Sdttl Winter League 2021-2 Week 10
Premier Division
Four games in the Premier Division in week 8 of the 21/22 season. We’ll start with two extremely close battles that both ended 5-4 with different outcomes for the two Irons sides. Irons A went down 5-4 to Hockley A and this was down to a man of match performance for Andy Cunningham. Andy has been a very strong player in the past, playing for Kent but now playing over the water here in Essex. Andy’s three wins and a good win each for Tim Pang and Daniel Patynski over Stuart Gibbs was enough for the win. Dave Bowles and Richard Brown shared the 4 wins in reply for Irons A.
Contrasting fortunes for Irons B who pulled off a 5-4 victory over Rayleigh Mill. Duncan Taylor proved the main resistance for the Millers with three wins over Lee McHugh, Norbert Fullerton and Andrew Halling with Peter Radford scoring the other point for Rayleigh with a win over Halling. However, Halling’s victory over Sawyer and McHugh & Fullerton’s wins over Sawyer and Radford saw the home side through.
Facing a Thorpe Bay B side including Kieran Skeggs and John Poysden meant it was always going to be a difficult night for Hullbridge B and so it proved. Skeggs and Poysden went unbeaten against Harry Keys, Joseph Buscombe and Arron Chandler and with Richard Stubbington also beating Buscombe the match finished 7-2 to Thorpe Bay B.
The final game of the week was a one-sided affair with Thorpe Bay A beating Hadleigh Forum A 9-0. John Poysden, Paul Sayer and Mark Stones went unbeaten only dropping one leg each throughout the whole evening.
Duncan Taylor. Premier Division DRS
Division 1
Brand Identity B recommenced the New Year by continuing their unbeaten run, overcoming Rawreth C 9 – 0. There were maximums for POM Adam Jackman, Jenny Harrison and Mick Grout. Despite the one-sided nature of the score line there were some very close rubbers. Only two were settled in three straight sets, the rest went to four or five sets with plenty of deuces.
Sanjay Saptarshi led the way for his Lentern B side with a Player of the Match unbeaten performance against visitors Canvey A. He was assisted by Gus Heath (with two wins) and Wayne Farmer (with one) in a 6 – 3 home success. Ray Wilson got two for the visitors and Andy Murray one.
A close encounter between hosts Hadleigh Forum B and visiting Stanford Le Hope A was only decided in the last contest of the night when Forum’s Dave Woolmer overcame Stanford’s Peter Weatherall, to swing the match 5 – 4 in Forum’s favour. However, yet again, Stanford could only muster two players. The away side’s Russell Bright must consider himself unfortunate, recording a POM maximum on his return to his old club, but ending up on the losing side. Dave and Graham Farmer were the home side’s stars.
It was ladies’ night for Mapledene when entertaining Invicta A.Both POM Dawn Baldry and Lin Roff had an unbeaten evening. Veteran Bill Smith added a further win in Mapledene’s 7 – 2 victory. Invicta’s points were gained by Alan Strawford and John Blackman gaining one win each.
Both Hockley sides returned 8 – 1 victories against lowly opposition. The Hockley C team came out on top against Ashingdon, thanks to maximums from Oliver George and POM Joerg Poeschus, with Brian Bissenden adding two more wins. Ben Pacey got Ashingdon’s only success with a fine win in a close five setter against Brian.
Hockley B repeated the 8 – 1 score line when they visited Rawreth D. Their Dave Chenery’s hat trick made him POM, but Stuart Adshead also was unbeaten. Keith Abbott added a further two, but was eased out by Harrison Creek giving the visitors their only point.
David Barnes. Division 1 DRS
Division 2
A new year heralded a change of leadership in Division 2 this week as third placed RESSC leapfrogged their rivals to take top spot after they thrashed Invicta C 9-0. Previous leaders Wakering were involved in the match of the week against Runnymede C scraping home 5-4 which means they have the same number of points as RESSC with Runnymede third, five points behind.
The all round strength of Wakering was the key to their win against Runnymede for whom Anthony Millward was the man of the match winning all his games. However Wakering were always in front thanks to two wins each for Paul and Zac England and one for Stewart Mills. Four matches went to five sets and one of those turned out to be crucial as Zac finally overcame a strong fightback from Tina Hutchinson to win 11/6 in the fifth set and give Wakering a winning 5-3 lead. Tina picked up the other point for Runnymede beating Stewart in another five set match.
RESSC were clinical in their 9-0 win over Invicta C losing just three sets all night and two of those came in the one game as Brendan Raja held a 2-1 lead against Kevin Wollen before succumbing 11/3 in the fifth set. Kevin Smart and Mike Worship made up the winning team with Mike taking the POTM award not losing a set all night. Trish Winter and John Gould made up the Invicta team.
With the Hockley F team withdrawing, Customs are now at the bottom of the table and they were beaten again by Canvey B 8-1 who maintain fourth place. There were signs of fight, however, from the Taxmen with three matches going to five sets. Amar Al-Soufi featured in two of them but missed out both times firstly to Ray Baker and then Tony Westwell. Richard Kidd fared better in his five set match against Ray coming back from two sets down to win 11/9 in the final set and claim their consolation point. Daniel Kellard and Tony Westwell made up the winning Canvey team.
Stanford D had to field a two man team against Invicta B and despite a brace for Vaughan Chambers it wasn’t enough to trouble Invicta who ran out 7-2 winners. Keith Baxter won both his matches and there was a win each for Mike Keeble and Sarah Ball. Stanford are one but bottom whilst Invicta remain in mid table.
Stanford’s C team fared better beating Hadleigh Forum D 6-3 but the winning team of Mark Farley, Peter Moxham and Chris Crooks all failed to overcome Hadleigh’s David Thomas who did not drop a set all night. He is having a fine season averaging over 86% but is often fighting a lone battle for the Forum.
Team of the Week – Wakering
Player of the Week – David Thomas
Paul Strutt. Division 2 DRS
