SDTTL WL 23-24 - 1st REPORT

Week 1 Report of the new season sees Rawreth Megazone C sitting on top of the table, thanks to a 9 - 0 away win at Hockley C. Adi Kamma, playing up, was their Player of the Match, although team mates Trevor Ward and Gary Hartgrove were unbeaten, too.Invicta A take second place, thanks to a hat trick from captain Tony Ayliffe and a maximum from Steve Marr in a 7 - 2 away win at Canvey A. The Islanders had Peter Cray and Lee McGonagle to thank for their two points.Stanford Le Hope A also had a 7 - 2 win - at home to Hadleigh Forum C. Derrick Pearson was their POM, and team mate Pat White added three wins, whilst Forum’s Tony Mace and Mark Everard got one each for their side.Hadleigh Forum B fared better than their C team. They won 6 - 3 at home to Rawreth Megazone D. The home side of Dave Woolmer, Mick Tapenden and Paul Farwell all recorded two wins apiece. However, none of them could get the better of the visitors’ Mike Hayes. His hat trick gave him the POM award.Lantern also scored a 6 - 3 home win in their match against Mapledene. Martin Archie and Ian Cranstone were both unbeaten, but Martin just edged the maths to take the POM award. The away side, of Andy Seaman, Mike Johnston and Bill Smith each recorded one win.The match between Brand Identity and returning RESSC was a close run affair. The difference between the two sides was the home side’s Barrie Delph’s maximum. However, both Bob Skews and John Holland took Barrie to close fifth sets. Adam Jackman’s brace was enough to ensure a 5 - 4 home victory for Identity. Bob managed two wins for the visitors and John and Richard Gill each recorded one.

Week 2 Report
Rawreth Megazone C maintain their position at the top of the table, thanks to a 6 -3 win at home to a two-man Stanford A side. Neither of the visitors was able to overcome the home side’s Adi Kamma (again drafted in from the D team). His two successes gave him the POM award for the second consecutive week. Peter Weatherall won two, and Pat White one for the visitors, whilst Gary MCarthy and Colin Clements contributed to the home side’s success.

Invicta A hang on  to second place, overcoming Hadleigh Forum B 7 - 2. Their hero was Lee Marson who had an unbeaten evening, with support in the form of two wins apiece from Tony Ayliffe and Steve Marr. David Woolmer put in a captain’s performance for the visiting Forum, getting both his side’s points.

Lentern move into third place with a comfortable 6 - 3 away win at Hadleigh Forum C. Peter Lucraft was their POM, winning everything Forum could throw at him. Former Forum man John Tendler added two more for the away side and Wayne Farmer added a single. Mark Everard got two for Forum and Tony Mace the other one.

Adi Kamma was in action again for his registered team Rawreth Megazone D in their home game against Brand Identity B. Adi was again up against only two players turning up for the opponents but, in a familiar way, he again took the POM award. With one additional win each from George Davis and Noah Unstead, the home side’s youngsters stumbled over the line 5 - 4. Veterans Mick Grout and John Lott got two wins apiece for the visitors.

The Mapledene trio of Charles Yeung, Lin Roff and Dawn Baldry each recorded two wins in their side’s 6 - 3 home victory over Canvey A. Ray Wilson got two for the visitors, and Peter Cray one.

The match between RESSC and Hockley C was a close run affair. It was only Ron Coutts’ victory over Dave Cheney in the final rubber of the night that edged the tie in favour of the home side. It was Ron’s only success of the night, but two wins for both Rob Skews and John Holland gave RESSC the win. POM Hockley’s Joe Odegbami recorded a hat trick, but still ended up on the losing side.

Reports from David Barnes

DIVISION 2

Week 1 Report
Hockley E kicked off the 23/24 Division 3 season with a convincing 8/1 win against Rawreth Megazone F.  Hannah Harbour and John George were both unbeaten and Ron Rogerson chipped in with two wins.  Graham Back was the sole point winner for RM, with a blank night for both our esteemed chairman Ken Field and Ethan Nunn.

Week 2 Report
Two games in and the pre-season favourites Matchpoint A are already top of the league albeit by just one point from Wakering.

Harry Sawford and James Elliot both completed hat tricks for Matchpoint as they disposed of Basildon B 8-1 whilst Lucy Elliot won two of her three games coming from two sets down to beat Andy Roff, but just missing out in five to Richard Reibold. Neither Harry or James dropped a set all night.

Wakering equalled that performance beating Rawreth Megazone 8-1 with seven of those matches going to four sets but all ending in Wakering’s favour. The only five set match yielded Rawreth’s only point Jaspreet Singh coming back from two sets down to complete a fine win against Paul England. Zac England and Stewart Mills were the hat trick heroes for Wakering.

Basildon A sit in third place after a narrow 5-4 win against Matchpoint B. Les Hoey was the POTM dropping just one set all night and Szymon Jarka provided the other two points but there was no joy for Stephen Walters. Jack Riley got two wins for Matchpoint with a win each for Debbie O’Neil and Dan Stewart.

Stanford B picked up their first win 7-2 against Invicta B with John Handscombe and Robert Salvage both recording hat tricks, Chris Crooks getting the other point. Barbara Chabior and Mike Keeble got a point each for Invicta. Three matches went to five sets but, unfortunately for Invicta, they all went the way of Stanford.

Finally, Runnymede inflicted a second defeat on Canvey B winning 6-3 at the Islanders home venue. Tony Millward led the way with three wins followed by a double from Dmitri Kisil and a single point from Andy Humphris. Tony Westwell won two for Canvey including a fine five set win against Dmitri while Trevor Hayes got their other point.

Team of the week – Stanford B
Player of the week – James Elliot

Reports from Paul Strutt

DIVISION 3

Week 1 Report
Hockley ‘E’ kicked off the 23/24 Division 3 season with a convincing 8/1 win against Rawreth Meggazone ‘F’.  Hannah Harbour and John George were both unbeaten and Ron Rogerson chipped in with two wins.  Graham Back was the sole point winner for RM, with a blank night for both our esteemed chairman and Ethan Nunn.

 The newly formed Matchpoint TTC have two teams in this Division, and the ‘D’ team were the first in action this week when they entertained Canvey ‘C’.  Despite two fine wins from Oliver Milchard, the experience of the Canvey side proved to be the difference, and they ran out 7/2 winners.  Trevor Hayes put in an unbeaten performance for the Islanders, well supported by Steve Kemp and Andy O’Rawe who recorded two wins each.

A very young Hockley ‘F’ team (average age 12 and a bit) took on Invicta ‘C’ (average age considerably higher).  Unsurprisingly a 9/0 Invicta win was the outcome.  Keith Baxter was POM with a straight sets maximum.  However, the Hockley trio of Alby Richardson, Elliot Brackenbury and Boris Kolev will surely learn from this experience and will only improve as this season unfolds.

There was a much closer match when Hadleigh Forum ‘D’ came up against Stanford ‘D’.  Despite being without a third player, the Stanford duo of Andrew Jessop and Peter Moxham fought hard with two wins each, but neither were able to get the better of Forum’s Douglas Brown who ensured that his side edged a 5/4 win.

Another junior side Evolve (the former Rawreth Junior team) were at home to another (largely) junior side in Matchpoint ‘C’.  The result was a 9/0 victory for Matchpoint with the experienced Roger Sherman and promising young players, Alex Bowden and Lotte Mills all recording maximums.  A tough night then for Teddy Kent, Aaron Price and Leo Goodey who will undoubtedly improve during the season.  It is really heartening to see so many young players developing and being exposed to competitive league play.  All credit to the coaching teams at Evolve and Matchpoint.

Week 2 Report