WEEK 5 REPORT
Sdttl Winter League 2021-22
Premier Division
First this week a late result from last week’s fixtures and that saw Hockley A triumph over Hadleigh Forum A 6-3. Matt Stringer and Tim Pang were unbeaten for Hockley while Dave Bassett, Bertie Makolli and Hamish Innes all recorded a win a piece over Dave Colwill.
Hockley A were back in action this week and again served up another 6-3 win, this time over Hullbridge A. Ian Wall was, as he has been all season, in fine form as he beat Liam Squirrell, Harry Keys and Toby Zeffie. Matt Stringer lost out to Squirrell but beat Keys and Zeffie with Tim Pang taking the final point for Hockley, also with a win over Zeffie.
It was yet another 6-3 scoreline as Rayleigh Mill went down to Brand Identity A. Simon Jacob, Steve Muth and Richard Jackman all with two wins over Colin Chatfield and Steve Maltby. Duncan Taylor with three wins in reply for the Millers.
Duncan Taylor, Premier Div. DRS
Division 1
Brand Identity B continued their unbeaten record with a 7 – 2 home win over Hadleigh Forum B. A maximum from player of the match David Jacob and two each from Barrie Delf and Michael Grout did the damage. Mick Tappenden and Paul Fawell got one each for Forum.
Hockley B are the other unbeaten side in the division but, again, they had to work hard for a 5 – 4 victory, this time at home to their Hockley C team. The visitor’s Paul Strutt pulled off the shock result of the night, overcoming Keith Abbott three sets to one in a close contest. Joerg Poeschus did well to win two for the C team and Oliver George added a further one. However, two wins for both the B team’s Keith and David Chenery and a single from Josh Copeland ensured the bragging rights stayed with the home side.
Canvey A were only able to field two players for their visit to Invicta A. However, a maximum from Ray Wilson and two wins for Peter Cray gave Canvey a win. Alan Strawford played very well to beat Peter. (Spare a thought for your DRS – falling two sets down to Ray, he clawed himself back to two sets all. Then, in the decider, he was 10 – 4 down, but managed to get back to 10 -10, only to lose out 13/11!).
When, in the match between Rawreth C and Hockley D, the first rubber of the evening between Adam Hill and Ben Cook went all the way to the fifth set, all involved could be forgiven for thinking it was going to be a full night of close encounters. However, the visitors only won one more set the whole night and ended on the wrong side of a 9 – 0 drubbing. Adam, Chris Aukett and POM Jan Thorpe were all undefeated.
Lentern B ran out comfortable 6 – 3 winners on their long journey to Stanford Le Hope A, thanks to maximums from Sanjay Saptarshi and Ian Cranstone. The home side of Peter Weatherall, Ian Sangster and Dave Hancox each won one.
An experienced Mapledene side were too strong for the youngsters from Rawreth D. POM Dawn Baldry, Steve Woodley and the evergreen Bill Smith all recorded maximums. Noah Unstead came the closest for the visitors in his five-set game against Bill.
This week’s scheduled match between Hadleigh Forum C and Ashingdon has been postponed until a future date, as Ashingdon were not able to muster a team.
David Barnes, Division 1 DRS
Division 2
The top four teams Wakering, RESSC, Runnymede C and Stanford B, all won and there are already signs that these teams are going to pull away at the top of the table. They are separated by just three points but there is a four point gap to fifth placed Canvey C, and then a six point gap to Hadleigh Forum D.
Canvey C were one of the week’s big winners beating their own Canvey B side 8-1. Hat tricks for Lewis Pattle and Archie Blackburn and two for Kevin Walsingham did the damage but the B team did go down fighting, Tony Westwell leading 2-0 in both his matches against Lewis and Archie and claiming the consolation point by beating Kevin. Ray Baker and Lee McGonagle made up the B team.
Leaders Wakering met some strong resistance against Hadleigh Forum D with David Thomas, a brace, and one point for Tony Mace claiming three points against Zac and Paul England and Stewart Mills. At one stage they led 3-1 but Wakering’s comeback saw Paul taking the POTM award, Stewart scoring two wins and Zac one.
RESSC stayed second beating Invicta B 7-2 with hat tricks for Richard Gill and Mike Worship with Ron Coutts picking up the other point. Richard was twice taken to five sets by Victor Wei and David Barnes, but David got some revenge by winning another five set match against Ron who also succumbed to Victor Wei. Mike Keeble missed out for Invicta.
Stanford B whitewashed Hockley F 9-0 Saad Abdullah, Peter Moxham and Rob Salvage making up the winning team. Peter had to fight a little bit harder than his teammates however, going to five sets against Keith Denyer and Graham Gregory.
Runnymede C pulled off a similar result against Stanford D fielding a side worthy of playing in last season’s Division One. Phil Digby, Tony Millward and Dimitry Kisil only lost four sets all night against the Stanford team of Mark Downey, Vaughan Chambers and Randy Santiago.
Closest match of the week was Hockley E’s 5-4 victory at Invicta C. Dave Cross was the hero for the away team albeit he was pushed to five sets by Jon Gould and a brace from Ron Rogerson gave them the points. Jon, Trish Winter and Keith Baxter all beat Ben Brown and Trish edged home against Ron.
Paul Strutt, Division 2 DRS
