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TABLE TENNIS
All the up-to-date news from Boston Table Tennis League scene
October 2006 |
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Click here for: Results
round-up 2006-2007 season |
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News for week ending Sunday October 29 After
all the trials and early tribulations, the Boston and District Table Tennis
League seems to have settled down and as all of the teams in both the
divisions have played at least one match, some sort of league table can be
formulated. No
surprises in Yates and Greenhough Division One with Penmaen A leading
the way, though this week they were taken aback a bit, only beating
Shodfriars B 7-3. Shoddys
put up a courageous performance against their more illustrious opponents,
star man Alan Ashberry picking up two beating both Andy Gilbert and Brett
Heppenstall in three straight but being no match for the immaculate Brian
Hill. Roger Hooton astonished everybody, (including himself) by beating
Hill 11-7 (long pause) in the first end, surprising Brian with some tremendous
backhand drives but going on to lose the next three legs in a most enjoyable
game. Question: when did Brian last lose an end in this league?
Unfortunately, he (Roger), didn’t produce the same sort of form against
either Gilbert or Heppenstall, although both games were very closely fought. “Smiler”
Smith battled gamely, showing brief flashes of form but was unable to gain
anything from the night. The Shoddys duo of Hooton and Ashberry teamed up for
the doubles against the attacking duo of Gilbert and Heppenstall, the Shoddy
pairing proving the steadier, winning in three straight, which saw another
record fall — Penmaen, after 21 consecutive wins, losing for the first time. The
all-Lodgers clash between the A and the G, threw up the usual close encounter,
Graham Lacey continuing his run of form winning his singles for the second
week in a row. After dispatching Andy Kirk in three he next met No.3 ranked
Kelvin Clements. Graham narrowly lost the first 8-11, but came good in the
next three to win 12-10, 11-8, 11-6. This was Kelvin’s second defeat of the
season as in their only previous match he also lost against Jake the
Pegg. Ian Stones and Pete Truepenny could only pick up one between them,
Stones beating Kirk in three but after winning the first against Mark Hulme
lost his way and then being taken to the cleaners by Clements. Truepenny
fared less well, failing to pick up a game and despite taking an end out of
Kirk and Hulme he faded in the fourth. With the doubles deciding the result,
Clements and Hulme gained some reward for their singes defeats, comfortably
beating the A pairing of Lacey and Stones in three straight sets steering
their team home to a narrow 6-4 victory. Graves
Park C and Wrangle through no fault of their own, both played their first
match of the season, the Park running out 9-1 winners. The scoreline was a
bit flattering, Martin Walters being taken to five by Dennis Pattrick (he was
lucky to win this), while Dave Coulson and Sam Cooper both took him to
four, Walters scraping home against Coulson 11-9, 5-11,13-11, 12-10. Mick
East easily dispatched Pattrick in three but must consider himself very lucky
to beat both Coulson and Cooper, both scores being 11-9 in the final set.
James Quinton started off with two victories, beating Cooper and Pattrick but
came unstuck against Coulson who beat him in five, gaining some reward for
his hard work on the night and saving his team from the ignominy of a
whitewash. Early action
in A D Dickinson Division Two sees the Graves Park teams contesting
the first three places. And the other two Park teams, who at the moment are
playing catch-up, will no doubt, soon join them. This
week Graves Park E took on their D team in a match that on paper should have
been close. The D left nothing to chance and got away to a flyer, Dave
Walters brushing aside Emma Watson and with Paul Matschull just getting
the better of Mick Dodes, the D were looking sharp. Paul Gilbert pulled one
back for the E by beating John Beaumont in three straight but the D forged
ahead. Walters, after losing the first two, beat Dodes 9-11, 9-11, 11-8,
11-6, 12-10. The game that virtually swung the result the D’s way was
Matschull’s dismantling of Gilbert and although Dodes pulled one back for the
E beating Beaumont, it was all over bar the shouting. Walters completed
his hat-trick with a win over the now demoralised Gilbert and Matschull
compounded the misery comfortably beating young Emma Watson. The E didn’t
fare any better in the doubles either, and in spite of Dodes and Gilbert
winning the first, they faded in the next three to give the D a solid 8-2
victory. In
another of the all-Park clashes, early leaders Graves Park Nomads took on
third placed Graves Park F. Nomads got their noses in front taking the first
two, Harry Paul and Dean Clow beating Fred and Kit Calvert
respectively. The F then got on the board, Barry Frankish winning a
closely fought tussle with Tris Clow but Dean Clow restored Nomads’ two game
lead, comfortably beating Fred Calvert after a first set hiccup. Frankish
then went on to defeat Paul in four to reduce the deficit to one but the
two-game gap was again opened up, Tris Clow making short work of Kit Calvert.
Man of the match Frankish maintained his early unbeaten record with a four
set win over Dean Clow but Tris Clow made sure the Nomads flag was flying,
disposing of Fred Calvert in three. The shock of the night though was still
to come, the F’s Kit Calvert playing out of his skin to beat Harry Paul
winning the first 11-5, losing the second 10-12 but comfortably winning the
next two 11-8, 11-6 to keep his team in the hunt for an equal share of
the points. Alas all his effort proved fruitless and although combining with
the flawless Frankish, they went down to the two Clows to give Nomads a
6-4 victory. Penmaen
B who have been struggling to field a full team took on Shodfriars C, Penmaen
giving league debut's to 10 year old Reuben Reed and Braydon Wyeth aged just
12.With team regular Sasha Martin leading from the front, Penamen got off to
a winning start but the two youngsters despite trying very hard and never
giving up, lost all their games in straight legs. Sasha kept the Penmaen flag
flying, and although all his games went the full distance, Sasha maintained
his unbeaten record and along with Barry Frankish of Graves Park F and one or
two others is joint No.1 in the rankings in this division. |
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News for week ending Sunday October 22
Lodgers A opened their 2006-2007 campaign in Yates
and Greenhough Division One of the 2006-2007 Boston and District Table
Tennis League season with a match against Shodfriars B. The impressive Graham
Lacey looked sharp, brushing aside the opposition without dropping an end.
Scott Sykes and Roger Hooton looked steady and replied for Shoddy’s, picking
up two games each, both of them beating Ian Stones and Pete Truepenny. Pete,
however, took both of them the full distance. Stones and Truepenny, though,
didn’t go home empty handed. Each defeated Dave “Smiler” Smith who played
particularly well against Stones before fading in the fourth and the
vital fifth end. With the outstanding Lacey having left the building,
Truepenny and Stones paired up for the doubles against the Shoddy pairing of
Sykes and Hooton who turned in a powerful performance by winning in
straight legs to earn an equal share of the spoils. Shodfriars B, playing their second match in the space of
a few days, met Graves Park A whose start to the season has been less than
auspicious. Making his first appearance of the season for Shoddy’s was
No.4 ranked Alan Ashberry who picked up his three matches but was taken the
full distance by Rob Smith. Nick Langley also pushed him hard but
Alan just nicked the final points when it mattered, winning by margins
of 11-5, 12-10, 12-10. It was left to Phil Brooks to pick up the Park’s
first point of the season, beating Roger Hooton in three straight but
Shoddy’s powered on, Sykes beating Brooks an then just getting the edge over
Langley. The Park briefly shone with Smith beating Hooton, but it was all too
momentary. Hooton got his name on the board with a hard-earned win over
Langley. In a damage limitation exercise Smith pulled one back in the
last singles of the night but Park’ agony wasn’ over, Ashberry and Sykes
wrapping up the doubles to guide their team to a 7-3 victory. In the A D Dickinson Division Two it was the
first of the many Park battles that will take place this season,
Graves Park Nomads taking on Graves Park E. This one always looked as
though it was going to be close and so it proved with games swinging to and
fro. The E’s Paul Gilbert was the player in form, winning his singles but
being pushed all the way by Dean Clow. Paul won 5-11, 13-11, 13-11, 10-12,
11-8. Mick Dodes gave him excellent support picking up two beating Tris Clow
and Harry Paul and although leading Dean Clow two sets to nil, he faded badly
to lose the next three and the game. All the Nomads lads knew too much for
Emma Watson and with the doubles deciding the result Dodes and Gilbert
clinched it for the E, beating Clow and Paul 12-10, 11-8, 11-5. Lodgers E played two matches on successive nights with
mixed results, losing 2-8 to a strong Graves Park F team but the
following night beating stablemates Lodgers D 6-4. Lodgers started off
strongly against the Park, Colin Bell comfortably beating Alan Davy. But Kit
Calvert put the Park on level terms with a narrow five-end win over Pete
Bell. The final end was a close call, Kit nicking it 14-12. Barry Frankish
gave the Park the lead, beating young Thomas Bell. His dad Colin Bell
levelled the scores by beating Calvert with some panache. After that, though,
it all went pear-shaped. Davy got his name on the board by picking up two,
while Calvert had his best ever night in the league, adding the scalp of
Thomas Bell to that of Pete Bell. Barry Frankish, who was having an
excellent night, picked up victories against Thomas and Pete Bell but in
the last singles of the night he came up against the experienced Colin Bell.
Despite Barry losing the first 10-12, he bounced back to take the next two
11-9, 11-7. However, Colin levelled the scores in the fourth by winning 11-3.
The deciding leg was all Frankish, Barry storming to a 11-5 win for what will
undoubtedly be one of Colin’s rare defeats of the season. There was no chance
of revenge in the doubles either, star of the night Frankish combining with
Davy storming to an 11-7, 13-11, 11-6 win to steer their team to an 8-2
victory. The all Lodgers clash saw the newly formed E take on the
experienced D team. The D unexpectedly were only able to field two players.
Colin Bell, after his shock defeat at the hands of Barry Frankish the
previous night, proved to hot too handle. Neither David Kime nor Graham
Bonsor knew what to do with him. Pete Bell, although losing, took the
enigmatic Bonsor to five sets but he lost his way against Kime, losing 4-11,
10-12, 0-11, (what a difference a set makes). With the E leading 5-4
(including three walkovers), it was all to play for in the doubles, Colin and
Pete Bell winning the first two ends. Kime and Bonser hit back to snatch the
next two and in a nailbiting finale, the two Bells just clinched it 15-13 to
guide their team to a 6-4 triumph. With some members of both teams being unavailable the
enterprising Shodfriars C team brought forward their match with Graves Park
E. Unfortunately the Park then found they would be a player short on the
re-arranged date but sportingly agreed to play. The Park, knowing that they
could barely afford to drop a game, started off well. Mick Dodes put them on
the board with a four-set victory over Dave Hocking. John Shortland
threw a spanner in the works by beating Paul Gilbert to make the Park’s task
that little bit harder. But it was Dodes who steadied the ship
with another four-setter, beating Paul Maxwell 11-4, 9-11, 11-6,
11-3. Gilbert got his name on the board when brushing aside the
challenge of Hocking, while Dodes completed his hat-trick with yet another
four-setter over Shortland, who might have considered himself unlucky not to
have got something from this one. Gilbert, despite dropping the second leg
against Paul Maxwell, won the next two easily enough and the Park were
looking good. With both teams needing the doubles for different reasons, the
Park pair started off strongly. Gilbert and Dodes ran out 11-6 victors. The
second end was exactly the reverse of the first, the Shoddy pairing of
Hocking and Shortland turning the tables on the Park lads. This signalled a
change of strategy and the game got tighter but it was the Park pair who
nicked the last two at the death winning 13-11, 11-9 to guide the Park to an
excellent 6-4 victory. |
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News for week ending Sunday October 15 The first week of the new table tennis season
went reasonably well, all of the matches being played. But the second week
has so far been disastrous, no less than 50 percent of the scheduled matches
being, for one reason or another, postponed. This tends to throw the league schedule into
confusion. And for one certain team in the Yates and Greenhough Division
One the league will be four weeks old before they hit a ball in
anger. Stickney A and Lodgers B, two teams that are
always closely matched, met. Stickney took an early lead, Paul Hartnett
beating Vic Clements in three sets, while Geoff Bourne extended the lead with
a dour win over Tim Day. Pete Evans reduced the arrears with a four-set win
over Steve Blanchard, comfortably winning the first two legs 11-4, 11-3.
Blanchard hit back to win the third 11-7 but Pete came into the game in the
fourth to ease through 11-5. Geoff Bourne though was in form, narrowly
beating Clements to give Stickney a 3-1 lead. But Evans kept Lodgers in the
hunt coming from 0-2 down against Hartnett to win 3-2, (what on earth was
Paul doing?) Stickney, though, still held sway and it looked as though they
were heading for victory, Blanchard beating Day in four sets. But man of the
match man Evans kept Lodgers in the hunt to defeat the previously unbeaten
Bourne 11-4, 12-14, 11-7, 11-7. Lodgers got on level terms for the first time
in the night when Clements beat Blanchard in a tight five-ender and then they
(Lodgers) took the lead when Day turned in a tremendous performance to beat
Hartnett in five sets From staring defeat in the face, Lodgers were in the
driving seat for the first time but Hartnett and Blanchard dug deep into
their resources, narrowly beating Clements and Evans in the doubles to make
sure of an equal share of the points. It looks as though Lodgers B might become the
draw kings this season, equally sharing the spoils of their second fixture
when they met Shodfriars A. However, Lodgers came up against an in form Jake
the Pegg. Jake followed up his tremendous performance from the previous week,
again winning his three sets. It wasn’t all plain sailing, though, Jake being
taken to five legs by Vic Clements, just scraping home 11-9 in the fifth.
Neil Snaith chipped in with one point, beating Tim Day in another close
five-ender while Maurice Buck just failed to register despite taking Day to
the final end. With Pete Evans and Vic Clements picking up two apiece for
Lodgers and Tim Day chipping in with one, the doubles was going to be vital.
As expected it was a close encounter and although the Lodgers pairing of
Evans and Day took the first leg, the Shoddy’s pair of Pegg and Snaith
gradually got the measure of them, comfortably winning the next three. For the second week in succession, Shodfriars D
failed to turn up for their away fixture against with Lodgers G, the Lodgers
captain phoning the match secretary at approx 8.15pm saying there was no sign
of the opposition. Despite telephone calls no member of the Shoddy’s
team was contactable so Lodgers claimed a 10-0 walkover. Starting the season a week late seems to have
made little difference to last season’s A D Dickinson Division Two runners-up
Graves Park B, thumping Stickney B 10-0. Mike Freeston, despite missing the
second half of last season, showed he has lost none of his form when trimming
up Tim Sampson and Cliff Davey. And after four tight sets with Tony
Hall, Mike won the fifth set at a canter. Mick Maltby had little trouble
with Hall and Davey but he found Sampson a bit of a handful, Mick winning the
first end 11-1, but then going down 8-11, 12-14 and he (Mick) had to
pull out all the stops to win the next two. Dave Graham breezed past Davey
and Sampson but against Hall it was touch and go for the first four, but
Dave’s nerve held firm, effortlessly winning the final end 11-4. The doubles,
although virtually meaningless, was played as though the result depended on
it, Stickney keen prevent the whitewash. Things did not look good, Davey and
Hall losing the first two 3-11, 6-11, to Maltby and Graham. The third end was
something else, and with both sides striving to win for points, the game was
even at 10-all. With points going first one way, then the other it reached
17-17 before the deadlock was broken, the Park pair nicking a couple of
points on the trot to wrap up the game 19-17 to earn their team 10 valuable
points. Graves Park D in their first match of the season
picked up a narrow 6-4 victory which had a touch of fortune about it, their
opponents Shodfriars C only managing to field two players. Rolling back the
years and making his debut for the Park, was veteran John Beaumont who
although looking a bit rusty and failing to win, it will not be long before
he regains his form. The Park’s two regulars, Paul Matschull and Dave Walters
picked up one each, Paul beating John Shortland while Dave overcame the
challenge of Paul Maxwell. With three walkovers the Park held a slender lead and
at two legs down in the doubles a draw looked to be on the agenda. However
Walters and Matschull delved into their reserves pulling the game out of the
bag narrowly winning the next three ends to give the Park a narrow victory. Penmaen B started off their season
inauspiciously, only having one player when they met Graves Park
Nomads. The Park players, however, could do nothing with Sasha Martin,
the youngster winning his singles, beating Dean Clow and Harry Paul in four
but being a bit lucky to beat Dean Clow 13-11 in the final end. However, with
only one player Nomads claimed the remaining singles and doubles games. |
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News for week ending Sunday October 8 The Boston and District Table Tennis Season began
its 2006-2007 campaign in traditional fashion — one team not turning up for
their fixture, while another team only turned out with one player. However,
most of the matches were played, defending champions Penmaen A starting off
their campaign in style humbling Graves Park A 10-0. It probably wasn’t as
clear-cut as the score suggests, however, with Rob Smith putting up a
spirited resistance for the Park before narrowly losing in the fifth set to
both Jim Brewster and Andy Gilbert. That’s got the “easy one” out of the
way Rob! The only way is up. Newly promoted Shodfriars D were the Mayflower B
team last year but were forced to find a new home. They originally elected to
use Lodgers from where to play their home matches. However, as only one of
the team has transport and they thought they might have problems getting to
Wrangle for home matches and decided to ask if they could play at Shodfriars.
This was accepted. It would seem that this system doesn’t work
either as they failed to put in an appearance when they met club-mates
Shodfriars B in their Yates and Greenhough Division One match. As
there was no sign of the opposition arriving by 8pm, acting captain Scott
Sykes phoned Greg Pacho, the captain of Shodfriars B. He explained that he
knew there was a match but as he was working, he would be late. But as far as
he was concerned the other two players should be there. At 8.45pm there
was still no sign, so Shodfriars B duly claimed the match 10-0. Shodfriars A might have thought that the fixture
list was unkind to them when their first match saw them pitted against
Lodgers G, who were runners-up last season. Jake the Pegg got Shoddys off to
a fine start when beating Andy Kirk in a five-set thriller. But new signing
Mark Hulme levelled the score, though not without a fight from Neil Snaith.
Kelvin Clements made short work of Maurice Buck and it looked as though
Lodgers were going to take control. But Neil Snaith in his clash with Andy
Kirk ensured that the score remained level. Neil, despite losing the first end
7-11 and the third leg 6-11, saw the impetus appearing to be in Lodgers’
favour. But a concerted effort by Neil in the remaining two ends saw him
overcome Kirk 11-7, 11-3. The contest of the night saw Jake take on No.3
ranked Clements, Jake nicking the first end 12-10. Kelvin comfortably
strolled the next two winning 11-6, 11-5 but Jake took the game to the
decider winning the fourth 11-9. The final set was a tense affair but
Jake took command to inflict upon Kelvin what will be one of his rare defeats.
Lodgers, not used to being behind, immediately hit back. Hulme beat Buck in a
game that swung all over the place and it wasn’t until the fourth end that
the game edged Lodgers’ way. Lodgers at last looked as though were going
to take control winning the next two, Clements making light of the challenge
by Snaith, while Kirk got his name on the board when beating Buck in three
straight sets. However, Jake put Shoddys back in the frame with a good win
over Hulme and then combined with Snaith to beat Kirk and Clements in a tight
doubles encounter to ensure an equal share of the points. The A D Dickinson Division Two promises to
be a tight league, the first match of the season bringing together two of
last season’s strugglers, Pilgrim (now Graves Park F), and Stickney B. The
Park got away to a flying start. Alan Davy beat Cliff Davey in straight legs,
while Fred Calvert — despite losing the first end to Tim Sampson — picked up
the next three. Stickney fought back, Tony Hall comfortably beating Kit
Calvert. But in the next game Fred Calvert extended the Stickney lead to 3-1
with a good win over Davey. After a pre-half time pep talk from acting
captain Cliff, Stickney were a different proposition. Hall made short
work of Alan Davy, while Sampson put them on level terms with a nervous win
over Kit Calvert. Hall kept the Stickney bandwagon rolling with a victory
over Fred Calvert, thus completing his hat-trick. Cliff Davey made sure of at
least an equal share of the points with a scratchy win over Calvert junior. The
Park kept their faint hoped alive with Alan Davy who, after losing the first
two sets and staring defeat in the face, astonishingly turned this round to
win the next three by beating Sampson. But the Park’s faint hopes of securing
a draw were dashed, Hall and Cliff Davey beating Fred Calvert and Alan Davey
11-9, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9 for to 6-4 victory. Graves Park E who last season played as Mayflower
C, got their season off to a reasonable start, playing new team on the
block Lodgers E. Colin Bell (surely he must be a candidate for No.1), who
spent last season playing for Lodgers in the first division, knew too much
for the Park team every game being over in straight legs. Despite Paul
Gilbert running him close in a couple of ends, the result was never in doubt. Pete
Bell, who last played in the league more than 20 years ago, looked a bit
rusty when losing his singles. And although taking Emma Watson to five
sets, he lost the final end 0-11. Thomas Bell (Colin’s son) playing his
first game in the league, turned in a good performance. And although not
gaining any rewards, he didn’t disgrace himself in any way. Time will tell,
though, but come Christmas he should be picking up the odd game. The doubles
which, on paper, looked to be a close game comfortably swung the Park’s way,
Mick Dodes and Paul Gilbert easing home 11-7, 11-9, 11-3 for a 7-3 team
victory. The early pacesetters in the this division
are Wrangle who visited next door neighbours Lodgers D and came away with a
9-1 victory. However, Lodgers could only field two players. But nothing
should be taken away from Wrangle, who may still have recorded a 9-1 win had
Lodgers had a full team. Graham Bonsor, despite all his games going to four
sets, had nothing to show for his efforts. David Kime, despite working hard,
went down in the final sets to both Dave Coulson and Sam Cooper. Lodgers’
sole crumb of comfort came in the last game of the evening, Kime getting
Lodgers on the board when easing home 11-5, 11-7, 11-9 against Dennis
Pattrick. Would all team captains in Division Two please
note that Penmaen B have now changed their home fixtures to Wednesday night. |
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