortable 6 – 3 home win. As the half way point in the season approaches, it is difficult to see anyone stopping him. Bradley Nunn, playing up, contributed two wins and Olivia Jones one for Rawreth; whilst Barrie Murphy got two for the visitors and Andy Humphris one.

Below RESSC and Rawreth D in the table, Wakering and Canvey C are still in contention. This week saw them meet at Wakering. Canvey fielded a mixture of youth and experience with Stuart Curham, 14 year old Ryan Williams and veteran Geoff Banthorpe. This was matched by the home team’s Adam Deadman, Zac England and Stewart Mills. Adam won all his games whilst Stewart and Zac won two each, in a 7 – 2 victory for Wakering. Ryan’s performance in winning two was the highlight for the visitors.

The youngsters of Hullbridge F came out on top in a close encounter at home to Rawreth E. Fortunes fluctuated all through the evening, with the decider being the final game between Harrison Sadler and Jack Himpfen-Jones. Harrison came out on top to settle the match 5 – 4. There was also a good win for Hullbridge’s Ellena Hart, overcoming experienced Andy Deadman 11 – 7 in the fifth set.

Basildon Hospital’s Chudi Ukpaka starred when his team visited Runnymede, not losing a set the entire evening. His maximum gave the Medics a 6 – 3 away win. Chudi was well supported by Mike Smith who also recorded a hat trick. Barry Edgar, Barbara Shead and Tina Hutchinson each won one for the hosts.

David Barnes Division 2 DRS

Division 3

Hockley E and Invicta C, both unbeaten in six games and vying to join the promotion hopefuls at the top of the table, fought out a tense match at Plumberow Academy with the away team just edging a 5-4 victory. Dave Youngman and Keith Baxter won two games each and John Golding one but Gary Linzell took the MOTM honours for Hockley winning all his matches. Andrew Strutt got the other point but no joy for late replacement Kevin Blythe. The match hinged on two five set matches with Gary just pipping Keith 11/9 in the final set, and then Dave and Andrew, with the score at 4-3 to Invicta, again going the distance but this time Dave clinched it for the away team again, 11/9. Invicta now sit 6th and Hockley 7th but Hockley have a game in hand.

Canvey D chalked up their sixth win on the bounce against Hullbridge G and moved to 3rd in the table in another 5-4 match that this time did go to the final game. Both sides led at different stages but in the decisive game Talbot Wiseman completed his hat trick with a four set win over Sue Reece. Gordon Johnstone provided the back up as usual winning two, but the competition was a bit too strong for young Tyler Fleming who lost his three, but did take Bob Shingleton-Smith to five sets. Sue got a brace for Hullbridge including an excellent five set win over Gordon having been 2-1 down.

Brand Identity C stay 2nd in the table but have been dropping points recently and have played a game more than most of their rivals. They found tough opposition In Warehouse D who eventually went down 6-3 having been level at 2-2 early on. Dave Humphreys was the MOTM for Brand Identity chalking up his first hat trick of the season and was backed up by Colin Smith with a brace, and surprisingly, just one for John Beddow who lost two five set matches against Steve Chaffey and Graham Back. Graham finished with a brace for Warehouse.

Hadleigh Forum D remain top for the 10th week in succession after an expected 8-1 win against Hockley F. The evening started badly for them with Dave Cross getting the better of Satwant Gill in four sets but that was as good as it got for Hockley as the promotion favourites romped home. They only lost one more set all night with Tony Mace and David Thomas completing their hat tricks. Graham Gregory and Keith Denyer made up the Hockley team.

Customs B picked up just their third win of the season with an 8-1 win against Rochford LTC. Dean Johnson and Richard Kidd both won their games with Alex Clark getting two. He lost to John George to give Rochford their consolation point.

Warehouse C moved up to 5th in the table with a perfect 9-0 whitewash of the youngsters of Hullbridge I. Tamas Mezo, Dave Walton and Conrad Gomes proved too strong and too experienced for Daniel Mansfield, Ben Hoskins and James Skelt but no doubt their day will come.

Team of the Week – Invicta C

Player of the Week – Dave Humphreys Brand Identity C

Paul Strutt Division 3 DRS