The new domestic table tennis season has kicked off with a bang and it comes with a familiar feel to the seasons past.
Doric Insurance Brokers have provided exceptional sponsorship to the senior leagues and their lengthy partnership continues for this season.
Last season saw an increased number of teams across all Divisions with 34 and this season it has increased by a further team, with 35 all vying for glory across the traditional 4 Divisions, which has been the most regular split for the most part of this century.
Despite the increase in numbers, the top flight is the sole Division to suffer in terms of participation, with 1 fewer team leaving it with an odd number of 7 sides battling it out for the title. This is largely in part to a number of players not continuing to play full time this season and opting just to reserve, as well as a few players ceasing to play the sport. Included in this are Island Games duo Alice Edwards and Dawn Morgan who provide Whistlers Table Tennis Club with excellent support for their 2 x Division 1 teams when short.
There are also a few players who have made the move up to the top flight this season owing to the exiting players. Nye Matthew dominated the Division 2 averages last season and has been one of the leading players in that Division for a good few seasons now. He steps up to join a strong Lions B team alongside Island Games player Ben Foss and Jamie Ferbrache.
The other Division 1 debutants are youngsters Connor Powell and Shelby Timms. Powell is in a Lions E side alongside Division 1 stalwarts Paul Hainsworth and Andy Gill, whilst Timms joins Island Games player Lawrence Stacey and the highly experienced and decorated player Mark Pipet in a strong looking Whistlers B side.
There is however an unchanged look to the outfits that took the top 2 spots last year. Defending champions Lions A return with Joshua Butler, Liam Robilliard and Matthew Stubbington looking to repeat their feat of last time out. Meanwhile the side of Island Games player Joshua Stacey, Matthew Casey and Joseph Bourgaize, now operating as Whistlers A, will be looking to go one step better this season.
Due to the odd number of teams in the Division, it was the turn of the defending champions to sit out the opening week of fixtures with their ghost week of the first round of matches.
This enabled Whistlers A to make their mark and they did so thanks to a hard-fought 7-3 win over Lions E. Josh Stacey made the perfect start to his campaign as he ran out a comfortable straight sets winner over Paul Hainsworth, Connor Powell and reserve Ellis Tomlin. Joseph Bourgaize was in good form in the opener also and he defeated Powell in straight sets and Tomlin in 4 sets. Matthew Casey added a further win over Tomlin in 4 sets to seal the victory, whilst he also teamed with Stacey to win the doubles over Hainsworth and Powell in straight sets. Hainsworth started solidly for his Lions side with straight sets wins over Casey and Bourgaize, whilst Powell did superbly to overturn a 2-0 deficit to Casey and earn himself an excellent debut 5 set win over the much more experienced player.
The Whistlers side will have to settle with sharing top spot however as Lions D produced a super display to upset Lions B 7-3. It was a true team effort as it saw all of the D side's players pick up 2 wins a piece. Ryan Bichard, Steve Ozanne and Sam Clark all defeated Jamie Ferbrache and Nye Matthew in singles action. For Bichard he needed to battle back from 2-1 down to Ferbrache before winning in 5 sets and also needed 4 tight sets to get past Matthew. Ozanne beat Matthew impressively in straight sets in his opening match and followed up with an equally impressive 4 set win over Ferbrache. Clark opened with a 4 set win over Matthew and followed up by also battling from 2-1 down to overcome Ferbrache over the full 5 sets. The D side also starred in the doubles as Bichard and Clark earned themselves an impressive straight sets win over Ben Foss and Ferbrache. Foss showed his class for his side as he went unbeaten in singles action, dropping just the single end to Clark in the process.
All Divisions other than the top flight started 2 weeks earlier and have thus seen 3 fixtures contested already this season.
With 9 teams in the Division, like the top flight, there is a team every week that has a ghost week and does not play a match.
There are 3 teams that maintain a 100% winning record so far this season and the table is led by St Pauls A and Whistlers D who have each won all 3 of their matches. Whistlers E meanwhile are in 4th spot, but have won both of their matches.
The St Pauls side are mathematically top due to having a superior games difference and the side has only lost 2 matches of the 30 contested so far. They started the season emphatically by defeating both Ravenscroft Panthers B and Ravenscroft Panthers A 10-0. Despite these wins, Peter Vivian from the A side was unlucky to miss out in 5 sets against both Terry Tustum and Maurice James. Their other win came against Lions G 8-2 this week. Gary Wilcocks was the only player to maintain his 100% record on the night though as he beat Andy Ferbrache, Brian Ferbrache and Jonah Ingrouille. This was tight against Andy and it saw a 13-11 triumph in the deciding 5th set. James lost to Andy in 4 sets in the opening match, whilst Trustum was beaten excellently in straight sets by Ingrouille.
Whistlers D have a had a solid start which has seen a pair of 7-3 wins over Lions H and Lions G respectively with a 9-1 win over Ravenscroft Panthers B sandwiched in between. Kay Chivers, Keith Opie and youngster Jayden Tucknott have all contributed to wins in all 3 of the matches, with Chivers yet to taste defeat. A notable win from these fixtures came from young 3rd Division Lions reserve Luke Evans who did exceptionally to beat the much more experienced Tucknott in 4 sets.
Finally Whistlers E have had 2 tough fixtures to start the season, but have edged through as 6-4 winners in each. This has been largely due to the excellent form of the tricky Craig Dunning who has won all 8 matches he has played in. The win over Lions F came down to the final 2 matches of the night, with it poised at 4-4 at this stage. The returning former Division 1 player Ellis Tomlin was defeated by youngster Oskar Cleal in 5 sets due to his strong fightback from 2-1 down, whilst Tim Le Page also held his nerve and withstood a fightback from James Crocker to win in 5 sets.
Their other win came against Whistlers C and the key rubber in deciding the outcome was the doubles. Dunning and Cleal held their nerve to defeat Martin and Stuart Sarre in 5 sets.
A strong compliment of 10 teams makes this the largest 3rd Division for almost 15 years. One of the main reasons for the increased size is due to the large influx of strong junior players that have made the move up from the 4th Division.
This includes Aiden Ozanne, Luke Evans, Alex Hutchinson and Ollie Sparkes from Lions and Barnaby Groves, Albie Lihou, Alex Paul and Hollie Jenkins from Ravenscroft Panthers.
The sides with a 100% winning start after the first 3 x fixtures are Ravenscroft Panthers C and Lions J.
The Panthers side are mathematically top due to having won a single match more and have lost just 3 individual matches thus far. Shaun Mosley and Barnaby Groves have won all 9 of their singles matches, whilst Steve Martin has lost just once Matthew Board from Whistlers F in 5 sets during their 9-1 win. The other 2 losses came from reserve Tia Timms during their 8-2 win over Ravenscroft Panthers E.
The Lions side is unchanged from the side that won Division 4 last year in the shape of Andy Ozanne and juniors Aiden Ozanne and Luke Evans. The trio have made an exceptional start which has seen just 4 individual matches lost. Young Evans in particular has produced an excellent start to the season and has won all 9 of his singles matches so far. Aiden and Andy have also fared well, with each having lost just once. The player to defeat Andy and Aiden was Ken Falla, who beat Andy in 5 sets and Aiden in 4. Evans also had a tough tussle with the experienced and tricky Falla, but came through a lengthy 5th set 15-13 to come away as the winner.
