Cheltenham G preserved their
unbeaten tag against Cheltenham E, but only just! James Bird
starred for the E team, winning all of his sets, whilst all
players in the G side contributed wins, and also snatched the
doubles to ensure that honours finished even.
Tewkesbury B powered their
way to an impressive 9-1 success over Winchcombe Vikings. Simon
Lockley demonstrated that any loss of sleep following the recent
arrival of twins had not blunted his game, and along with John
Goodchild, won all three sets. Roy Gavin showed the greatest
resistance, taking Simon to five games.
Cheltenham F were too strong
for Cheltenham H and ran out 10-0 winners. Neither John
Whitworth nor Mike Brown dropped a game, but Matt Wells took
five games to overcome Martin Holt and Luke Greening.
Cheltenham F continued their
bright start to the season with a 6-4 victory over Cleeve
Eagles. Cheltenham’s John Whitworth was the only player to
secure a maximum. Derek Brown grabbed two wins for the Eagles.
Civil Service B gained their
first win of the season against Cheltenham H, who nevertheless
claimed their first points in a 4-6 result. For the Cheltenham
side, Tom Warner gained his first maximum, which included the
notable scalp of Rob Browning. There were a number of very long
games, including that in which Geoff Wilson beat Luke Greening
11-8,17-15,11-6.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cheltenham E 5
(J Bird)
Cheltenham G
5
Tewkesbury B 9
(S Lockley, J Goodchild)
Winchcombe Vikings
1
Cheltenham F 10
(J Whitworth, M Brown, M Wells)
Cheltenham H
0
Cheltenham F 6
(J Whitworth)
Cleeve Eagles
4
Cheltenham H 4
(T Warner)
Civil Service B
6
11th Nov 2009 -
Division 1
This is the
first season in a number of years where I have
been injury/illness free and should be enjoying my Table Tennis
more than ever. Unfortunately this year, I have been accused of
cheating and had people either cheat, or serve illegally to gain
an unfair advantage. On several occasions this year I have
not enjoyed the game and feel that players need to address their
sporting conduct around the table. I for one do not cheat and
would take no pleasure whatsoever from a victory where I had. In
my eyes that would not be a true victory.
Can I
therefore ask that everyone plays both fairly and within the
rules of the game, which must include the service where the ball
should be thrown up (16 cm) and in view at all times until
struck.
Lakeside 'A'
(Rich Moores, Suzy Robinson, Pete Wood) played Chelsea
Building Society (Guy Greening, Dave Metcalfe, Simon
Moysey) this week in a match where the Lakesider's earnt yet
another victory thanks to a team effort where Rich Moores, Suzy
Robinson and Pete Wood all won two games each with wins over the
Chelsea's David Metcalfe and Simon Moysey. Chelsea's Guy
Greening proved to be the thorn in their side winning all of his
singles and then combining with Dave Metcalfe to take the
doubles which in fairness to the Lakesider's was conceded due to
time running out. Two other highlights worthy of mention in this
match were when Guy Greening at the start of the evening
complimented Suzy (slapper) Robinson on her recent weight loss.
Later the same evening Guy Greening regretted his complimentary
remark when after winning an excellent rally against Suzy, she
retorted - "How on earth did you retrieve those shots from
around your Fat Stomach?". An excellent match, played in good
spirits with the Lakesider's squeaking a narrow victory.
Winchcombe
Royals
(Nick Davidson, Choi Sze To, Keith
Ferguson) entertained Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A'
(Mike Harvey, Dave Harvey, Chris
Hewitt) this week in a match where CTTC 'A' fielded their
strongest team that resulted in an easy victory. Only the
Royal's Choi Sze To was able to make any sort of impression
winning their only game of the evening with a straight sets win
over Mike Harvey. Cheltenham's Dave Harvey and Chris Hewitt were
untroubled in their hatrick of wins against the Royal's Nick,
Choi Sze and Keith and retained their 100% records.
Chelsea
Building Society (Guy Greening, Dave
Metcalfe, Simon Moysey) entertained Cheltenham Table
Tennis Club 'B' (Simon Pratten, Nick
Smale, Anand Keshav) this week in a match that resulted in
the first victory of the season for CTTC 'B'. In
someway there
were two stars of the evening with the Chelsea's Dave Metcalfe
commencing the evening with an excellent win over the highly
capable Nick Smale. However, the overall star of the evening had
to be Cheltenham's Anand Keshav who played some awesome table
tennis reaching the form I have previously seen him capable of
and winning a hatrick of singles with two comfortable wins over
the Chelsea's Simon and Dave and a tight five setter with Guy.
Anand's hatrick of wins were supported by Nick who chipped in
with two and Simon who chipped in with one. This match also saw
the loss of two 100% records with both the Chelsea's Simon and
Dave winning their first matches of the season.
Cheltenham
Table Tennis Club 'B' (Dominic James,
Anand Keshav, Jon Gaskell) played Winchcombe Royals
(Keith Ferguson, Stuart Greene, Nick
Davidson) in a closely contested match that resulted in a narrow
victory for the Royal's. Clearly the Royal's Nick Davidson was
in fine fettle winning an excellent maximum, supported by
Dominic who won two and Keith who chipped in with one. Dominic
and Anand each won two for
Cheltenham with wins
over the Royal's Keith and Stuart for their only points of the
evening. This is a match where two further 100% records were
broken with both Keith and Dominic recording their first wins of
the season.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Lakeside A
6 Chelsea Building Society
4 (Guy Greening)
Winchcombe Royals
1 Cheltenham Table Tennis Club A 9 (D
Harvey, C Hewitt)
Chelsea
Building Society 3 Cheltenham Table Tennis
Club B 7 (Anand Keshav)
Cheltenham TTC B
4 Winchcombe Royals
6 (Nick Davidson)
11th Nov 2009 -
Division 2
I hope you all enjoy reading works of fiction;
I’m making all this stuff up due to lack of comments on match
cards (with one honourable exception – you know who you are!) ,
so if I’m hopelessly wide of the mark in my jottings, that’s the
reason!! Only two unbeaten players left now – Dennis Wadley of
Saracens A and Andy East from Lakeside B, but being pressed hard
by Mel Garlick, Chris Ball and Chris Lane in the 90%’s and a
clutch of others in the high 80%’s.
Winchcombe Legends came away with a relatively straightforward
win over short-handed Saracens B, although Mark Nally did manage
to salvage a point for Saracens by overcoming Darrell Wiltshire
in 3-straight.
Dennis Wadley continues to shine for Saracens A, achieving what
Ross Greening and Terry Sims could not quite manage by getting
the better of Tirley Tigers’ Gloucester Division 1 “ringer” Rob
Deeley in 3-straight; Terry also had a fight on his hands from
Elaine Evans, but finally prevailed 12-10 in the 5th set.
Dave Green was in good form registering a max for Cheltenham C,
while Richard Bishop chalked up Winchcombe Warriors only points,
winning two singles and combining with Mike Vick to secure the
doubles for the home side.
Judy Morley continues to rack up welcome points
for struggling Old Saracens in the 6-4 win over Cheltenham D,
while Sheila Matthews and Pete McGeough at last broke their
ducks by overcoming, respectively, Alan Harvey in 5 close sets
and James Bird in four.
Honours went to the 'B' side 7-3 in the battle of the Lakesides,
with both Andy East and Chris Ball registering max-es. Graham
Chandler, playing cannily as ever, was just squeezed out in 5
tight sets by Chris Ball, with Ken Smith mysteriously losing all
three.
Left until last, for the oddest result of the
week, CCS A tamed Tirley Tigers 5-4, courtesy of the doubles,
as both teams only managed to field two players, so No.3 vs. No.3
was void. Phil King continued his excellent start to the
season, winning both singles and combining with Steve Murton to
take the deciding doubles.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Lakeside B
7 ( Andy East, C Ball )
Lakeside C
3
Cheltenham TTC C
7 ( Dave Green )
Winchcombe Warriors
3
Cleeve Saracens A
8 ( Denis Wadley)
Tirley Tigers
2
Winchcombe Legends
9 ( S Ratcliffe, C Lane)
Cleeve Saracens B
1
Civil Service A
5 ( Phil King )
Tirley Tigers
4
Cheltenham TTC D
4
Old Saracens
6 ( Judy Morley)
11th Nov 2009 -
Division 3
This was the
week in which those players at the top of the individual
averages saw their 100% record disappear!
High flying
Tewkesbury B had to battle hard to get the better of a young and
improving Cheltenham G side in a 7-3 win. Tewkesbury’s John
Goodchild was the only player to record three wins, and John
Teare saw his unbeaten record go at the expense of Jon Laramy
who edged it after being two games down 4-11,7-11, 11-8, 11-9,
12-10. All of Simon Lockley’s sets went to four games. He won
one but was narrowly lost out in the other two.
Tewksbury
faced another testing time against Cheltenham F, and once again
secured seven points, with each of their players winning twice.
Cheltenham’s Matt Wells was involved in two five game sets,
narrowly losing out to Wayne Lippett, but beating John Goodchild
13-11, 12-10,5-11,9-11,11-8, this being John’s first setback of
the campaign. Cheltenham’s Mike Brown and John Whitworth
recorded wins over Wayne and Simon Lockley respectively, each
set going to four games.
Tiffany
Hopton showed that she had recovered from a hand injury by
taking all three sets for Cleeve Eagles in their 6-4 win over
Cheltenham G. Mick Holder played a rock solid game to record two
successes. For Cheltenham’s previously unbeaten Simon James it
was a blank evening. His closest encounter was against Derek
Brown, in which neither were able to dominate, Derek eventually
gaining a 5-11,17-15,11-9,8-11,14-12 win.
Sometimes
the match result does not reflect the whole story, as was the
case in Civil Service B’s 9-1 win over Cheltenham F. Six of the
singles went to five games, and in many cases the deciding game
was won by the narrowest of margins. Comeback of the night
undoubtedly belonged to Alan Thomas, who won 11-9 in the final
game against Matt Wells after being 2-8 down.
Dick Prior
led Winchcombe Vikings to their second win of the season,
winning all of his sets in an 8-2 victory over Cheltenham H.
There was a maximum also for Alan Gallop, whilst Martin Holt
earned his first individual success for the Cheltenham side.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cheltenham G
3
Tewkesbury B 7
(J Goodchild)
Cheltenham F
3
Tewkesbury B 7
Cheltenham G
4
Cleeve Eagles 6
(T Hopton
Civil
Service B
9 (R Browning, G Thomas)
Cheltenham F
1
Winchcombe Vikings 8 (R Prior, A Gallop)
Cheltenham H 2
18th Nov 2009 -
Division 1
Winchcombe Cavaliers (Chris
Pearce, Duncan Arrandale, Luke Moffat) played
Winchcombe Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug
Payne, Matt Hartwell) in a closely fought match that ended with
the spoils being shared. The Cavaliers Chris Pearce was the star
of the evening easily winning all of this games, supported by
Luke Moffat's first appearance of the season who chipped in with
one win over the Roamers Doug Payne. The Roamers points were won
by Nick Mytton and Matt Hartwell with two wins each over the
Cavaliers Duncan Arrandale and Luke Moffat, supported by Doug
Payne with a win over Duncan Arrandale. The Cavaliers Chris and
Duncan then combined to win the doubles and secure the draw with
a win over Nick Doug.
Cirencester
(Howard Williams, Rob Willsher, Gordon Shaw) played Cheltenham
Table Tennis Club 'A' (Barry Turner, Russell Hayward, Dave
Harvey) in a match where Cheltenham squeezed out a narrow
victory thanks to an untroubled maximum by Dave Harvey who
remains unbeaten. Cheltenham's other points were won by Russell
Hayward who contributed two wins and then combined with Dave
Harvey in the doubles to secure the narrow victory.
Cirencester's Rob Willsher won two games with wins over Barry
and Russell, supported by Howard and Gordon who contributed a
win each over Cheltenham's Barry. This is a match that saw the
demise of yet another 100% record when Gordon won his first game
of the year with a win over Barry (White) Turner.
Winchcombe
Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug Payne,
Matt Hartwell) entertained Lakeside 'A'
(Paul Smythe, Rich Moores, Roy
Fowler) in a match that appears to have been a very one sided
affair with the Lakesider's winning just the one point. The
Roamers Nick and Matt appear to have been untroubled in winning
all of their games, but old man Doug seemed to have a much
tougher evening with close games all around but squeaking two
victories to help his team to an emphatic victory. The
Lakesider's only point of the evening was won by Rich Moore's
with a narrow five set victory over Doug with the other
Lakesider's Paul and Roy
going home empty handed on this occasion.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Winchcombe Cavaliers
5 (Chris Pearce)
Winchcombe Roamers
5
Cirencester
4
Cheltenham TTC A
6 (Dave Harvey)
Winchcombe
Roamers 9 (Nick Mytton, Matt Hartwell)
Lakeside A
1
18th Nov 2009 -
Division 2
Now we are
starting to sort the men (and women!) out from the boys (girls)
as the leading teams get round to playing each other. Both the
top matches – Legends Vs Lakeside B, and Cheltenham C Vs
Saracens A - ended up 6-4, with real cut-and-thrust and 5-set
thrillers. Chris Lane for Legends battled hard for his two
singles but could not overcome Andy East who is now the sole
remaining player still with a 100% record. Chris Ball also
scored two wins and combined with Andy East to win the crucial
doubles in a tight 5-setter (12-10 in the fifth !) Cheltenham C
vs. Saracens A was even more topsy-turvy, with players losing to
different opponents. Dave Green took Dennis Wadley’s 100%
record in a thrilling 5-set encounter but then lost to Mike
Dodwell, who in turn lost to both Mel Garlick and Martin Smith.
In the end Saracens, with Ross Greening losing all three, had to
win the doubles to salvage 4 points – but by a tight margin of
11-9 in the 5th set.
Saracens A remain on top but are being pushed hard by Legends
and Cheltenham C, who both have a game in hand, and with
Lakeside B coming up fast on the rails.
In the other matches, Pete Humble was on excellent form,
achieving a maximum for Tirley Tigers, as his team beat Cleeve
Saracens 6-4. Barrie Pope did the same for Lakeside C against
Cheltenham D. Although Cheltenham lost the doubles, Trevor
Oliver and Julie Taylor supported Barrie well, winning two
singles each for a 7-3 victory. Judy Morley continues to shine
for Old Saracens, with none of the CCS players managing to work
out how to play against her funny rubber. Both Phil King and
Steve Murton won two singles but Saracens clinched the victory
with the doubles in 4 sets.
Winchcombe Warriors were too strong for
Tewkesbury A on the night, with both Charlie Loh and Richard
Bishop registering max's, while John Goodchild and Mike Maxwell
salvaged the points and at least some pride for Tewkesbury.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Lakeside B
6 ( Andy East )
Winchcombe Legends 4
Cheltenham C
6
Cleeve Saracens A
4
Cleeve Saracens B
6
Tirley Tigers
4 ( Pete Humble)
Winchcombe Warriors 8
( C, Loh, R Bishop)
Tewkesbury A
2
Civil Service A
4
Old Saracens
6 ( Judy Morley )
Lakeside C
7 ( B Pope )
Cheltenham TTC D
3
18th Nov 2009 -
Division 3
A hard
earned 7-3 victory for Cleeve Eagles over Civil Service B was
achieved despite Jeremy Turberville winning all three of his
sets for the losing side. Most sets went to at least four games,
and Eagles won a marathon doubles 16-14 in the final game.
Cheltenham H
put up a spirited performance before going down 3-7 to
Cheltenham G. With half of the sets going to five games, the
eventual winners were pushed all of the way, with Ryan Godwin
being the only player to remain unbeaten on the night. The H
side notched up their first doubles win of the season.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cleeve
Eagles
7 Civil Service
B
3 (J Turberville)
Cheltenham TTC H
3 Cheltenham TTC
G 7 (R
Godwin)
25th Nov 2009 -
Division 1
Winchcombe Royals
(Choi Sze To, Stuart Greene, Darrell Wiltshire) played
Cirencester (Rob Willsher, Howard Williams, Gordon Shaw) in a
match that was largely dominated by Choi Sze To who enjoyed
another hatrick of wins and then combined with Stuart to win the
doubles for the Royal's only points of the evening. Cirencesters
victory was a team effort with Rob, Howard and Gordon all
winning two singles each over Stuart and Darrell.
Winchcombe Roamers
(Nick Mytton, Doug
Payne, Matt Hartwell) entertained
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'B'
(Nick Smale, Dominic James, Anand Keshav) in a relatively one
sided match where the Roamers emerged the victors. Cheltenham's
Nick Smale proved to be the only thorn in the side for the
Roamers winning two of his singles for their only points of the
evening with wins over Nick and Doug. The Roamers Matt Hartwell
was the only unbeaten player in this match with a hatrick
of wins, he was supported by Nick and Doug who both contributed
two wins each over Cheltenham's Dominic and Anand.
Cheltenham
Table Tennis Club 'A'
(Mike Harvey, Rob
Harvey, Dave Harvey) played Lakeside
'A' (Pete Wood,
Suzy Robinson) in a match where the Lakesider's were only able
to field two players. Cheltenham's Mike and Dave were unbeaten,
although Suzy gave Mike a fright pushing him all of the way
before losing narrowly in the fifth. The Lakesider's Suzy
'slapper' Robinson enjoyed a straight sets victory over Rob to
deny him a maximum and then combined with her team mate Pete
Wood for an excellent doubles victory over Mike and Dave for
their second and final point of the evening.
Winchcombe Royals
(Choi Sze To, Keith Ferguson, Nick Davidson) entertained the
Chelsea Building Society (Simon Moysey, Guy Greening, Bill Dawe)
in a match that was once again dominated by the Royal's Choi Sze
To who enjoyed a hatrick of wins and then combined with team
mate Nick for an excellent doubles win over Guy and
Bill. Chelsea's Guy and Bill enjoyed two wins a piece over the
Royal's Keith and Nick, supported by Simon who had a win over
Keith Ferguson and earn a draw. The Royal's Choi Sze To did
remarkably well to overcome Bill Dawe in three straight games
because it is estimated that Bill must have had at least five
nets in each game. Unfortunately for Guy this trend was reversed
when he played Choi who enjoyed a similar amount of luck before
emerging victorious in four games.
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A'
(Mike
Harvey, Rob Harvey, Russell Hayward) entertained
Winchcombe Cavaliers
(Chris Pearce, Craig Norledge, Duncan Arrandale) in match where
the Cavaliers Chris Pearce proved to be a pain in the neck for
Cheltenham winning all of his games and then combining with
Craig to win the doubles for their only points of the evening.
Cheltenham's
narrow victory was a team affair with Mike, Rob and Russell all
winning two points each against the Cavaliers Craig and Duncan.
One match worthy of highlight and one I would like to have
watched was between Mike and Chris that looks to have been a
titanic struggle that could have gone either way. However, Chris
Pearce kept his bottle and emerged the victor by the narrowest
of margins deuce in the fifth and deciding game.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Winchcombe Royals 4 (Choi Sze
To)
Cirencester
6
Winchcombe Roamers 8 (Matt Hartwell)
Cheltenham TTC B
2
Cheltenham TTC A 8
(Mike Harvey, Dave Harvey) Lakeside 'A'
2
Winchcombe Royals 5 (Choi
Sze To)
Chelsea Building Society
5
Cheltenham
TTC A
6
Winchcombe Cavaliers
4 (Chris Pearce)
25th Nov 2009 -
Division 3
A successful
few days for Tewkesbury B who gave further evidence of their
dominance of the division against two sides who would hope to
finish in the top half.
In their 7-3 win over Cheltenham E, the highlight
was the encounter between John Goodchild and James Bird. John
eventually came out on top, winning 7-11, 11-4, 11-1,10-12,
11-9. All of the Cheltenham players managed one win each.
Tewkesbury
continued their winning ways with two wins over Cleeve Eagles on
successive nights.
The first, a
9-1 success, was achieved with both John Goodchild and Wayne
Lippett gaining maximums. Wayne was pushed to an 11-9 fifth game
win against Derek Brown, who gained Eagle’s only point.
Eagles
changed their line up for the second encounter, but were swept
aside 10-0. The closest they came to any joy was the clash
between Wayne and Tiffany Hopton. Wayne seems to have a knack of
winning fifth games, and did so here with a 12-10 scoreline.
With only
two players, it was always going to be an uphill struggle for
Civil Service B in their match against Winchcombe Vikings. Geoff
Wilson gained their only win against John Gallop, whilst Dick
Prior and Roy Gavin picked up two each for the Vikings.
Cheltenham H
had to settle for a solitary point against a solid looking
Cheltenham E outfit. John Terry and James Bird claimed maximums,
and it was left to Tom Warner to prevent the whitewash, beating
Carey Maisey in five games.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Tewkesbury B
7 (J Goodchild)
Cheltenham E
3
Tewkesbury B
9 (J Goodchild, W Lippett)
Cleeve Eagles
1
Tewkesbury B
10 (J Goodchild, W Lippett, S Lockley)
Cleeve Eagles
0
Civil Service B
1
Winchcombe Vikings 9
Cheltenham H
1
Cheltenham E
9 (J Bird, J Terry)
2nd Dec 2009 -
Division 1
Lakeside 'A' (Rich Moores,
Pete Wood, Roy Fowler) entertained Cirencester (Dave
Adamson, Gordon Shaw, Rob Willsher) this week in a match
where the Lakesider's Rich and Roy each had a good win
against Cirencester's Gordon Shaw for two valuable points.
Rich then combined with Pete for another good doubles win
over Dave and Gordon for their third point of then evening.
None of the Lakesider's were able to cope with Dave and Rob
who were mostly untroubled in their hatrick of wins.
Cheltenham Table
Tennis Club 'B' (Nick Smale, Dominic James, Simon
Pratten) played Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A' (Mike
Harvey, Robert Harvey, Dave Harvey) this week in a match
that for me at least was full of surprises, not least
the result which was a whitewash defeat for the 'B'
side. Although a good player in his own right, the
youngest member of the Harvey clan, Robert won all of
his games easily in three straight games, whereas the
other 'older' Harvey's, Mike and Dave, were pushed the
absolute distance in some of their games. The 'B' sides
Nick Smale clearly showed some of the talent that I know
he is capable of, pushing both Mike and Dave to a
deciding game before losing narrowly in the fifth.
Unfortunately for the 'B' side, the Harvey's were just
too strong for both Dominic and Simon, although Dominic
did manage to win one game against Mike before losing in
four.
Winchcombe Cavaliers
(Chris Pearce, Rob Sinderberry, Duncan Arrandale) played
Winchcombe Royals (Keith Ferguson,
Choi Sze To, Nick Davidson) in a match that was once
again dominated by Choi Sze To who enjoyed yet another
maximum that included another win over the talented
Chris Pearce. Choi Sze then combined with Nick to win
the doubles for the Royals final point of the evening.
The Cavaliers Trio, Chris, Rob and Duncan all enjoyed
two wins each over the Royals Keith Ferguson and Nick
Davidson making it a good team effort for their victory.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Lakeside A
3
Cirencester
7 (Dave Adamson, Rob Willsher)
Cheltenham
TTC B
0 Cheltenham TTC A 10 (Mike Harvey,
Robert Harvey, Dave Harvey)
Winchcombe Cavaliers 6
Winchcombe Royals 4 (Choi Sze To)
2nd Dec 2009 -
Division 2
As we near
the end of the first half of the season, Cleeve Saracens A are
just keeping their noses in front at the head of the table, but
the chasing pack of Winchcombe Legends, Cheltenham C and
Lakeside B all have games in hand and are keeping up the
pressure.
The consistent Saracens A team of Mike Dodwell, Terry Sims and
Ross Greening ensured they kept up their momentum with a 7-3
against Old Saracens but no one could stop Judy Morley notching
up another max for Old Saracens, although Mike Dodwell had a
good go, only going down 11-8 in the 5th.
Both Charlie Loh and Richard Bishop of Winchcombe Warriors
chalked up max-es against Lakeside C but Richard was made to
work hard by Trevor Oliver, only edging him out 12-10 in the
5th. Luke Gresty was unlucky to lose out to Trevor in another
close encounter, going down 11-8 in the 5th set, while Barry
Pope and Trevor combined well to take the doubles in straight
sets against Bishop and Loh.
Chris James registered CTTC D's only singles win against the
consistently strong Winchcombe Legends team, edging out Stewart
Ratcliffe in the final game of a ding-dong 5-setter (I'm running
out of adjectives!), and then combined well with Alan Harvey to
take the doubles. Legends 8-2 win has them breathing down the
neck of Saracens A, with a game in hand.
"Desperate Dave" Foulser was hugely unlucky yet again to come
away empty-handed against Tewkesbury A, losing out in five to
both Mike Maxwell and Alan Cook; he must be wondering what he
has to do to clinch one of these 5-set epics which he gets
involved in every week. Both Tony Iles and Mark Nally for
Saracens B were also involved in close encounters with,
respectively, Mike Maxwell and Rob Amphlett, both losing out in
tight 5th sets. The 6-4 result in Tewkesbury's favour could so
easily have been 7-3 the other way !
And, last but not least, CTTC C swept the board against Tirley
Tigers to maintain their challenge for the championship. But
with a game in hand over Saracens A, whom they just beat 6-4
earlier in the season, they have yet to play Winchcombe Legends
in what should prove to be a crucial encounter. I'm waiting
with bated breath for the result card at the moment !
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Old Saracens
3 (Judy Morley)
Cleeve Saracens A
7
Lakeside C
3
Winchcombe Warriors 7 (Charlie Loh, Richard Bishop)
Winchcombe Legends 8 (D
Wiltshire, Chris Lane) -
CTTC D
2
Tewkesbury A
6
Cleeve Saracens B 4 (Rob
Amphlett)
CTTC C
10 (M Garlick, D Green, M Smith) Tirley
Tigers
0
2nd Dec 2009 -
Division 3
John
Whitworth led Cheltenham F to an impressive 8-2 win over
Cheltenham E, winning all of his sets without dropping a game.
He received good support from Matt Wells and Kai Ansley who won
two each. It was left to James Bird to salvage two points for
the E side.
Top versus
bottom went by the form book as Tewkesbury maintained their
winning ways against Cheltenham H without dropping a set, and
indeed John Goodchild did not drop a game. Wayne Lippett was
given a fright by Tom Warner, but produced his trademark last
ditch effort to win 13-11 in the fifth game.
Cleeve
Eagles ground out a 9-1 win against a stubborn Winchcombe
Vikings side, the highlight match being the clash between Dick
Prior and Dan Cross. Dan pulled back from two games down to
square things up. He was the 6-0 ahead in the deciding game, but
Dick crawled his way back to get even, but Dan clinched it
12-10.
A young Cheltenham G side were too strong for
Civil Service B, their star being Jon Laramy who won all of his
sets without dropping a game in an 8-2 victory.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cheltenham E
2
Cheltenham F 8
(J Whitworth)
Tewkesbury B
10 (W Lippett, S Lockley, J Goodchild)
Cheltenham H 0
Winchcombe Vikings 1
Cleeve Eagles 9
(J Seed, D Cross)
Cheltenham G
8 (J Laramy, S. James)
Civil Service B
2
9th Dec 2009 -
Division 1
Winchcombe Roamers (Nick
Mytton, Doug Payne, Matt Hartwell) played Winchcombe Royals
(Keith Ferguson, Choi Sze To, Nick Davidson) this week in a
match that ended with the honours shared due mainly to yet
another maximum of wins from the Royals Choi Sze To. The
Royals Nick Davidson contributed with a win over the Roamers
Doug Payne and then combined with Choi Sze to win the
doubles and secure the draw. The Roamers Nick Mytton and
Matt Hartwell each had a couple of wins each over Keith
Ferguson and Nick Davidson.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Winchcombe Roamers
5 Winchcombe Royals 5 (Choi Sze To)
9th Dec 2009 -
Division 2
With Saracens A
having to postpone against Lakeside C, Winchcombe Legends seized
the opportunity to make a real statement of intent about the
title race, overcoming CTTC C by a convincing margin of 9-1 and
leapfrogging Saracens to the top of the table. Obviously
lulling the opposition into a false sense of security, Darrell
Wiltshire specialised in going two sets down in all of his
singles, before rallying to take the remaining three but the
ploy didn't quite work against Mel Garlick who squeezed home
15-13 in the 5th to register CTTC's only point.
In the Warriors vs. Lakeside B clash, Andy East finally lost his
100% record (the last one in the Division), losing out in four
sets against Graham Fisher. As always Ken Smith slogged away
industriously and had three 5-set epics but only managed to win
one of them against Graham Fisher 11-9 in the final set. With
Chris Ball also weighing in with two singles and combining with
Andy East to take the doubles, Lakeside came out 6-4 winners.
To save typing, I shall have to set up a hotkey saying that Judy
Morley won three again for Old Saracens, which she duly did,
this week against Saracens B. Miraculously Desperate Dave Foulser actually
didn't get involved in any 5-setters this week
and, apart from losing to Judy, won both his other singles.
With two from Neil Penny and one from Tony Iles, and the doubles
going to Old Saracens, a draw seemed like a fair result on the
night.
There were some titanic battles in Tewkesbury A's defeat of Tirley Tigers mainly from Alan Cook who won two, but could
have lost them all. Rob Amphlett was the star of the night,
winning all three singles, but surpassed himself when playing
Elaine Evans by falling on the room heater and fusing all the
electrics, including the lights. An electric performance all
round (ha ha!) It was one of those nights where the score could
have been very different, if Pete Humble had won all his three
very close singles, instead of just one, but the highlight of
the evening for Tigers was the doubles won in 5 sets.
CCS A managed to squeeze a 6-4 win against CTTC D thanks to a
max from Phil King in excellent form this season. Steve Murton and Jeremy Turberville weighed in with one singles
apiece, and Steve combined well with Phil King to take the
doubles, and the match, against Alan Harvey and Matt Mulcahy.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
CTTC C
1
Winchcombe Legends 9 (Stewart Ratcliffe, Chris Lane)
Winchcombe Warriors 4
Lakeside B
6
Cleeve Saracens B 5
Old Saracens
5 (Judy Morley)
Tirley Tigers
3
Tewkesbury A
7 (Rob Amphlett)
CCS A
6 (Phil King)
CTTC D
4
9th Dec 2009 -
Division 3
There was no
stopping Cheltenham E as they demolished Civil Service B,
winning all ten sets with only one game dropped. The Cheltenham
side consolidate their second place in the table as a result.
Cheltenham H
met a similar fate against Cleeve Eagles who had little trouble
in recording a 10-0 win.
Despite a
number of long matches, Winchcombe Vikings could only notch one
win against Cheltenham G. Roy Gavin provided Vikings with their
main source of hope, winning against Tom Parry, and just losing
out 11-13,11-7,10-12,11-5,5-11 to Mike Robertson.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Civil
Service B 0
Cheltenham E
10 (J Terry, C Maisey, J Bird)
Cheltenham G 9 (S James, M Robertson)
Winchcombe Vikings 1
Cheltenham H 0
Cleeve Eagles
10 (T Hopton, M Holder, J Seed)
15th Dec 2009 -
Division 1
Cheltenham Table Tennis
Club 'B' (Dominic James, Anand Keshav, Simon Pratten)
entertained Winchcombe Cavaliers (Chris Pearce, Rob
Sinderberry, Craig Norledge) in what looks to be a fairly
one sided affair with the Cavaliers emerging the winners by
a wide margin. Cheltenham's Dominic and Anand were soundly
beaten by the Cavaliers trio with only Simon Pratten able to
stop the rot with a hard fought five set match victory
against Rob Sinderberry for Cheltenham's only point of the
evening.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Cheltenham Table
Tennis Club 'B' 1 Winchcombe Cavaliers 9
(Chris Pearce, Craig Norledge)
15th Dec 2009 -
Division 2
Old Saracens
chalked up their third win of the season, courtesy of another
max from Judy Morley, although Martin Kirby was pushed all the
way by Pete Humble and had to come from two sets down to secure
his win. A straight sets win in the doubles for Saracens
rounded off the 7-3 home victory.
Cleeve Saracens B with only two players did well to limit
Lakeside C to a 6-4 win; Mark Nally won two of his three singles
and the doubles with Tony Iles, while Tony beat Trevor Oliver in
a close 5-setter after being two sets down. But star of the
evening was Julie Taylor with a fine performance to win both her
singles against Tony and Mark in 5 see-saw sets.
Winchcombe Warriors pushed themselves a little higher into the
top half of the table with a convincing win over CTTC D. Both
Charlie Loh and Richard Bishop came away with maxes, while Matt
Mulcahy and Tom Ricketts for CTTC D both managed to get the
better of Luke Gresty to secure CTTCs only points although
Tom was pushed to 5 sets by Luke in doing so.
In the (nearly) top-of-the-table clash between Lakeside B and
Saracens A, Ross Greening secured a fine 5-set win over Andy
East who only last week lost his 100% record. Ross went 2-1
down but recovered to level the match at 2-2 before taking the
final set 11-5. Andy was also pushed all the way by Mike
Dodwell in a thrilling see-saw encounter which eventually went
to Andy 16-14 in the 5th. The doubles also proved to be a 5-set
cliff-hanger, with Andy and Chris Ball who claimed a max in his
singles - finally squeezing home 11-7 in the 5th. Although Terry
Sims came away empty-handed on the night, he had a great
struggle against Ken Smith, only going down 11-5 in the 5th set
after having been 2-0 up.
And finally, Cheltenham C have now climbed above early
pace-setters Saracens A to take second place behind Winchcombe
Legends, with a 7-3 away win over Tewkesbury A. Mike Maxwell
had a real ding-dong match for Tewkesbury against Chris
Williams, finally winning 11-8 in the 5th set, while Martin
Smith for CTTC had a similar encounter with Rob Amphlett,
finally triumphing in 5 sets after going 2-1 down and securing a
max. CTTC looked odds-on to secure the doubles after going
2-0 up but Tewkesbury rallied valiantly to level the match at
2-2 before trouncing the CTTC pairing 11-1 in the final set.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Old Saracens
7 (Judy Morley)
Tirley Tigers
3
Lakeside C 6 (Julie
Taylor)
Cleeve Saracens B
4
CTTC D
2
Winchcombe Warriors 8 (Charlie Loh, Richard
Bishop)
Lakeside B 8 (Chris
Ball)
Cleeve Saracens A
2
Tewkesbury A 3
CTTC C
7 (Martin Smith)
CCS A vs. Winchcombe Legends - postponed
15th Dec 2009 -
Division 3
Leaders
Tewkesbury B were given a run for their money by Civil Service
B, who narrowly lost 4-6. Whilst Tewkesbury’s John Goodchild
secured his maximum without too much trouble, his team mates had
to fight hard for their points. John Teare lost out to Rob
Browning 3-11, 11-8, 15-13, 11-9,11-13, whilst Wayne Lippett’s
invincible image in five game sets was ruined by Geoff Wilson
who edged through 12-10 in the fifth. Tewkesbury lost their
unbeaten doubles record in a closely fought encounter, having
been two games to one up.
Winchcombe
Vikings have been finding it difficult of late to acquire points
from those sides in the top half of the table, and were out of
luck once again against Cheltenham E, who swept to a 10-0 win.
Cleeve
Eagles gained a useful 8-2 win over Cheltenham G. Tiffany Hopton
was in good form. She soon gained the upper hand in her forehand
battle with the in-form Jon Laramy, winning in three games, and
comfortably won her other two sets. Roly Holder and Derek Brown
chipped in with two wins each, whilst Jon picked up the two
points for Cheltenham.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Tewkesbury B 6
(J Goodchild)
Civil Service B
4
Cheltenham E 10 (C Maisey, J
Terry, J Bird)
Winchcombe Vikings
0
Cleeve
Eagles 8
(Tiffany Hopton)
Cheltenham G
2
22nd Dec 2009 -
Division 1
Winchcombe Royals (Nick
Davidson, Tristan Gretton, Stuart Green) played Lakeside 'A'
(Rich Moores, Roy Fowler, Pete Wood) this week in a closely
fought match where the Royals emerged victorious by a narrow
margin thanks largely to an un surprising maximum from
Tristan Gretton who made his first appearance of the season.
Tristan was supported by team mate Nick who chipped in with
two wins and who then combined with Tristan to win the
doubles and secure the match. The Royals Stuart Green was
involved in some very close tussles with Lakesiders Pete and
Rich and appears a little unlucky in losing all of his
games. The Lakesiders points were a team affair with Rich
enjoying two narrow wins over Nick and Stuart, supported by
Roy and Pete who both had one win each over Stuart.
Cirencester (Howard
Williams, Rob Willsher) entertained Cheltenham Table
Tennis Club 'B' (Simon Pratten, Anand Keshav, Jon
Gaskell) this week in a match where Cheltenham earned
some valuable points due to Cirencester unable to field
a full team. The Cirencester duo of Rob and Howard were
unbeaten in their singles matches against Simon, Anand
and Jon, but they were unable to overcome Simon and
Anand who enjoyed a good doubles win for their final
point of the evening.
Winchcombe Roamers
(Nick Mytton, Doug Payne, Matt Hartwell) played
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A' (Mike Harvey, Dave
Harvey, Chris Hewitt) this week in a match where the
scoreline certainly does not appear to reflect how close
this match was with the Roamers coming away with just
one point. The Roamers Matt Hartwell appears to been
unlucky and certainly got his monies worth with three
very tight five setters, although unfortunately he was
unable to get across the line, losing all of them very
narrowly in the fifth. The Roamers Doug was soundly
beaten in all of his games, but Nick Mytton was able to
pull a Rabbit of the Hat and had an excellent five set
win over Cheltenham's Mike Harvey. Both Dave Harvey and
Chris Hewitt (making a rare appearance) were unbeaten
despite being pushed all the way in a couple of games.
Cheltenham Table
Tennis Club 'A' (Mike Harvey, Dave
Harvey, Russell Hayward) played Chelsea Building
Society (Bill Dawe, Guy Greening)
in a match where the Chelsea were only able to field two
players although it is unlikely that made any difference
to the scoreline, not that Guy contributed much either
except for the doubles. Chelsea's Guy Greening was
soundly beaten (again) by Dave Harvey, but enjoyed two
excellent five setters with Mike and Russell before
losing both of them in the deciding game. Chelsea's Bill
Dawe was unable to overcome Dave Harvey, but he soundly
beat Russell and was then involved in what must be the
best match of the season with Mike Harvey where Bill
emerged the winner deuce in the fifth. Over the years I
have witnessed some amazing Table Tennis, but some of
the rallies between Mike and Bill were absolutely
awesome, definitely the best Table Tennis I have ever
seen in Gloucestershire. Dave Harvey claims it is the
best match that he has ever witnessed! Bill then
combined with Guy to win the doubles with a good win
over Dave and Mike to secure Chelsea's third point of
the evening. The games in this match were so close that
despite the Chelsea only fielding two players the match
did not end until 23:00, it was therefore lucky that
Dave Metcalfe did not play otherwise we may not have
finished until 23:05!
Chelsea Building
Society (Bill Dawe, Simon Moysey, Dave Metcalfe)
entertained Cirencester (Dave Adamson, Rob Willsher,
Howard Williams) this week in a match that was dominated
mostly by Chelsea's Bill Dawe who won all of his games
and then combined with Simon to win the doubles for the
Chelsea's only points of the evening. Cirencester's
points were a team affair with Dave, Rob and Howard all
winning two games a piece against Chelsea's Simon and
Dave.
Chelsea Building
Society (Bill Dawe, Simon Moysey, Dave Metcalfe) played
Winchcombe Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug Payne, Chris Lane)
this week in a match where the honours were shared,
largely thanks to another hatrick of wins by Chelsea's
Bill Dawe. Bill was supported by team mate Simon who
enjoyed one win against Roamers Chris Lane and then Bill
and Simon combined to win the doubles and secure the
draw. The Roamers points were won by Nick Mytton and
Doug Payne with two wins each, with Chris chipping in
with a point for a win over Dave Metcalfe who is
struggling to find any form at all this year.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Winchcombe Royals
6
(Tristan Gretton)
Lakeside 'A'
4
Chelsea Building
Society 5 (Bill Dawe)
Winchcombe Roamers 5
Cirencester
6 (H Williams, Rob
Willsher) Cheltenham TTC B
4
Winchcombe Roamers
1
Cheltenham TT Club A 9 (D
Harvey, Chris Hewitt)
Cheltenham TTC A
7 (Dave Harvey)
Chelsea Building Society 3
Chelsea Building Society 4 (Bill
Dawe)
Cirencester
6
22nd Dec 2009 -
Division 2
Winchcombe
Legends consolidated their top position in the Division,
rounding off the first half of the season with two resounding
wins: 10-0 against CCS A and 7-3 against their fellow Warriors.
Chris Lane continued his excellent form with maximums in both
matches, although he nearly came unstuck against Warrior's
Charlie Loh, only squeezing home 11-9 in the 5th set and
he was well supported by Darrell Wiltshire, Jacqui Carver and
Stewart Ratcliffe.
Unless things change significantly, Legends look odds-on
favourites to claim the top spot this season, while at the other
end of the table Tirley look to be in trouble with CCS A, Old
Saracens, CTTC D and Saracens B battling to avoid being the
other relegation candidate. The form of Judy Morley
currently top of the individual averages may prove to be a
critical factor for Old Saras.
Lakeside B also registered a convincing win against CCS A, with
max-es for Chris Ball and Andy East, although Chris was made to
work hard for two of his wins, being taken to 5 sets by both
Jonathan Nixon on inspired form in this encounter, only going
down 12-10 in the final set and Phil King, who notched up CCS's
only singles win of the evening.
Saracens A kept up the pressure with a hard-fought Christmas
bonus win against Lakeside C in a well matched tie, with both
Mike Dodwell and Dennis Wadley achieving maximums. Terry Sims
battled hard in three close 4-setters but was out of luck and
unable to register a win, while the doubles pairing of Wadley/Dodwell
just edged out Chandler/Pope to maximise the scoreline.
Lakeside C were out of luck again against Tewkesbury A, having
to forfeit the doubles and a possible 5-5 draw because they ran
up against the deadline of their venue's throwing out time after
several long and hard-fought games, leaving Tewkesbury as 6-4
winners. Back-on-form Rob Amphlett registered a max for
Tewkesbury and was well supported by Mike Maxwell and Alan Cook,
while Chris White notched up two wins for Lakeside, with Julie
Taylor and Barrie Pope contributing one each.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Lakeside B
9 (Andy East, Chris Ball)
CCS A
1
Winchcombe Legends 10
(Chris Lane, Stew Ratcliffe, Darrell Wiltshire) CCS
A
0
Winchcombe Legends 7
(Chris Lane)
Winchcombe Warriors 3
Cleeve Saracens A
7 (Mike Dodwell, Dennis Wadley)
Lakeside C
3
Lakeside C
4
Tewkesbury A
6 (R Amphlett)
22nd Dec 2009 -
Division 3
Cheltenham F
were unable to cope with Tewkesbury B who extended their lead in
the division after this 9-1 win. John Whitworth provided the
only resistance, taking all of his sets to five games, but
coming out on top only against Simon Lockley.
Cheltenham F
fared better against Cheltenham H, and were comfortable 10-0
winners.
The race for
minor placings behind Tewkesbury is hotting up, with several
sides in contention. Two of them met in a pre- Christmas clash,
and it was Cleeve Eagles who triumphed 7-3 against Cheltenham E,
with Tiffany Hopton winning all three of her sets. As
anticipated, a number of sets could have gone either way,
typified by the doubles in which Dan Crook and Derek Brown,
aided by some fortuitous net cords, squeezed through against
James Bird and Carey Maisey12-10 in the fifth game.
Tewkesbury B
9 (J Goodchild, W Lippett) Cheltenham
F 1
Cleeve Eagles
7 (T Hopton)
Cheltenham E
3
Cheltenham H
0
Cheltenham F
10 (J Whitworth, M Brown, M Wells)
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
14th Jan 2010 -
Division 1
Welcome to the second half
of season and a Happy New Year to all members which due to
the weather has not got off to the best of starts! Please
find below the latest weekly report that due to inclement
weather conditions contains just the one current result plus
another result that Keith Ferguson kindly supplied the
results for.
I am aware of a number of
matches that have unsurprisingly been cancelled either
because of School closures or the weather conditions.
All matches for the first
half of the season before Christmas were completed, however
I am missing two result cards! Keith has kindly given me
both of the results by e-mail, but it would still be good to
receive the cards at some point.
The two scorecards that I
am missing from the first half of the season are;
Cirencester versus
Winchcombe Cavaliers and Winchcombe
Cavaliers versus Lakeside.
Cavaliers Captain get
you cards in please.
Cirencester (Howard
Williams, Rob Willsher, Dave Adamson) played Winchcombe
Roamers (Rob Sinderberry, Doug Payne, Nick Mytton) this week
in a match where Cirencester's Howard Williams stole the
show with a nice maximum and Dave (the net) Adamson did not
get as many net's as he would have liked against Nick Mytton.
Howards hatrick of wins were supported by team mates Dave
and Rob who both contributed two wins, losing out only to
the Roamers Nick Mytton. The Roamers remaining point of the
evening was a win in the doubles, Doug Payne and Rob
Sinderberry despite some close games were unable to win any
of their games.
Cirencester (Dave Adamson,
Howard Williams, Gordon Shaw) played Winchcombe Cavaliers
(Luke Moffatt, Rob Sinderberry, Duncan Arrandale) in a match
before Christmas where a rare appearance by Luke Moffatt for
the Cavaliers secured their only three points of the
evening. Cirencesters points were a team affair with Dave
Adamson, Howard Williams and Gordon Shaw all contributing
two wins each over the Cavaliers Rob Sinderberry and Duncan
Arrandale and then went on to secure the doubles.
Winchcombe Cavaliers
(Chris Pearce, Craig Norledge, Duncan Arrandale) played
Lakeside 'A' (Suzy Robinson, Rich Moores, Paul Smyth) in a
match that took place before Christmas and was very much a
one sided affair in favour of the Cavaliers who enjoyed an
easy victory. The Winchcombe trio proved to strong with only
Rich Moore's managing to salvage a point for the Lakesider's with
a win over Duncan Arrandale.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Cirencester
7 (Howard Williams)
Winchcombe Roamers 3
Cirencester
7
Winchcombe Cavaliers 3 (Luke Moffatt)
Winchcombe
Cavaliers 9 (Chris
Pearce, Craig Norledge) Lakeside 'A'
1
20th Jan 2010 -
Division 1
Please find below the
latest weekly report that due to probably the
weather conditions only contains the one result this
week.
Winchcombe Roamers (Doug Payne, Nick Mytton, Matt
Hartwell) played Winchcombe Cavaliers (Chris Pearce,
Craig Norledge, Rob Sinderberry) this week in a match
where the Roamers Matt Hartwell stole the show with a
nice maximum and a surprisingly easy win over the
Cavaliers Chris Pearce! I may be doing Matt an
injustice, but it looks to me as though Chris may have
ate to many pies at Christmas! Matts hatrick of wins was
supported by both Nick Mytton and Doug Payne who both
enjoyed a brace of wins over the Cavaliers Craig
Norledge and Rob Sinderberry.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Winchcombe
Roamers 8 (Matt Hartwell) Winchcombe
Cavaliers 2
20th Jan 2010 -
Division 2
The following
results are the sum total of two weeks’ matches, the
remainder of the programme having been decimated by
the weather, with school/hall venues closed and
treacherous driving conditions on the roads stopping
teams getting to fixtures safely.
Winchcombe Legends, without their star player Chris
Lane this week, were hard pressed by Warriors for
their 6-4 win, with a number of four and
five-setters and other close games, and no one
managing to come away with a max. Stewart Ratcliffe
won one 5-setter 13-11 against Graham Fisher, but
lost another 12-10 against Luke Gresty, while
Darrell Wiltshire just scraped home 11-7 against
Mike Vick, and these two then combined to take the
decisive doubles in 3 sets.
The first two games in Lakeside B’s win over Tirley
Tigers both went to 5 sets, with Andy East just
edging out Elaine Evans and Chris Ball doing the
same to Rob Deeley. A number of other close games
followed, with Rob Deeley picking up two and Pete
Humble one, but in the end a max from Chris Ball
enabled Lakeside to run out fairly comfortable
winners by 7-3.
An under-strength CCS A were no match for the strong
Saracens A team of Mike Dodwell, Dennis Wadley and
Ross Greening, and although Steve Murton managed to
secure a singles win against Ross Greening, he could
do nothing further to prevent the team going down
9-1.
Cheltenham C got off to a good start in the second
half of the season, with Chris Williams securing a
max in their 8-2 win over Lakeside C – outwardly
convincing, but this must have been a long evening’s
tussle as all the singles, apart from two, were
either four or five-setters. I wonder what time
they finished?! Chris Williams was made to work
hard for her max, going ahead 2-0 to Chris White and
being hauled back to 2-2 before finally recovering
to take the match in the 5th, and being taken to
four close sets against Barrie Pope and Graham
Chandler. Both Chris White and Barrie Pope endured
two 5-setters each, but only Barrie managed to come
away with a win – against Mel Garlick.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Winchcombe Warriors
4
Winchcombe Legends 6
Tirley Tigers
3
Lakeside B
7 ( Chris Ball )
Cleeve Saracens A
9 (M Dodwell, D Wadley)
Civil Service A
1
Cheltenham
TTC C
8 ( C Williams )
Lakeside C
2
27th Jan 2010 -
Division 2
Lakeside B continue their winning
ways with two convincing wins against Tewkesbury A
and CTTC C, with both Chris Ball and Andy East
achieving max-es in each fixture. They still remain
unbeaten this season. Although Paul Singh came away
empty-handed in both matches, he pushed Tewkesbury's
Mike Maxwell and Alan Cook all the way, only going
down 11-8 and 12-10 respectively in the fifth.
Equally Rob Amphlett was only just squeezed out 11-9
in the fifth by Chris Ball, and Andy East had a
struggle on his hands against Alan Cook, getting
home 11-4 in the fifth after having gone 2-1 down in
games. Although on form and on paper CTTC C
presented a stiffer challenge, in the absence of
CTTC'S Mel Garlick, Lakeside's 7-3 victory only
generated three 4-setters, with the rest settled in
three.
CCS A achieved a hard-fought draw against Saracens
B, with Phil King continuing his excellent form this
season coming away with a max, and Mark Nally and
Tony Iles each registering two wins apiece, as well
as combining to take the deciding doubles. Phil was
made to work hard for his max, being taken to five
by both Dave Foulser and Tony Iles, and four by Mark
Nally, while Tony struggled to get the better of
Jonathan Nixon, eventually squeezing home in 5
sets. Dave Foulser had an enigmatic evening,
playing excellently against Phil King with a string
of fine backhand hits but then going off the boil
against Steve Murton and Jonathan Nixon.
Saracens A just got the better of Winchcombe
Warriors thanks to another max from Dennis Wadley
and two from Mike Dodwell, plus the crucial
doubles. Mike was unlucky not to chalk up a max as
well, having gone 2-0 up against Charlie Loh, but
Charlie was not going to lie down and came back
strongly to take the next three sets to keep the
final outcome of the match in the balance until the
last.
Winchcombe Legends have now hit the ton, with 102
points thus far and they ran out convincing winners
against Old Saracens by 9-1, although Judy Morley
unfortunately had to retire injured, so the
anticipated clash with Chris Lane didn't happen.
Judy also lost in four to Stewart Ratcliffe but
owing to the lack of match comments on the card - I
can't say whether that was down to Steward's
excellent play or Judy's injury. Perhaps Stewart
can let me know which for the next report (!!). But
either way, the result seals Legends top place in
the Division although Saracens A's results are
keeping up the pressure on them. They also chalked
up a 7-3 win this week against short-handed CTTC D,
with Mike Dodwell (2+1) and Ross Greening (1+1)
securing Saracens points, including the doubles.
Terry Sims was desperately unfortunate not to come
away with a win against Chris James, having
recovered from 2-0 down to 2-2 but finally going
down 14-12 in the fifth, and Ross Greening nearly
came unstuck against Alan Harvey in the reverse
scenario leading 2-0 until Alan pegged him back to
2-2 before Ross finally clinched the fifth 11-6.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Tewkesbury A
2
Lakeside B
8 (Chris Ball, Andy East)
Lakeside B
7 (Andy East, Chris Ball) CTTC C
3
CCS A
5 (Phil King)
Saracens B
5
Winchcombe Warriors 4
Cleeve Saracens A
6 (Dennis Wadley)
Old Saracens
1
Winchcombe Warriors 9 (Stewart Ratcliffe,
Chris Lane)
CTTC D
3
Cleeve Saracens A
7 (Mike Dodwell)
27th Jan 2010 -
Division 3
Cheltenham G
narrowly got the better of Cheltenham H 6-4, but it was Richard
Comley of the H side who caught the eye, winning all three of
his sets. This included a notable success over Jon Laramy in
four games.
John
Whitworth of Cheltenham F was the only player to secure three
wins in their 5-5 draw with Civil Service B. However, with his
side needing to win the doubles to share the points, he and Dan
Smith needed to pull out all of the stops to squeeze through
13-11, 6-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-6 in what was the only five game set
of the evening.
Cleeve
Eagles survived a tricky encounter against Civil Service B to
emerge 7-3 winners, having been 2-3 down. The key clash was
between Derek Brown and Jeremy Turberville, with Derek taking
the honours 12-10, 11-9, 13-11. Earlier, Jeremy had survived a
five game marathon against Mick Holder, holding on for a 11-9
win in the final game. Derek teamed up with Roly Holder to win
the doubles.
Another team
to come from behind were Winchcombe Vikings, who pipped
Cheltenham F 6-4. Dick Prior led the way with a maximum to
ensure that Vikings recorded their first win since November.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cheltenham G
6
Cheltenham H 4
(R Comley)
Cheltenham F
5 (J Whitworth)
Civil Service B 5
Civil
Service B
3
Cleeve Eagles 7
(D Brown)
Winchcombe Vikings 6 (D Prior)
Cheltenham F 4
3rd Feb 2010 -
Division 1
Please find below the
latest weekly report that is somewhat of a bumper
edition in terms of results due to a reprieve in the
weather and postal services returning to normal.
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club
'B' (Dominic James, Anand Keshav, Jon
Gaskell) played Chelsea Building Society (Dave
Metcalfe, Guy Greening, Bill Dawe) this week in
a match that ended in the honours being shared
in a draw. Cheltenham's Dominic James was in
fine form winning two of his games with two easy
victories over Chelsea's Guy Greening and David
Metcalfe and also played very well against Bill
Dawe before losing in four games. Dominic was
supported by Anand who chipped in with two wins,
losing only to Dawe and Jon Gaskell who chipped
in with one win over Dave Metcalfe.
Lakeside 'A'
(Suzy Robinson, Pete
Wood, Rich Moores), played Winchcombe
Roamers (Matt
Hartwell, Nick Mytton, Doug Payne) this week
in a match where the Lakesider's
particularly Suzy had clearly eaten to many
pies over the Christmas period. This
combined with a four week break resulted in
a crushing defeat for the Lakesider's
although Pete Wood did take Doug close as
was the doubles, but the best is best
forgotten.
Winchcombe Cavaliers
(Chris Pearce, Ken
Savage, Duncan Arrandale) played
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A'
(Dave Harvey, Nick
Smale, Chris Hewitt) in a match that saw
Cheltenham continue towards retaining their
divisional title inflicting a heavy defeat
on the Cavaliers. Only Chris Pearce was able
to make any impression with a win over Nick
Smale, although the match with Cheltenham's
Chris Hewitt was a very close five set
affair. The Cavaliers Ken Savage and Duncan
Arrandale found the Cheltenham trio's
strength to be to much on this occasion,
unsurprising really as both Dave and Chris
are still maintaining one hundred percent
records.
Winchcombe Royals
(Tristan Gretton,
Keith Ferguson, Choi Sze To)
played Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'B'
(Nick Smale, Dominic James, Jon
Gaskell) this week in a match that saw
the second appearance of season from
Tristan Gretton who is having a
break from chasing the girls around the
University over the Christmas
period. Clearly this has not affected
his Table Tennis as both he and Choi Sze
To enjoyed comfortable maximums
over Cheltenham's Trio and then combined
to win the doubles. Cheltenham's points
were a team affair with Nick, Dominic
and Jon all enjoying a win over the
Royal's Keith Ferguson for their only
points of the evening.
Secretaries Note:
This match resulted in the loss of a
100% record with Jon Gaskell enjoying
his first win of the season over Keith
Ferguson.
Lakeside 'A'
(Rich Moores,
Roy Fowler, Pete Wood) played
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A'
(Dave Harvey, Anand Keshav) this
week in a match that saw Cheltenham
unable to field a full side and even
then had to call upon a reserve,
however this did not stop them from
achieving a narrow victory. Cheltenhams
Dave Harvey won all of this games
easily and he was supported by Anand
Keshav who stepped in at short
notice and chipped with two wins
losing only to Lakeside's Roy
Fowler.
Cheltenham Table
Tennis Club 'B'
(Dominic
James, Anand Keshav, Simon Pratten)
played Winchcombe Roamers (Nick
Mytton, Doug Payne, Matt Hartwell)
in a match that saw a fairly easy
victory for the Roamers. Cheltenham
came away with just two points with
Simon Pratten having a close five
set win over Doug Payne and Anand
Keshav having what I think is an
excellent five set victory over Matt
Hartwell.
Winchcombe
Cavaliers
(Chris Pearce, Ken Savage, Craig
Norledge) played Cirencester
(Rob Willsher,
Howard Williams, Dave Adamson) in a
match that ended in the spoils being
shared thanks largely to a hatrick
of wins by the Cavaliers Chris
Pearce over the Cirencester trio.
Chris was supported by Craig who
chipped in with a very close five
set win over Rob Willsher and then
combined with Chris to win the
doubles and secure the draw.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Cheltenham TT Club 'B'
5
Chelsea Building Society
5 (Bill Dawe)
Lakeside 'A'
0
Winchcombe Roamers
10 (M Hartwell, N Mytton, D
Payne)
Winchcombe Cavaliers
1
Cheltenham TT Club 'A'
9 (Dave Harvey,
Chris Hewitt)
Winchcombe Royals
7 (T Gretton, C
To) Cheltenham TT Club 'B'
3
Lakeside 'A'
4
Cheltenham TT Club 'A'
6 (Dave Harvey)
Cheltenham TT Club
'B' 2
Winchcombe Roamers
8 (Nick Mytton)
Winchcombe Cavaliers
5 (Chris Pearce)
Cirencester
5
3rd Feb 2010 -
Division 2
Under-strength CCS A did well to
manage a 5-5 draw with Tirley Tigers, thanks to yet
another max from Phil King, aided and abetted by two
from Steve Murton. However Phil was made to work hard
by Elaine Evans for this third win; after cruising to a
2-0 lead, he was reined back to 2-2 by Elaine's
determined fight back but finally managed to squeeze
home 11-7 in the fifth, despite Elaine continuing to
produce some powerful hitting on both wings.
A long and hard-fought match saw Winchcombe Legends just
come out on top by 6-4 against Saracens A, despite the
epic clash between Saracens Dennis Wadley and Legends
Chris Lane going eventually to Dennis after a 5-set
thriller by 11-8 in the fifth. Dennis had to work hard
against both the other Legends players as well, taking 5
sets to beat Darrell Wiltshire and four to overcome
Stewart Ratcliffe but was unable to make it a clean
sweep with Mike Dodwell in the doubles, going down to
Chris and Darrell in four sets and leaving Legends
winners by the skin of their teeth.
Lakeside C's 10-0 victory over Old Saracens demonstrated
just how dependent on Judy Morley Saracens have been for
their accumulation of points over recent fixtures. Her
absence will be a serious blow to Saracens chances of
survival in this Division, as none of their players was
able to seriously dent the Lakeside trio on the night.
We wish Judy well in recovery from the injury she
sustained last week in the match against Legends.
Tewkesbury A were no match for the dynamic duo of Andy
East and Chris Ball, who once again chalked up max-es
for Lakeside B. Graham Chandler weighed in with a
further singles win to leave Lakeside comfortable
winners by 8-2, although Alan Cook and Rob Amphlett will
take some comfort from their wins over Graham. Rob also
ran Andy East extremely close in their singles encounter
in a see-saw match which saw Andy squeeze home at the
last gasp 11-9 in the fifth.
The clash between CTTC C and D saw the C side emerge
easy winners by 9-1. Although a 10-0 must have looked
on the cards, with all the singles going to the C team,
the D team were determined not to allow the whitewash
and fought hard to save their honour with a 5-set
victory in the doubles, courtesy of Matt Mulcahy and
Alan Harvey, with all sets being tightly contested and
none less than 11-8. I always find it interesting how a
good doubles combination, which has good understanding
and unselfish cooperation between the two players, can
often reverse individual singles losses here was a case
in point, but there have been many other examples
throughout the season so far.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Tirley Tigers
5
CCS A
5 (Phil King)
Winchcombe Legends 6
Cleeve Saracens A 4 (Dennis Wadley)
Lakeside C
10 (Trevor Oliver, Chris White, Barrie
Pope) Old Saracens
0
Tewkesbury A
2
Lakeside B
8 (Andy East, Chris Ball)
CTTC C
9 (Chris Williams, Martin Smith, Dave
Breen) CTTC D
1
3rd Feb 2010 -
Division 3
Tewkesbury B
demonstrated why they are runaway leaders of the division by
comprehensively beating Cleeve Eagles, who are one of the
increasingly distant chasing group. John Goodchild and Simon
Lockley each won three, Eagles only compensation on the back of
a 1-9 scoreline was Dan Crook’s victory over John Teare.
Cheltenham G
were 8-2 winners over Cheltenham F, although the majority of
sets went to four games. Cheltenham G’s Jon Laramy was the star
player with a maximum, although he was severely tested by Matt
Wells, narrowly coming through 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7.
With Civil
Service B a player short, Winchcombe Vikings took full advantage
by completing a 9-1 victory, Alan Gallop and Dick Prior winning
all of their sets.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cleeve
Eagles
1
Tewkesbury B 9 ( J Goodchild,
S Lockley)
Cheltenham G
8 ( J Laramy)
Cheltenham F 2
Winchcombe Vikings 9 (A
Gallop, R Prior) Civil Service B
1
10th Feb 2010 -
Division 2
Things are
getting tight at the top of the Division, with Winchcombe
Legends only eight points ahead of Saracens A (115-107), but
with a game in hand, and Lakeside B closing fast on 101 points,
with two games in hand on Saracens A and one on Legends, so no
one can afford any slip-ups!
The Battle of Cleeve Saracens went fairly and squarely to the A
team. The B team were unfortunately down to two players due to
a family bereavement but in all probability, as Tony Iles and
Mark Nally couldn't dent the progress of the Wadley/Dodwell/Sims
juggernaut, it might not have made much difference anyway.
However, Mark and Tony were keen to avoid the whitewash and
triumphed in four close sets in the doubles over Mike and
Dennis.
Phil King's excellent form this season took a bit of a battering
as CCS A went down 10-0 at home to CTTC C. Although Phil took
Martin Smith to five sets, as did Steve Murton against Dave
Green, and a couple of other games went to 4 sets, CCS A were
unable to stem the tide and avoid the whitewash.
Old Saracens continue to suffer from the absence of Judy Morley,
going down 10-0 to the strong Lakeside B team of Andy East,
Chris Ball and Paul Singh, with none of the Saracens players
making much impression on the opposition's still unbeaten run of
wins; they remain the only team in the Division not to have lost
a match yet. What are the odds that they might get through the
whole season unscathed, I wonder? The match against Winchcombe
Legends will be crucial, Lakeside having squeezed home 6-4 in
the first half.
The other Lakeside team, the C side, were unable to knock
Legends off their perch, going down 3-7 to Darrell Wiltshire,
Chris Lane and Jacqui Carver, although Chris White was delighted
to come away with a max, thereby gaining revenge for his loss to
Chris Lane in the first half. But the result could have been a
lot closer, as Darrell took five sets to overcome Julie Taylor
(11-5 in the fifth) and Chris Lane only just managed to edge out
Graham Chandler 11-7 in the fifth, after a spirited recovery by
Graham from 2-0 down.
Chris James had an excellent couple of evenings against
Tewkesbury A and Tirley Tigers, achieving max-es in both
matches, although he was made to work really hard by
Tewkesbury's Alan Cook and Mike Maxwell for his successes,
needing 5 sets in each case to gain the wins. Alan also had a
long 5-setter against CCTC D's Alan Harvey, before finally going
down 12-10 in the fifth. Mike Maxwell was Tewkesbury's only
singles winner, beating both Alan Harvey and Matt Mulcahy in
three straight, and also combining with Mike Tyrrell in the
doubles to notch up Tewkesbury's third success in a
tightly-fought 4-setter.
By comparison CTTC D's 8-2 win over Tirley was not quite so
tight,with only Elaine Evans (against Matt Mulcahy) and Pete
Humble (against Alan Harvey) registering wins, but Pete also
pushed Matt hard for his win, only going down 11-6 in the fifth
after a see-saw match. Janie Kirby is still searching for her
first win of the season; her cakes are still excellent, if only
she could find the same recipe for success on the table-tennis
table as well.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Cleeve Saracens A
9 (M. Dodwell, D. Wadley, T. Sims) Cleeve
Saracens B 1
CCS A
0
CTTC C
10 (Garlick, M Smith, D Green)
Lakeside B
10 (A East, Chris Ball, Paul Singh)
Old Saracens
0
Lakeside C
3 (Chris White)
Winchcombe Legends 7
CTTC D
7 (Chris James)
Tewkesbury A
3
CTTC D
8 (Chris James)
Tirley Tigers
2
10th Feb 2010 -
Division 3
Next time
that Cleeve Eagles and Winchcombe Vikings meet, they will in all
probability send out for a take-away half way through, such was
the lengthy duration of their recent confrontation. In seven of
the ten sets, it took five games to find a victor, and thus the
end result was always in doubt. Inevitably, the doubles followed
this extended pattern, eventually enabling Eagles to squeeze
home as 6-4 winners. However, it was Viking’s Roy Gavin who took
the individual credit, being the only player to achieve a
maximum. He got in some good practise, playing fifteen singles
games on the night, but used all of his experience to edge
through in all three sets.
There was
little to choose between Civil Service B and Cheltenham G, and
it took a maximum from Ryan Godwin to pull Cheltenham through to
a 6-4 win. The key match was between Ryan and Rob Browning, in
which Ryan came from behind to record a 9-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-9,
11-8 win.
Tewkesbury B
continue to take their undoubted route back to Division Two with
an emphatic 8-2 win over Cheltenham E. The Cheltenham side did,
however manage to take four of the sets to five games, and also
pinched the doubles, where James Bird and Carey Maisey overcame
John Goodchild and Simon Lockley.
Cheltenham E
gained an expected victory over bottom side Cheltenham H, but
conceded two points, with Richard Comley and Max Kelly scoring
individual successes for the H side. James Bird and Andy Smith
secured three wins each.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cleeve
Eagles 6
Winchcombe Vikings 4 (R Gavin)
Civil
Service B 4
Cheltenham G
6 ( R Godwin)
Cheltenham E 2
Tewkesbury B
8 (J Goodchild, S Lockley)
Cheltenham E 8 (J Bird, A Smith)
Cheltenham H
2
16th Feb 2010 -
Division 1
Cheltenham Table Tennis
Club 'A' (Rob Harvey, Mike Harvey,
Russel Hayward) played Cheltenham Table Tennis Club
'B' (Anand Keshav, Dominic James, Jon Gaskell) in a match
that despite the whitewash scoreline included some excellent
performances on both sides. Rob Harvey made one of his rare
appearances and was involved in a titanic struggle against
the rapidly improving Dominic James, who is impressing
everyone with his game. He certainly has the ability to go
all the way if he enters open ETTA tournaments up & down the
country and if he developes a good backhand loop, his game
will improve further. In the match between Rob and Dominic,
Rob was two sets down, facing four match points but survived
that game winning deuce in the third, the fourth was also a
tight affair with Rob winning it narrowly. The decider
looked to be all over when Rob raced to big lead, however
Dominic had other ideas and fought his way back to a 9-8
lead with a series of great loop drives before eventually
losing narrowly deuce in the fifth. The 'A' sides Russell
also played very well winning his games with an impressive
combination of power play interspersed with good blocks,
particularly against Dominic in an easy straight sets win.
The 'B' sides Anand and Jon also played well with several
very close games many of which went to four games. Although
the results was a 10-0 victory to the A Team, the 'B' side
played really well and were unlucky not to have won some
sets.
Lakeside 'A' (Rich Moores,
Pete Wood, Suzy Robinson) played Winchcombe Cavaliers (Ken
Savage, Duncan Arrandale, Craig Norledge) in a match that
resulted in a rare narrow victory for the Lakesider's thanks
to a first maximum of the season from Suzy (slapper)
Robinson that ended their nine game losing streak. Suzy was
supported by team mates Pete who chipped in with two wins
and one from Rich Moore's. The Cavaliers points were won by
Craig with two wins supported by Duncan who chipped in with
one, Duncan and Craig then combined to win the doubles and
secure their final point of the evening.
Cheltenham Table
Tennis Club 'B'
(Simon Pratten, Dominic James, Jon Gaskell)
played
Cirencester
(Howard Williams, Dave Adamson, Rob Willsher) in a match
that despite an easy victory for Cirencester saw young
Dominic James put in another excellent performance with
two good wins over Cirencester's Dave Adamson and Rob
Willsher. Cheltenham's only other point was won by Simon
with a win over Rob Willsher. Cirencester's Howard
Williams enjoyed a nice and mostly untroubled maximum.
Winchcombe Royals
(Tristan
Gretton, Stuart Greene, Choi Sze To) played
Winchcombe Cavaliers
(Craig Norledge, Luke
Moffat, Chris Pearce) this week in a match that was
dominated by the Royal's Tristan and Choi who both
enjoyed a maximum each and then combined to win the
doubles for their seven points of the evening. The
Cavaliers three points were a team affair with
Craig, Luke and Chris all enjoying a win over the
Royal's Stuart Greene.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Cheltenham TTC A 10 (R
Harvey, M Harvey, R Hayward) Cheltenham TTC
B
0
Lakeside
'A'
6 (Suzy Robinson)
Winchcombe Cavaliers
4
Cheltenham T TC B
3
Cirencester
7 (Howard Williams)
Winchcombe Royals 7 (Tristan
Gretton, Choi Sze To)
Winchcombe Cavaliers 3
16th Feb 2010 -
Division 2
Some more
examples of he doubles phenomenon this week! Winchcombe Legends
walked away with the singles against Cleeve Saracens B (although
not, it must be said, without stiff resistance in some quarters
from the Saracens), but then the Saracens combination of Tony
Iles and Mark Nally squeezed home 15-13 in a nail-biting (I've
found a new adjective) 5-setter against Stewart Ratcliffe and
Darrell Wiltshire. Not to be outdone, Tirley Tigers (Elaine
Evans and Pete Humble), having lost all the singles fairly
comprehensively, reproduced the same unlikely feat against
Dennis Wadley and Ross Greening of Saracens A to rescue Tirley's
honour with their sole win of the evening.
In the
battle of the Lakesides, the B gave the C a thumping (says Chris
White), with both Chris Ball and Andy East achieving max-es, but
Graham Chandler saved the whitewash with a good win in 4 sets
against Paul Singh.
Meanwhile, CCS A came out on the wrong end of the match against
Tewkesbury A, with Rob Amphlett notching up a good max and Phil
King marking up two singles wins for CCS. Simon Lockley,
playing up from the lower Division, did very well to win two of
his singles, with some hard hitting, and only just lost out to
Phil King in five sets. The evening was remarkable for the
number of long matches, which could have turned either way and
made for a very different result, five 5-setters and three
4-setters.
Judy Morley,
returning from injury, continued to prop up Old Saracens with a
brace of max-es against the two College sides, Cheltenham C and
Cheltenham D. Unfortunately, these were the only wins against
the C side and Saras went down 7-3, although Dave Green pushed
Judy all the way, before finally going down 11-6 in the fifth
set. Against the D side however, a singles win for John Adcock
against Chris James plus the doubles (Judy with Tony Child), in
addition to Judy's three, gave them a creditable 5-5 draw.
Tirley
Tigers also feature twice this week, losing 9-1 to both
Winchcombe Warriors and Saracens A. Elaine Evans was the sole
singles winner for Tigers, beating Warriors, Graham Fisher in
four sets, while the doubles phenomenon (see above) gave them
their one point against Saracens A. Elaine and Rob Deeley also
nearly pulled off another doubles success against Graham and
Luke Gresty in the match vs Warriors but were just squeezed out
11-9 in the fifth set. Janie Kirby, although still without a
win, took Ross Greening to what I think may be the highest score
this season 19-17.
And finally,
Winchcombe Legends determined to keeps their noses in front of
Lakeside B - roll on relentlessly with a 9-1 win against Cleeve
Saracens B, with only the doubles phenomenon standing between
them and a 10-0, although both Tony Iles and Neil Penny took all
three Legends players to four and five sets. Tony did well to
come from 2 sets down against Stewart Ratcliffe to level the
scores before finally losing out 11-5 in the fifth; if only that
second set at 14-16 had gone Tony's way!
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Lakeside C
1
Lakeside B
9 (Chris Ball, Andy East)
Tewkesbury A
8 (Rob Amphlett)
CCS A
2
Old Saracens
5 (Judy Morley)
Cheltenham D 5
Winchcombe Legends 9 (Ratcliffe, Lane
Wiltshire) Cleeve Saracens B 1
Tirley Tigers
1
Cleeve Saracens A 9 (Wadley, Greening, Sims)
Old Saracens
3 (Judy Morley)
Cheltenham C 7
Winchcombe Warriors 9 (Charlie Loh,
Luke Gresty) Tirley Tigers
1
16th Feb 2010 -
Division 3
With
Tewkesbury B virtually assured of the champion’s spot , the
battle for the minor placings is hotting up. Any of four sides
could take second place, but with each of them taking
metaphorical chunks out of each other, the final result is
difficult to predict. Cheltenham E have matches in hand, and
most of these are against those teams around them. A strong
final surge by them or by Cheltenham G, Cheltenham F or Cleeve
Eagles could tip the balance. Winchcombe Vikings are also up
there, but the number of matches played may count against them.
With only
two players available, Eagles were always going to struggle
against Cheltenham F, who powered to a 7-3 win, John Whitworth
and Mike Brown each won both of their sets to ensure victory.
Eagles fared
better against Cheltenham H, winning 9-1. Dan Crook and Roly
Holder secured maximums for Eagles, whilst the ever improving
Richard Comley snatched the Cheltenham side’s point.
James Bird
of Cheltenham E was successful in all three of his sets against
Cheltenham F, but he could not prevent a 6-4 scoreline in favour
of his opponents. The feature match was that between James and
John Whitworth, with the ascendancy shifting from one player to
the other. James eventually came through 11-8, 9-11, 11-8,
12-14, 11-6.
The
slumbering giant which is Winchcombe Vikings showed its
potential against Cheltenham G, who were the wrong end of a 2-8
result. Vikings put out a strong side comprising Dick Prior,
Alan Gallop and Roy Gavin. Dick used all of his experience to
overcome all three opponents, although in two instances he
needed five games to do it. Alan and Roy gave good support with
two wins each. Jon Laramy gained the two wins for the
Cheltenham side.
Vikings
continued their current run of good form with another 8-2 win,
this time against Cheltenham H. Dick Prior was again undefeated,
dropping just one game in his three sets. Despite continuing to
prop up the table, the two points gained from this match enabled
Cheltenham H to overtake last season’s points total with much
the same side and with a number of matches remaining. The one
five game set was a real marathon, with Cheltenham’s Tom Warner
eventually getting the better of Alan Gallop 11-5, 13-11, 9-11,
19-21, 11-9. Both of these sides have shown considerable
improvement in recent weeks.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cleeve Eagles
3
Cheltenham F
7
Cleeve
Eagles 9 (D Crook, R Holder)
Cheltenham H
1
Cheltenham F 6
Cheltenham E
4 (J Bird)
Cheltenham G 2
Winchcombe Vikings 8 (R Prior)
Cheltenham H 2
Winchcombe Vikings 8 (R Prior)
23rd Feb 2010 -
Division 1
Please find
below the weekly report together with the latest tables and
averages. Bit of a bumper issue I am afraid, either people have
remembered to send the cards in or the General Post Office have
found my deliveries :-)
Winchcombe Cavaliers (Chris Pearce, Rob Sinderberry, Luke Moffat)
played Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'B' (Dominic James, Simon
Pratten, Anand Keshav) this week in a match that was largely
dominated by the Cavaliers Chris Pearce and Luke Moffat who both
enjoyed a hatrick of wins, supported by team mate Rob
Sinderberry who chipped in with one win over Cheltenham's Simon
Pratten. However, Chris and Luke did not get it all their own
way as they were both pushed the distance in numerous games by
the Cheltenham Trio of Dominic, Simon and Anand where with a bit
of luck and the wind behind them they may have got over the
winning line in a couple of games that could have significantly
changed the scoreline.
Chelsea Building Society (Guy Greening, Dave Metcalfe, Simon
Moysey) played Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A' (Mike Harvey,
Rob Harvey, Dave Harvey) in a match that was full of surprises,
not least the whitewash scoreline due to a lot of unusual
tactics and phenomenal amount of luck. Chelsea's Guy Greening
was soundly beaten in all of this games despite taking a game
off both Dave and Rob and probably played his best against Mike
who beat him easily in three straight games by taking a "slap"
at Guy's best shots and getting lucky. Chelsea's Simon Moysey
played probably his best table tennis of the season which was
sort of wasted against Cheltenham, but he did take Mike to a
deciding fifth game who took a few more "slaps" at Simon's best
shots and got lucky yet again. Despite the whitewash scoreline,
Chelsea's Dave Metcalfe saved his best yet again for the
Cheltenham Trio and was unlucky in coming away yet again empty
handed. Dave Metcalfe once again knocked the Harvey's all over
the ball park and Dave Harvey in particular was dead and buried
and looked to have lost his 100% record. However, even though he
was several match points down in the deciding game he managed to
pull a rabbit out of the hat for a narrow victory and maintain
his 100% record. Possibly the failure of Chelsea's air
conditioning system did not help regarding this whitewash as
they are not accustomed to the strange aroma's emitting from
Cheltenham's end of the room?
Chelsea Building Society (Bill Dawe, Dave Metcalfe, Simon Moysey)
played Winchcombe Royals (Stuart Greene, Choi Sze To, Nick
Davidson) in a match dominated once again by Choi Sze To with
another trio of wins including her second victory this season
over Chelsea's Bill Dawe. Choi Sze was well supported by team
mates Stuart and Nick who each chipped in with two wins each
over Chelsea's Dave Metcalfe and Simon Moysey. Chelsea's only
two points of the evening were wpn by Bill with a victory over
the Royal's Nick and Stuart.
Winchcombe Royals (Nick Davidson, Charlie Loh, Choi Sze To)
entertained Winchcombe Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug Payne, Matt
Hartwell) in a match that resulted in a narrow victory for the
Roamers thanks to a good team effort from Nick, Doug and Matt
who all enjoyed two wins each over the Royal's Nick Davidson and
Charlie Loh for their six points of the evening. None of the
Roamers despite some very close games could over come the
strength of Choi Sze To who enjoyed yet another maximum and then
combined with Nick to win the doubles.
Lakeside 'A' (Rich Moores, Pete Wood, Roy Fowler) played
Winchcombe Royals (Choi Sze To, Nick Davidson, Stuart Greene)
this week in a match where the scoreline flattered Winchcombe as
it was a much closer match than the result suggests. Both the
Lakesiders Rich Moore's and Pete Wood suffered nets against them
at crucial stages in their games against the Royal's Nick
Davidson. The big difference in this match though was once again
Choi Sze To and despite both Roy and Pete taking games off her,
she never looked like losing. In Pete's words, "if only we could
find a No1 to challenge the top players and put pressure on our
opponents".
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A' (Mike Harvey, Dave Harvey,
Russell Hayward) played Winchcombe Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug
Payne, Matt Hartwell) this week in a match that resulted in a
fairly emphatic victory for Cheltenham thanks largely to a
mostly untroubled maximum from Dave Harvey, supported by eldest
Son Mike who chipped in with two wins and Russell Hayward who
appears to have been a little unlucky in only winning one. The
Roamers Nick Mytton did well to take a game off Dave Harvey and
then pulled another rabbit out of the hat to beat Mike in five
very entertaining games. Nick's two wins were supported by Matt
who chipped in with just the one win over Cheltenham's Russell
Hayward. Unfortunately despite some close games the Roamers Doug
Payne was unable to get across the line and came away empty
handed.
Cirencester (Howard Williams, Gordon Shaw, Rob Willsher) played
Chelsea Building Society (Bill Dawe, Dave Metcalfe, Simon Moysey)
in a match that ended in the honours being shared. This was
largely thanks to Chelsea's Bill Dawe who enoyed a nice maximum
after overcoming a titanic struggle with Cirencester's Howard
Williams. Bill was supported by Simon who was able to pull a
rabbit out of the hat and chip in with one win over
Cirencester's Rob Willsher, Bill and Simon then combined to win
the doubles and secure the draw. Cirencester's points were a
team affair with Howard and Gordon contributing two wins each
over Chelsea's Simon Moysey and Dave Metcalfe, with Rob Willsher
contributing just the one win over Dave Metcalfe.
Cirencester (Howard Williams, Gordon Shaw, Dave Adamson) played
Winchcombe Royals (Choi Sze To, Nick Davidson, Keith Ferguson)
in a match that took place way back on January 18, this result
has only just come to my attention thanks to an e-mail from
Keith Ferguson. This match ended in the honours being shared
largely due to a fine maximum by Dave Adamson that included a
good win over the Royal's Choi Sze To which is only her third
defeat of the season. Dave was supported by Howard who chipped
in with two wins over the Royal's Nick Davidson and Keith
Ferguson. Gordon's only contribution on this occasion was to
increase everyone else's average including doubling Keith
Ferguson's who enjoyed his second win of the season.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Winchcombe Cavaliers
7 (C Pearce, L Moffat)
Cheltenham TTC B
3
Chelsea Building Society
0
Cheltenham TTC A 10 (M
Harvey R Harvey, D Harvey)
Chelsea Building Society
2
Winchcombe Royals 8 (Choi
Sze To)
Winchcombe Royals
4 (Choi Sze To)
Winchcombe Roamers 6
Lakeside 'A'
2
Winchcombe Royals 8 (Choi
Sze To)
Cheltenham TTC 'A'
7 (Dave Harvey)
Winchcombe Roamers 3
Cirencester
5
Chelsea Building Society 5 (Bill Dawe)
Cirencester
5 (Dave Adamson)
Winchcombe Royals
5
23rd Feb 2010 -
Division 2
A bumper
bundle of cards and a week of interesting and significant
results this time round, with Saracens B exhibiting the No.37
bus syndrome (nothing for some time then three come along at
once). There were, unusually, three draws this week, but most
significant was Lakeside B's 7-3 win over Winchcombe Legends
with max-es (again) for Andy East and Chris Ball; this leaves
Lakeside still unbeaten and now equal on points with Legends but
top of the Division by virtue of their unbeatenness and a game
in hand. Although Ken Smith lost all three, Andy's and Chris's
consistent strength, plus their doubles win, was enough to
secure the victory. Andy was made to work hard for his win over
Chris Lane, only squeezing home 12-10 in the 5th and there were
a number of other tight 4-setters and close scores of 11-8 and
upwards.
Saracens B are rapidly becoming the Division's draw specialists,
with three in the first half of the season and three already so
far in the second. While Mike Vick secured a fine max for
Warriors, two apiece for Tony Iles and Mark Nally, plus one from
Neil Penny rounded off the first of Saracens, two draws. Neil
was unlucky to come away with only one win (against Graham
Fisher), with all his games going to 5 tight sets but just being
edged out 11-9 against Mike Vick and 11-8 against Charlie Loh,
who ceded his match against to Tony Iles as a walkover in
unexplained circumstances.
Neil again got his moneysworth in the draw against Tirley
Tigers, going to five sets against Rob Deeley and Elaine Evans
(win), and four against Pete Humble, while Rob Deeley registered
a max for Tigers. Pete Humble scored two good wins, including a
close 5-setter against Tony Iles by 11-7 in the fifth; two from
Mark Nally and one each from Tony and Neil, plus the doubles
finally balanced the scores after a see-saw evening.
Saracens couldn't quite manage a third draw on the trot, going
down 4-6 to CTTC D despite an excellent max from Mark Nally.
Unfortunately this was matched by an off-form Neil Penny losing
all three and it was CTTC D's double win in four sets which gave
them a closely-shaded victory. Tony Iles was unlucky to come
away with only one win for his efforts; although losing to Chris
James in three, he staged a spirited recovery from 2-0 down
against Matt Mulcahy only to lose 11-5 in the fifth, and then
nearly did the opposite against Alan Harvey, with Alan staging
the comeback from 2-0 down only to see Tony finally snatch the
victory by 11-7 in the fifth.
CTTC D also achieved a good win over the Lakeside C team of
Trevor Oliver, Graham Chandler and Barrie Pope, with Chris James
notching up another good max, although he took five sets to
subdue Trevor Oliver. Two hard-fought five-set wins by Alan
Harvey against Graham and Barrie plus one from Matt Mulcahy gave
CTTC their six, but a real ding-dong doubles finally went to
Lakeside, where the 11-8 score in the final set was actually the
lowest (!) of the encounter.
Cleeve Saracens A were in imperious form against CTTC C in a
very competitive match, with the ever-reliable Dennis Wadley
maintaining his near-perfect singles record (only one loss in
the season), well supported by two each from Mike Dodwell and
Ross Greening. Dave Green, struggling with injury, could not
manage to register a win despite his best efforts, but Mel
Garlick and Chris Williams won one apiece for CTTC and
despite throwing away a 2-0 lead in the doubles against Dennis
and Ross , emerged victorious 14-12 in the fifth to secure their
third point in a thrilling encounter. Saracens are still in
contention for promotion, only a few points adrift of Lakeside B
and Legends, but having played more games. They may come to rue
not being able to find a winning doubles combination as once
again this week, despite excellence in the singles, they were
unable to reproduce that form in the doubles.
CCS A made the most of their opportunity to stay clear of the
relegation zone with an 8-2 win over Old Saracens, with another
good max for Phil King. It looked as though Judy Morley was set
for another max, after winning her opening encounter with
Jonathan Nixon in three sets, but she then suffered a recurrence
of her injury, twisting awkwardly while trying to retrieve a net
cord shot early in her match with Phil. Although she manfully (womanfully?)
played on against Phil, she had to give Steve Murton a walkover,
leaving CCS to mop up the remaining singles and doubles for a
much-needed win.
In the third draw of the week, CTTC played out a see-saw match
against Winchcombe Warriors, with Chris Williams scoring a fine
max for the home side and Charlie Loh notching up two for
Warriors. CTTC went into a 4-2 lead but were then being pegged
back to 4-4 by Warriors, going ahead again at 5-4 only to see
the doubles snatched by Warriors (Mike Vick and Charlie) in
three close sets.
Slightly bizarrely, Warriors then only managed a 6-4 against
short-handed Tewkesbury A, with Rob Amphlett cruising to his
second max on the trot (despite dropping a set against Luke
Gresty) and pairing with Alan Cook for a straight sets doubles
win.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Cleeve Saracens
B 5
Winchcombe Warriors 5
(Mike Vick)
Cleeve Saracens B 5
Tirley Tigers
5 (Rob Deeley)
Cleeve Saracens B 4 (Mark Nally)
CTTC D
6
Lakeside B
7 (Andy East, Chris Ball) Winchcombe
Legends 3
CTTC D
6 (Chris James)
Lakeside C
4
Cleeve Saracens A 7 (Dennis Wadley)
CTTC C
3
CCS A
8 (Phil King)
Old Saracens
2
CTTC C
5 (Chris Williams)
Winchcombe Warriors 5
Winch Warriors 5
Tewkesbury A
5 (Rob Amphlett)
23rd Feb 2010 -
Division 3
Cheltenham H were unable to
contend with Cheltenham F who ran out 10-0 winners. John
Whitlock and Mike Brown did not concede a game, the doubles
followed a similar pattern with John and Matt Wells taking all
three games against Richard Comley and Martin Holt.
A glance at the league table
shows that Cheltenham G and Cleeve Eagles have fairly similar
records, and so a pretty close match was on the cards. The
eventual 5-5 draw was therefore somewhat predictable, the only
surprise being that only two sets went to five games. No one
player dominated – Tom Warner and Ryan Godwin each won two for
Cheltenham, and Dan Crook did likewise for the Eagles. Dan
teamed up with Mick Holder in the doubles to ensure that the
points were shared.
Runaway leaders Tewkesbury B
were a player short for their match against Civil Service B, but
Wayne Lippett and John Teare ensured that there would be no
upset by winning all of their singles matches without undue
difficulty. They continued to dominate in the doubles, conceding
only eleven points in three games.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cheltenham F 10 (J Whitworth, M Brown, M
Wells) Cheltenham H 0
Cheltenham G 5
Cleeve Eagles 5
Civil
Service B 3
Tewkesbury B 7 (W Lippett, J Teare)
4th March
2010 -
Division 1
Chelsea Building Society
(Guy Greening, Bill Dawe, Simon Moysey)
played Winchcombe Cavaliers (Chris Pearce, Rob
Sinderberry, Ken Savage) this week in a match that resulted
in a narrow and rare victory for the Chelsea. Chelsea's Bill
Dawe enjoyed a nice maximum, supported by Guy Greening who
chipped in with two and then combined with Bill to win the
doubles and secure the win. Chelsea's Simon Moysey merely
served to improve the oppositions average and prevent us
from going up the pub afterwards due to two long five
setters against the Cavaliers Rob Sinderberry and Ken
Savage, both of which Simon lost narrowly in the fifth. The
game between Chelsea's Bill Dawe and the Cavaliers Chris
Pearce was an awesome affair with some outrageously
excellent rallies. At one stage despite some brilliant table
tennis from both players it looked as though Bill was going
to win in three straight sets, but Chris had other idea's
and took the game to a deciding set. Fortunately for Bill
his coach (Guy Greening) then stepped in to offer advice and
Bill was then able to comfortably secure the deciding
game. The Cavaliers Rob Sinderberry and Ken Savage played
well and were a little unlucky in only winning one game each
against Chelsea's Simon Moysey as they both took sets off
Greening and Dawe.
Cheltenham Table Tennis
Club 'A' (Mike Harvey,
Dominic James, Dave Harvey) played Cirencester
(Dave Adamson, Rob
Willsher, Gordon Shaw) this week in a re-arranged match that
merely saw Cheltenham earn a few more points and retain
their Division 1 champions title - congratulations! Both of
the Harvey's enjoyed a maximum and Dave then combined with
Dominic to win the doubles. Cirencester's Dave Adamson had
close matches with both the Harvey's continuing his improved
close to the table game and it was also good to see Rob
Willsher regaining some of his old attacking close to the
table style who also pushed the Harvey's once he got into
his game. Cirencester's Gordie was Gordie, a poor hitter who
occasionally defends even worse! The match was played in an
excellent friendly spirit apart from the fact that Rob
Willsher kept mentioning that he was years younger than
Gordie, Dave Adamson and Dave Harvey and kept rubbing their
noses in it. Cirencester's three points were a team affair
with each player enjoying a win over Dominic James.
Cirencester
(Dave Adamson, Rob Willsher,
Howard Williams) played Lakeside
(Rich Moores, Pete
Wood, Paul Smythe) in a match that resulted in a whitewash
defeat for the Lakesider's. Despite some reasonably close
games, Cirencester's strength in depth proved to be to much
for the Lakesider's to handle.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Chelsea Building
Society 6 (Bill
Dawe)
Winchcombe Cavaliers 4
Cheltenham TTC A
7 (Dave Harvey, Mike Harvey)
Cirencester
3
Cirencester
10 (Dave Adamson, Rob Willsher, Howard Williams)
Lakeside
0
4th March
2010 -
Division 2
Only 5
points now separate the top three teams (Lakeside B, Winchcombe
Legends and Cleeve Saracens A) and, although there are games in
hand to be taken into account (see tables), there is no room for
slip-ups.
As the season nears its end, Lakeside B look to be consolidating
their top position with another comprehensive win, this week
against CTTC D, although Chris James managed to salvage CTTC's
honour with a 4-set win over Paul Singh. Matt Mulcahy for CTTC
nearly managed the same feat but was finally squeezed out by
Paul 11-9 in the fifth in a classic hard-fought encounter which
saw the players having a sporting hug at the end.
CCS A managed to improve considerably on their first-half
performance against Lakeside C (8-2 against), gaining a 5-5 draw
thanks to yet another max from Phil King. Phil was well
supported by two from Steve Murton but, despite two 15-13's in
their 4-set doubles, they couldn't quite overcome Trevor Oliver
and Barry Pope for the win. Julie Taylor had three hard-fought
matches, two-5-setters and one 4-setter, but could only manage
one win against CCS's Jonathan Nixon by 12-10 in the fifth.
Both Cleeve Saracens A and Winchcombe Legends kept up the
pressure on Lakeside B with 8-2 wins, against Tewkesbury A and
Tirley Tigers respectively. Tigers two wins were down to Rob
Deeley, and he nearly made it a clean sweep, just losing out to
Darrell Wiltshire 11-9 in the fifth after a see-saw encounter
which gave Darrell his max. Elaine Evans was unlucky not to come
away with another win for Tigers after leading Jacqui Carver 2-1
but finally went down 12-10 in the fifth.
Both Dennis Wadley and Mike Dodwell of Saracens A came away with
max-es against Tewkesbury A, and combined to win the doubles,
while Terry Sims excelled in adding the finishing touch with a
fine 5-set win over Rob Amphlett, who somewhat enigmatically
failed to get on the scoresheet for the night. Mike Tyrrell and
Alan Cook were winners for Tewkesbury.
Judy Morley, recovered from injury incurred in the CCS match
last week, gained a straight-sets max in Old Saracens 6-4 win
against much higher-placed Winchcombe Warriors, while Martin
Kirby weighed in with a further two against Luke Gresty and
Graham Fisher, and combined with Judy to take the doubles, also
against Luke and Graham. Sheila Matthews had a great chance to
improve her average after powering into a 2-0 lead against Luke
but then things went pear-shaped and she lost the remaining
three sets 11-6, 11-8, 11-8.
Mark Nally was on excellent form for Saracens B, winning all
three singles against the strong CTTC combination of Mel Garlick,
Martin Smith and Chris Williams and pairing with Tony Iles (a
very successful combination this season) to take the doubles as
well in a hard-fought 5-setter, after being 2-0 down. CTTC 6
Mark Nally the rest.
I don't know if this will prove to be any sort of record, or
maybe just worthy of note, but we may end this season with the
top team 100% unbeaten and the bottom team 100% beaten. Let's
hope that Tigers can pull something out of the bag at the last
gasp to avoid this particular distinction, or even that my CCS
team might overturn Lakeside B next week (ha ha!) to spoil the
fun..
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Lakeside B
9 (Andy East, Chris Ball)
CTTC D
1
Lakeside C
5
CCS A
5 (Phil King)
Cleeve Saracens A 8
(Dennis Wadley, Mike Dodwell) Tewkesbury
A
2
Old Saracens
6 (Judy Morley)
Winchcombe Warriors 4
Winchcombe Legends 8 (Darrell
Wiltshire)
Tirley Tigers
2
CTTC C
6
Cleeve Saracens B
4 (Mark Nally)
10th March
2010 -
Division 1
Winchcombe
Cavaliers (Chris Pearce, Craig Norledge, Luke Moffat) played
Winchcombe Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug Payne, Matt Hartwell) this
week in a match where the Cavaliers squeaked a narrow victory
thanks mainly to a maximum from Chris Pearce who was supported
by Craig and Luke who chipped in with a win each over the
Roamers Doug Payne. The Cavaliers Chris and Craig then combined
to win the doubles against Nick and Matt to secure the victory.
The Roamers points were won by Nick and Matt who both had wins
over Craig and Luke. The Roamers Doug Payne merely delayed the
teams appearance at the pub later that evening.
Lakeside 'A' (Rich Moores, Pete Wood, Roy Fowler) played Chelsea
Building Society (Dave Metcalfe, Bill Dawe, Guy Greening) in a
match that resulted in narrow and rare victory for the Chelsea
thanks to a maximum from Bill Dawe, supported by Guy Greening
who chipped in with two wins and then combined with Bill to win
the doubles and secure the victory. Unfortunately, despite some
close games Dave Metcalfe's only contribution was to buy the
beers up the pub. The Lakesider's Rich Moores played very well
for his two wins over Guy and Dave, supported by Pete and Roy
who both had a win over Dave Metcalfe.
Winchcombe Royals (Nick Davidson, Keith Ferguson, Choi Sze To)
played Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A' (Russell Hayward, Mike
Harvey, Chris Hewitt) in a match where Cheltenham won by the
narrowest of victories and Chris Hewitt lost his 100% record.
Cheltenham's points were a team affair with Chris and Mike
contributing two points each with wins over the Royal's Nick
Davidson and Keith Ferguson, whilst Russell chipped in with just
the one win against Keith Ferguson. Mike then combined with his
old man and won a comfortable doubles against the Nick and Choi
Sze which I believe is their first doubles defeat of the season.
Clearly the star of the evening was Choi Sze To who enjoyed yet
another maximum and took the 100% record of Chris Hewitt, Choi
Sze was supported by Nick who chipped in with one win over
Russell Hayward for their only other point of the evening.
Chelsea Building Society (Dave Metcalfe, Simon Moysey, Guy
Greening) played Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'B' (Simon Pratten,
Anand Keshav, John Gaskell) in a match where Cheltenham emerged
the easy winners. Chelsea's only two points of the evening were
won by Guy Greening with wins over Anand and John. Cheltenham's
points were pretty much a team affair, but the star was clearly
Simon Pratten who played very well to win his first maximum of
season. Cheltenham's Anand and John each contributed two wins
over Dave and Simon.
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'B' (Nick Smale, Dominic James,
Anand Keshav) played Winchcombe Royals (Nick Davidson, Keith
Ferguson, Stuart Green) in a match where Cheltenham had their
second victory in a row against a slightly weakened Royal's
side. Cheltenham's Nick Smale put in a rare appearance and
devastated the Royal's with his power attacking play for an easy
maximum. Nick was supported by team mates Dominic and Anand who
contributed two wins each. The Royals points were won by Keith
Ferguson with a nice win over Dominic James and Nick Davidson
who overcame Anand Keshav. Nick then combined with Keith to win
the doubles and secure their third and last point of the
evening.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Winchcombe Cavaliers
6 (Chris Pearce) Winchcombe
Roamers 4
Lakeside 'A'
4
Chelsea Building Society 6
(Bill Dawe)
Winchcombe Royals
4 (Choi Sze To) Cheltenham
TT Club 'A' 6
Chelsea Building Society
2
Cheltenham TT Club 'B' 8
(Simon Pratten)
Cheltenham TT Club 'B'
7 (Nick Smale)
Winchcombe Royals
3
10th March
2010 -
Division 2
Winchcombe
Legends are still hot on the heels of Lakeside B in the race for
the top slot, with both teams chalking up big wins against,
respectively, CTTC D and CCS A, while Saracens A's chances of a
top two finish took a bit of a hit as they only managed a 5-5
draw against Old Saracens.
It may all come to nothing as Lakeside B have a game in hand,
but Legends inched a point nearer with a 10-0 win, as against
Lakeside's mere 9-1, only small differences but they may count
if Lakeside slip up at all. Legends didn't have it all their
own way against CTTC though, with a large number of tight
4-setters and scores of 11-8 and upwards. Chris Lane only just
got the better of Chris James 11-7 in the 5th but in the end
Legends showed their resilience.
The Lakeside B - CCS scoreline could easily have been different,
with Andy East struggling to a 5 sets win against Steve Murton,
and Chris Ball nearly coming unstuck (for the second time this
season) against Jonathan Nixon, only just squeezing home 11-8 in
the fifth. The doubles too featured scores of 17-15 and 13-11
in two of the games before Lakeside finally got home; while Phil
King was CCS's sole winner in four sets against Ken Smith.
Old Saracens competitive draw in the local derby against
Saracens A came courtesy of another max for Judy Morley, one for
Martin Kirby, plus a 5-set doubles where Old Saracens battled to
recover from 2-0 down and clinch the decider 11-9. Mike Dodwell
and Terry Sims both notched up two singles apiece, with one to
Ross Greening who just missed out 11-4 in the fifth in a see-saw
match against Martin Kirby Mike Dodwell had his second
5-setter of the season against Judy but again just couldn't
quite make it, going down 11-7 in the decider.
Rob Deeley was once again amongst the points for Tirley Tigers
against CTTC C, winning two singles and just missing out on the
third against Martin Smith 12-10 in the fifth, but it was Martin
who stole the show on the night with a strong max. Rob and
Elaine Evans paired successfully in the doubles to secure Tigers
third point. It was good to see three ladies (Elaine for Tigers
and Mel Garlick/Christine Williams for CTTC) playing
competitively on the same night, and if Janie Kirby had been
playing, that would have made an even better four - maybe even
al all-ladies doubles!
Graham Fisher was on fine form for Winchcombe Warriors, gaining
a good max against Lakeside C, although he was pushed hard by
Trevor Oliver and only just squeezed home 11-7 in the fifth.
Two each for Chris White and Trevor accounted for Lakeside's
points, but this pairing couldn't managed to get the draw, with
the hard-fought doubles going to Warriors in four close sets.
After a fine performance against CTTC C last week, Mark Nally
was unable to reproduce the same form against Tewkesbury A and
came away with only one win. Tony Iles weighed in with a second
and paired with Mark to take a very close 5-set doubles. For
Tewkesbury, Alan Cook was in fine form but was pushed all the
way for his max in a pulsating 5-setter against Mark Nally which
he just shaded 13-11 in the fifth. He was well supported by two
from Mike Tyrrell, who seems to be just finding some form, and
two from Mike Maxwell, who might easily have had a third but
couldn't quite overcome Tony Iles in a another tight 5-setter.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
CCS A
1
Lakeside B
9 (Chris Ball, Andy East)
Cleeve Saracens A 5
Old Saracens
5 (Judy Morley)
Tirley Tigers
3
CTTC C
7 (Martin Smith)
Winchcombe Warriors 6 (Graham
Fisher) Lakeside C
4
Cleeve Saracens B
3
Tewkesbury A
7 (Alan Cook)
CTTC D
0
Winchcombe Legends 10 (Carver, Lane,
Ratcliffe)
10th March
2010 -
Division 3
Alan Thomas
notched up his first maximum of the season, as Civil Service B
eventually got the better of a resilient Cheltenham H. Alan was
assisted by Pierre Gillett and Geoff Wilson who won two each.
There were a number of close sets, but the one to beat the lot
was that between Geoff and Luke Greening – described as ‘a
corker of a match’. Luke emerged as the winner after an
extraordinary 12-14,12-14, 14-12, 14-12, 11-9 scoreline. Tom
Warner and Martin Holt stole the doubles in another five game
nail-biter.
Two well
matched sides fought out a close contest as Cheltenham F shared
the spoils with Cleeve Eagles. Mike Brown showed good form for
Cheltenham, being successful in all of his singles, but all of
Eagle’s players chipped in with at least one win. This meant
that Cheltenham needed to win the doubles to gain the draw, and
this they duly did. Cheltenham E notched up two recent wins, but
they were both close affairs, each with 6-4 scorelines.
Against
Civil Service B, it was James Bird who saw the Cheltenham side
home, winning all of his sets. Rob Browning secured two for
Civil Service.
In
Cheltenham E’s match against Cheltenham G, it was Simon James of
the G side who was the dominant force, securing a maximum in the
process. However, James Bird and Andy Smith each won two for the
E team, enabling them to gain an overall win.
Tewkesbury B
extended the gap between themselves and all other contenders
with two convincing wins. Their minds must already be on next
season, because one of the result cards shows the match as a
Division 2 fixture! A 10-0 demolition of Winchcombe Vikings was
followed by a 9-1 success over Cheltenham F, for whom John
Whitworth gained a narrow 11-6, 11-8, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8 win over
Wayne Lippett.
Spare a
thought for Jeremy Turberville who put up tremendous resistance
on behalf of Civil Service B in their match against Cheltenham
F. The Cheltenham side won 10-0, but Jeremy took all of his sets
to five games. In two of them he lost 9-11 in the final game,
and in the other it was 11-13.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Cheltenham H 3
Civil Service B
7 (A Thomas)
Cheltenham F 5
(M Brown)
Cleeve Eagles
5
Cheltenham E 6
(J Bird)
Civil Service B
4
Cheltenham E 6
Cheltenham G
4 (S James)
Tewkesbury B 9
(J Goodchild, J Teare)
Cheltenham F
1
Tewkesbury B 10
(J Goodchild, W Lippett, J Teare)
Winchcombe Vikings 0
16th March
2010 -
Division 1
Cheltenham
Table Tennis Club 'A' (Dave Harvey, Mike Harvey, Chris Hewitt)
played Winchcombe Cavaliers (Chris Pearce, Rob Sinderberry, Ken
Savage) in a match where Cheltenham proved once again to be
worthy league champions with another emphatic win. Only the
Cavaliers Chris Pearce could stop the charge inflicting the
second defeat of the season over Chris Hewitt and then went on
to beat Mike Harvey for a nice brace of wins. Cheltenham's Dave
Harvey proved far to strong and maintained his 100% record with
just one match left.
Cirencester (Howard Williams, Gordon Shaw, Rob Willsher) played
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A' (Dave Harvey, Russell Hayward,
Chris Hewitt) this week where Cheltenham emerged victorious by
the narrowest of margins. Cheltenham's Chris Hewitt and Dave
Harvey proved to strong for the Cirencester team, each recording
a familiar hatrick of wins. Cirencester's points were pretty
much a team affair with each of them recording a win over
Cheltenham's Russell Hayward. The final point of the evening was
a good win for Cirencester's Howard Williams and Gordon Shaw who
beat Chris Hewitt and Russell Hayward.
Winchcombe Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug Payne, Matt Hartwell)
played Lakeside 'A' (Suzy Robinson, Rich Moores, Pete Wood) in
what looks to have been a very easy match for the Roamers with
an easy victory. Only the Lakesider's Rich Moores appears to
have put up any resistance, but was unable to get over the
winning line. Suzy 'slapper' Robinson slapped at a few but the
Roamers trio were just to consistent for the slapping to be
effective.
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Cheltenham TTC A
8 (D Harvey)
Winchcombe Cavaliers 2
Cirencester
4
Cheltenham TTC A 6 (D
Harvey, Chris Hewitt)
Winchcombe Roamers
10 (N Mytton, D Payne, M Hartwell)
Lakeside 'A'
0
16th March
2010 -
Division 2
With
Winchcombe Legends not playing this week, Lakeside B didn't lose
the opportunity to go further ahead in the championship race
with a strong 8-2 win over Winchcombe Warriors, while CCS A
slipped further into the relegation mire suffering two
substantial defeats to Warriors (9-1) and CTTC D (8-2). Phil
King, so often the shining light for CCS this season, could only
manage one singles in each of these encounters, against Luke
Gresty and Alan Harvey respectively - with Jonathan Nixon
registering CCS's only other point in also beating Alan Harvey,
15-13 in the fifth in a fine comeback after being 2-0 down.
Matt Mulcahy and Chris James both scored max-es for CTTC but had
to work hard to overcome Phil King, taking five sets each to do
so.
Old Saracens are staging an end-of-season charge, inspired by
Judy Morley, with both Martin Kirby and Sheila Matthews notching
up two wins to add to Judy's max, plus the doubles, to gain a
significant win against Saracens B, for whom Mark Nally was the
only winner. Mark had a terrific scrap against Judy but
couldn't quite pull off a max, finally going down 11-4 in the
fifth set.
The Lakeside C and Saracens A match saw lots of close games,
four- and five-setters, and an unfortunate injury to Graham
Chandler which prevented him completing all his games, so in the
end a draw was a fair result. Dennis Wadley maintained his
top-class record but was made to work hard for it, with four
tight sets against Trevor Oliver and an even closer 5-setter
against Chris White, where Chris fought back from a 2-0 deficit
but couldn't quite maintain the momentum, going down 11-6 in the
deciding set.
The dynamic duo of Andy East and Chris Ball saw Lakeside B home
to an 8-2 win against Warriors (three singles each plus the
doubles), thereby maintaining Lakeside's 100% record. Although
Paul Singh lost two of his singles against Luke Gresty and
Charlie Loh, he wasn't about to do it lightly, going to 5 sets
against both, including a 19-17 against Luke, before finally
succumbing.
Tirley Tigers look certain to be relegated following their 9-1
defeat to Tewkesbury A, not helped by turning up with only two
players, but Elaine Evans was determined to fight to the last,
beating Mike Tyrell in three straight and only just being
squeezed out by Mike Maxwell in five hotly contested sets. Mike
and Rob Amphlett both scored max-es for Tewkesbury, which should
see them finishing solidly in mid-table.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
CCS A
1
Winchcombe Warriors 9 (Mike
Vick, Graham Fisher)
Old Saracens 8 (Judy
Morley)
Cleeve Saracens B
2
Lakeside C 5
Cleeve Saracens A
5 (Dennis Wadley)
Lakeside B 8
(Andy East, Chris Ball)
Winchcombe Warriors 2
CTTC D
8 (Chris James, Matt Mulcahy)
CCS A
2
Tewkesbury A 9 (Rob
Amphlett, Mike Maxwell) Tirley Tigers
1
25th March
2010 -
Division 1
Lakeside 'A'
(Rich Moores, Suzy Robinson, Pete Wood) entertained Cheltenham
Table Tennis Club 'B' (Dominic James, Anand Keshav, Simon
Pratten) in a match where Cheltenham are certainly ending the
season on a strong note with another comfortable victory.
Despite the 7-3 scoreline in favour of Cheltenham, it would
appear from the scorecard that the result could have been very
different. Every match appears to have been a very close affair
with numerous deuce games. Cheltenhams Simon Pratten was in fine
form winning his second maximum of the season, supported by
Dominic who chipped in with two wins and Anand who chipped in
with one. Lakesides points were won by Suzy (Slapper) Robinson
who enjoyed wins over Dominic and Anand, supported by Rich
Moores who also beat Anand in a very close five set encounter.
Despite some very close games Pete Wood failed to contribute on
this occasion and Lakeside to add to their woes had to forfeit
the doubles due to time constraint.
Winchcombe Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug Payne, Matt Hartwell)
played Chelsea Building Society (Dave Metcalfe, Simon Moysey) in
a match where the Chelsea were unable to field a full team which
the Roamers capitalised on inflicting an easy whitewash defeat.
Winchcombe Royals (Choi Sze To, Keith Ferguson, Stuart Green)
played Cirencester (Howard Williams, Rob Willsher, Dave Adamson)
this week in a match where the Royals Choi Sze To was the player
of the evening winning a reasonably comfortable maximum for the
Royal's only points of the evening. Cirencesters points were a
team affair with Howard Williams, Rob Willsher and Dave Adamson
all enjoying wins over the Royals Keith Ferguson and Stuart
Greene. Rob and Dave then combined to win the doubles against
Choi Sze To and Stuart Green for their final point of the
evening.
Chelsea Building Society (Guy Greening, Dave Metcalfe, Bill Dawe)
entertained Lakeside (Roy Fowler, Suzy Robinson, Paul Smyth) in
a match that resulted in a rare victory for the Chelsea and and
an all to familiar defeat for the Lakesider's. Chelsea's Bill
Dawe enjoyed a comfortable maximum, supported by Guy Greening
who chipped in with two and Dave Metcalfe who chipped in with
one, doubling his average for the season. To be fair, Dave
Metcalfe was very unlucky in not trebling his average as he had
every opportunity of beating Roy Fowler but lost in a closely
fought deuce fifth game. The Lakesider's points were won by Suzy
Slapper Robinson who enjoyed wins over Guy Greening and Dave
Metcalfe, supported by Roy who had one win also over Dave
Metcalfe. This game was mostly played in good spirits, although
it should be noted that Suzy Slapper Robinson was somewhat rude
to Guy and Bill regarding their physique, age and in Bills case
hair loss, however Suzy did make up for this by showing her Tats
towards the end of the evening. On that note, Guy would like to
emphasise that it is not his name tattooed on Suzy's inner
thigh!
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Lakeside 'A'
3
Cheltenham TTC 'B'
7 (Simon Pratten)
Winchcombe Roamers
10 (N Mytton, D Payne, M Hartwell)
Chelsea Building Society 0
Winchcombe Royals
3 (Choi Sze To)
Cirencester
7
Chelsea Building Society 7 (Bill
Dawe)
Lakeside
3
25th March
2010 -
Division 2
This has
turned out to be something of an "if only?" week. After our own
CCS result of 3-7 against Winchcombe Legends, I had to do a
double-take on the arrival of the first card in the post which
showed that Lakeside B had finally blown their unbeaten record,
losing 7-3 to Cleeve Saracens A. So despite Lakeside's game in
hand over Legends, could Legends possibly make up the deficit?
But then almost the next card to arrive was Legends vs
Tewkesbury A (8-2 in the first half) a 5-5 draw!! "If only"
Legends hadn't for some reason turned out looking like the
Warriors, featuring Mike Vick and Luke Gresty - instead of the
usual team (I actually had to check the top of the card to make
sure it really did say "Legends", not "Warriors"), and "if only"
Chris Lane hadn't lost to Rob Amphlett! For Tirley Tigers, the
"if only"... was Rob Deeley who, if he had played more
regularly, might just have hauled Tirley out of the relegation
zone. Which was exactly what happened with Old Saracens and
Judy Morley, who lost to Rob in four sets in the match against
Tirley. "If only" she had not played so regularly, CCS A would
probably have kept themselves out of the relegation places; as
it is, Old Saras will finish just above CCS by a handful of
points. And "if only" Janie Kirby hadn't got injured against
Old Saras Pete McGeough, she might have secured her first win of
the season she was going well, 2 sets to nil up at the time but
we'll never know!!
But what a result for Saracens A, with both Mike Dodwell and
Dennis Wadley scoring max-es and combining to win the doubles
too. And what a battle it must have been; goodness knows what
time they finished, with all except one singles going to four or
five tight sets, with 11-9's and 12-10's all over the place.
Although he lost all three, Ross Greening was close to
inflicting even more damage on Lakeside, only going down 12-10
in the fifth to Ken Smith and also taking Chris Ball to five
sets.
Lakeside made some amends with a tidy 9-1 win over Cleeve
Saracens B, with Chris and Andy back on winning form again and
Mark Nally registering Saracens only point. Given Legends 5-5
draw, Lakeside will probably still take the title, although
there is no room for slip-ups as both they and Legends still
have potentially awkward matches against CTTC C to come.
CTTC C were on good form against Tewkesbury A, winning
comfortably 9-1 with max-es for Mel Garlick and Martin Smith and
Mike Tyrrell scoring Tewkesbury's only win. In Tewkesbury's
match against Legends, Mike Maxwell scored an impressive
three-straight win over Mike Vick; Rob Amphlett took five sets
to achieve his win over Mike, beat Chris Lane in four and was
then involved in a titanic struggle with Luke Gresty which
eventually went to Luke 11-7 in the fifth.
Winchcombe Warriors and CTTC D rounded off their seasons with a
5-5 draw, with no max-es, but Charlie Loh and Graham Fisher for
Warriors, and Chris James and Matt Mulcahy for CTTC each notched
up two wins apiece. Luke Gresty was Warriors, other winner,
while for CTTC, although Alan Harvey didn't manage to get on the
scoresheet this week, Chris and Matt came away with the doubles
to complete an evenly fought contest.
So the title is still (just) mathematically open, with
everything hanging on next week's final scores.
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
CTTC C
9 (Mel Garlick, Martin Smith)
Tewkesbury A
1
CCS A
3
Winchcombe Legends 7 (Jacqui Carver)
Winchcombe Legends 5
Tewkesbury A
5
Tirley Tigers
4 (Rob Deeley)
Old Saracens
6
Cleeve Saracens A
7 (Dennis Wadley, Mike Dodwell)
Lakeside B
3
Lakeside B
9 (Andy East, Chris Ball)
Saracens B
1
Winchcombe Warriors 5
CTTC D
5
25th March
2010 -
Division 3
This report incorporates a
number of fixtures which were hit by the bad weather in January,
and provides a clearer picture of likely end of season placings.
However, pride of place this
week must go to Cheltenham H. Without a win or draw last season,
and with a similar record to date, they left it until their last
match of the season to gain a 6-4 victory over Civil Service B.
Richard Comley led the way with a maximum, including a five game
win over Jeremy Turberville. Tom Warner provided support with
two successes to ensure at least a share of the points. Richard
and Tom took on Geoff Wilson and Jeremy in the doubles,
squeezing through 11-8, 13-11, 10-12, 10-12 to snatch the win.
The fortunes of Civil
Service B improved with a surprise win over Cleeve Eagles.
Jeremy Turberville was in good form, winning all of his singles,
and was well supported by Alan Thomas and Rob Browning who won
two sets each. To compound Eagle’s pain, Roly Holder and Tiffany
Hopton lost out to Rob and Alan in the doubles, eventually going
down 9-11 in the fifth game.
Cheltenham F continued their
strong finish to the season with an 8-2 win over Winchcombe
Vikings, whose cause was not helped when Alan Gallop was forced
to retire after only one singles. For the Cheltenham side, Mike
Brown won both of his sets to lead his team home.
Vikings were more successful
against Cheltenham H but the 7-3 scoreline masked some close
encounters which generally went Viking’s way. Dick Prior was
dominant, winning all three sets without losing a game.
Cheltenham H were no match
for Cheltenham G, who ran out comfortable winners, dropping only
one game in the nine singles games.
Cheltenham E beat Cleeve
Eagles 7-3 to improve their chances of finishing runners-up, and
at the same time all but extinguished any hopes that Eagles may
have had in that direction. James Bird dominated proceedings,
with three individual wins, whilst Carey Maisey and Tom Warner
gained two and one wins respectively.
Tewkesbury B moved closer to
an unbeaten finish with a 9-1 success over Winchcombe Vikings.
The closest encounters involved Tewkesbury’s Wayne Lippett, who
once again demonstrated his staying power with five game wins
against Dick Prior and Roy Gavin.
With only a handful of
matches remaining,Tewkesbury B are already assured of top spot,
and the battle for second place looks to be between Cheltenham E
and Cheltenham F.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
Civil
Service B
4
Cheltenham H
6 (R Comley)
Cleeve
Eagles
3
Civil Service B
7 (J Turberville)
Cheltenham F
8 (M Brown) Winchcombe Vikings 2
Winchcombe Vikings 7 (D Prior)
Cheltenham H
3
Cheltenham H
0
Cheltenham G
10 (S James, M Robertson, R Godwin)
Cheltenham E
7 (J Bird) Cleeve
Eagles
3
Winchcombe Vikings 1
Tewkesbury B
9 (J Goodchild, W Lippett)
31st March
2010 -
Division 1
Please find below the final report together with
tables/averages. Although the winners of Division 1 were
established some weeks ago, there was still some excitement for
the runners up spot and for a possible relegation spot depending
upon what format is adopted next year.
Winchcombe Cavaliers (Chris Pearce, Luke Moffat, Rob Sinderberry)
played Chelsea Building Society (Simon Moysey, Guy Greening,
Bill Dawe) this week in a match where the Chelsea earnt just
enough points to avoid the possible second relegation spot
depending of course what format that Division One takes next
year. This was a strange match where no one player really
dominated the evening. Chelsea got off to a dreadful start
losing the first three games that included a good win for the
Cavaliers Luke Moffat over Bill Dawe. Despite this poor start,
Chelsea were able to fight back and earn the necessary points to
ensure safety with Bill Dawe beating Chris Pearce in a cracking
game and then Rob Sinderberry. Guy Greening somehow and very
fortunately overcome Luke Moffat and then combined with Dave
Metcalfe to win the doubles. Simon Moysey despite some close
games particularly against Rob Sinderberry lost all of his
singles games.
Winchcombe Roamers (Nick Mytton, Doug Payne, Matt Hartwell)
played Cirencester (Rob Willsher, Dave Adamson, Howard Williams)
this week in a match that was going to decide the runners up
position for Division 1. Numerous games were extremely close and
judging by the scorecard could have gone either way, but at the
doubles Cirencester led 5-4 thanks to an excellent maximum from
Cirencesters Dave Adamson and required the doubles to secure the
runners up spot. Leading up to this final game, the Roamers Nick
Mytton and Matt Hartwell had wins over Cirencesters Rob Willsher
and Howard Williams. Cirencester's Dave Adamson had a cracking
hatrick of games, supported by Rob and Howard who chipped in
with a win each over the Roamers Doug Payne. So down to the
exciting climax of the doubles where nine players from the other
two league matches played that night staed on to watch and this
only served to heighten the tension under which the doubles was
played. In a very finely balanced game at two sets a piece, the
Roamers team of Nick and Matt won the final set against Dave
Adamson and Rob Willsher, the closest finish for years as the
last game and last set determined the runners up spot.
Winchcombe Royals (Choi Sze To, Keith Ferguson, Nick Davidson)
played Cheltenham Table Tennis 'A' (Dave Harvey, Chris Hewitt)
in a match that resulted in a narrow victory for Cheltenham due
to being a player short. The Royal's only genuine point of the
evening was a win for Choi Sze over Chris Hewitt, her second
victory over him this season. Cheltenham's Dave Harvey won yet
another comfortable maximum and secured a 100% record for the
season, an admirable feat for anyone, but particularly for
someone who participated in virtually every match, played all of
the best players that Cheltenham has to offer and has a bus pass
at the ripe old age of 61! CONGRATULATIONS Dave Harvey!
Report by Guy Greening - Division 1 Secretary
Winchcombe Cavaliers
6 Chelsea Building Society
4
Winchcombe Roamers
5 Cirencester
5 (Dave Adamson)
Winchcombe Royals 4
Cheltenham Table Tennis Club 'A' 6
(Dave Harvey)
Congratulations to Winch Roamers Nick Mytton &
Doug Payne who were the only players to have played in all of
the matches in the first division.
The third player Matt Hartwell only missed 2
matches as also did Ciren's Howard Williams, which was also a
good achievement. The league was also strengthened this year by
several new players including Chris Pearce (who in playing in
all but three matches, was also a good effort (bearing in mind
he also plays regularly in the Evesham League). Tristan
Gretton's appearance in the League, was cut short due to him
sustaining a broken leg and the fact that he is also at
University in Sheffield as well as playing in the Evesham
League, but both of these players participation, has helped to
make the Cheltenham League, one of the best in the west.
For those of you who may not know, the runners up spot went all
the way to the wire and was actually decided on the last doubles
match of the night which at two sets all, was very exciting and
whoever one the last set determined the runners up spot. In the
end the doubles team of Nick & Matt won an exciting last set
against the redoubtable team of Dave (who I believe won all of
his singles on the night) & Rob Wiltshire. This tense match was
watched by most of the other teams (including myself) who were
competing on the night which added to the tension &
excitement.This is probably the closest finish ever to determine
the eventual positions in the League.
Report by Dave Harvey
31st March
2010 -
Division 2
By the time you read this on the website, you
will probably have already heard on the grapevine that Lakeside
B finally clinched the Division 2 Championship with a 7-3 away
win against CTTC C. Early pacesetters Winchcombe Legends were in
the runner-up slot, having pushed Lakeside right to the last,
while Cleeve Saracens A were a very worthy third, the only team
to knock Lakeside of their winning perch all season and with
Dennis Wadley top of the individual averages. So congratulations
to all three teams.
Legends kept up the pressure with an 8-2 win over CTTC C, with
both Darrell Wiltshire and Stewart Ratcliffe scoring max-es, but
it was not to be. Lakeside's win also over CTTC C saw them
home, although Ken Smith had to be reminded that he was playing
that night! But he successfully swapped slippers and beer for
trainers and energy drink to notch up a max for Lakeside to go
with Andy East's, although he had to fight hard to overcome
Christine Williams in 5 sets after squandering a 2-0 lead. Mel
Garlick and Martin Smith inflicted a rare doubles defeat on
Chris Ball and Andy East, only their second of the season.
Tirley Tigers achieved the dubious distinction of not managing a
win all season, going down 8-2 to Lakeside C in their final
match. Rob Deeley was their only winner, with two, but even he
could not get the better of Trevor Oliver who was in fine form
on the night, scoring an excellent max for Lakeside. Rob made
him work hard for it, though, taking him to five closely
contested sets, and also only just managed to edge Chris White
out of a max, squeaking home 14-12 in the fifth. Pete Humble was
unlucky to come away empty-handed, going down 11-9 in the fifth
after a well-fought contest with Graham Chandler. Cake report:
had a filling of strawberries and cream this week, and was
Tirley's main success of the night.
Tewkesbury A versus Old Saracens finished all-square after a
see-saw encounter, with both Rob Amphlett and Mike Maxwell
scoring two singles apiece and Mike Tyrrell providing the fifth,
while for Old Saras Judy Morley notched up another max to round
off a very successful season and combined well with Sheila
Matthews to take the doubles in four sets. Sheila had a real
ding-dong against Mike Tyrrell; after going 2-1 down (16-14,
9-11, 9-11), she just squeaked the fourth set 12-10 before going
on to take the fifth 11-6.
And finally, Saracens B scored a good 6-4 win over higher-placed
Lakeside C to ensure that they stayed well clear of the
relegation zone. Neil Penny and Mark Nally notched up two
singles each, plus the doubles, while Tony Iles weighed in with
a further singles win. Chris White and Barrie Pope won two each
for Lakeside, with Julie Taylor desperately unlucky to come away
empty-handed after two 5-setters against Tony and Neil, and a
four setter against Mark. Neil too got his moneysworth for the
night, just being squeezed out in 5 sets against Chris White,
scraping home 12-10 in the fifth against Julie but losing out to
Barrie in four tightly contested sets.
That's All, Folks! Hope you enjoyed the reports over the season,
and see you next year, that is if CCS are allowed to stay up !!
Report by Steve Murton - Division 2 Secretary
Winchcombe Legends 8
(Stewart Ratcliffe, Darrell Wiltshire)
CTTC C 2
Tirley Tigers
2
Lakeside C 8 (Trevor
Oliver)
Tewkesbury A
5
Old Saracens 5 (Judy Morley)
CTTC C
3
Lakeside B 7 (Andy
East, Ken Smith)
Cleeve Saracens B 6
Lakeside C 4
31st March
2010 -
Division 3
Congratulations to Tewkesbury B who went through the whole
season unbeaten, and clearly have no place in such lowly depths
as the third tier! At the same time, well done to John Goodchild
for heading the individual averages.
The handful
of games outstanding since the last report have produced
significant results which have affected the final placings
behind Tewkesbury – in fact with one match still to play, we
still do not know which side will finish second.
Cheltenham G
were a player short against Tewkesbury B, and consequently went
down 9-1.
The G side
finished their campaign with two notable draws, the first being
against Cheltenham E. With a number of games in hand, the E team
were looking to take full advantage, but in a match in which no
player won all three, a share of the points was a fair
reflection of play.
Cheltenham G
gained perhaps their best result of the season when they
deprived Tewkesbury B of a 100% win record. Simon James
inflicted only the second individual defeat of the season upon
John Goodchild, and went on to gain a notable maximum. Ryan
Godwin provided support by beating Wayne Lippett, and Simon
teamed up with Jon Laramy to win the doubles.
In the
meantime, Cheltenham E were making best use of their games in
hand. They picked up two useful points against champions
Tewkesbury B, for whom John Teare and John Goodchild gained
maximums.
Cleeve
Eagles had stuttered somewhat in the run-in, but put up a
spirited performance against Cheltenham E, forcing them to share
the points. Whilst James Bird won all three for the Cheltenham
side, it was a case of what might have been for Eagles. Joe Seed
took James to five games, and both Dan Crook and Derek Brown
each lost narrowly to Carey Maisey, in tight five game contests.
With just
one match left to play, Cheltenham E have to secure four points
against Wincombe Vikings to pip Cheltenham F for runners-up
spot, with Cheltenham G and Cleeve Eagles just behind, in what
has been an enthralling end to a very competitive season.
Other
notable items of interest:
-
No fewer than thirteen
people turned out to play for Cheltenham F at some stage
during the season – either there is some unique attraction
in playing for this team, or they regularly find themselves
short of players. I will leave you to judge!
-
For a while, I was lacking
the results from one fixture where no-one has been able to
provide me with the details involved, due to the result card
ending up in a washing machine! Fortunately the away side
were able to come up with the data.
-
Tom Warner kept busy by
playing for three different Cheltenham sides on various
occasions.
-
The mysterious ‘M Bush’
appears in the individual averages. I am assured that no
such person exists, but nevertheless, his name was included
on a result card, and I am unable to find out whose name
this should actually be!
-
Five players completed
fifty sets or more, the highest three being Geoff Wilson
(53) John Goodchild (59) and James Bird (60). James will
increase this if he plays in the one remaining match.
-
Most improved player? – a
difficult one this, as I have not seen all of the players,
but based upon a comparison with last season, Richard Comley
of Cheltenham H gets my vote.
-
Finally, thanks to all
team secretaries for prompt submission of results.
Report by Derek Brown -
Divisional 3 Secretary
