Plymouth and District Table Tennis Club

W/C 01/05/23 HANDICAP CUP FINAL

Congratulations go to Chaddlewood A and their sponsors Molyneux Associates for winning the Handicap Cup over Astor A, both of Div One.

Chaddy (Tony Sweet, Glyn Price and Sam Bruty) had to overcome a handicap of 111 points awarded to Astor (Steve Cookson, Steve Garlick and Tony Maestri) and gain more overall points then their opponents over 9 games of singles and one game of doubles with each game consisting of 2 games of 25 points. This meant Astor could only just afford to lose by about 10 points per match.

Chaddy reached the final by beating Astor D, Shopfitting By SWS B, Shopfitting By SWS A and Woodland Fort C, whilst Astor beat Crafthole B, Chaddy C, Woodland Fort A and Astor E.

Top player in the league, Sweet, started slowly beating Cookson 25-19 in the first end but with the score 2-a-piece in the second end won the next 15 points and only conceded 2 to eventually win by 25-10 thus clawing back the points. Price then stepped up to continue their good fortunes beating Garlick 25-20, 25-13.

Maestri then just managed a victory over defender Bruty with some vicious smashes winning the match by one point 25-17, 18-25.

More damage was inflicted on Astor when Sweet got the better of left-hander Maestri albeit at 7 each the game looked to be fairly even only for Sweet to prove his ability to read the game and take control by reaching 22-9 and then finally 25-12 in the first end, and then by 25 16 in the second.

The next two matches saw Bruty and Price both beat their opponents Garlick and Cookson respectively by 50-32 and at the end of these matches Chaddy took the lead by a solitary point, with two matches to play. Sweet then took his maximum beating Garlick by 25-8 and 25-11 although there were some outstanding shots and retrieving by both players.

With a lead of 32 points now, Chaddy almost had the Cup in their hands only needing 19 points from the doubles match. Unfortunately Chaddy’s fourth player Garry Reed was injured as he was intending to play in the doubles. However, Price and Sweet, both winning maximums from their singles play, took on Maestri and Cookson who really had a task on their hands to prevent the defeat. With Chaddy winning the first end 25-17 they were on the cusp of victory and duly won the second end by the same score and the overall match by 490-442 points.

Congratulations go to all the players for a brilliant competitive final played in Great Spirit by both teams.

The Plymouth & District Table Tennis Club would like to thank all players for competing this season and look forward to seeing them again next season along with any new players and teams.

Other Handicap match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 1 Shopfitting By SWS C 432 v 408 Shopfitting By SWS B

Div 2 Lee Mill 411 v 413 Woodland Fort A

Div 2 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D 421 v 479 Astor D

Div 3 Crafthole 384 v 389 Woodland Fort C

W/C 24/04/23 HANDICAP LEAGUE

With a the largest handicap available (140 points) between top and bottom teams of Div One, bottom team Shopfitting By SWS C (Colin Mitcxhell, Steve Foster and Bryn Ford) inflicted a first defeat of the season on the top team Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A (Tony Sweet, Garry Reed and Sam Bruty). The first match didn’t go well for Mitchell losing to Sweet 10-25, 8-25 and in fact Sweet only lost 62 points throughout his three matches and gained a maximum. As the match progressed Chaddy clearly were clawing back the points slowly and after the eighth match took the lead by just two points (399-397). With the final match Mitchell took on Reed, who was on for a maximum, but surprisingly Mitchell won the first end 25-23 to level the overall match and then went on to defeat Reed 25-17, thus winning the match for Chaddy 447-439.

An alround great performance from Shopfitting By SWS B (Gary West, Mike Briggs and John Palmer) saw them defeat Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B 433-400 even though Chaddy had a 108 handicap. In the match Briggs gained a maximum backed up closely with West 145 and Palmer 138.

In Div Two, Astor C (Martin Fowler, Bob Vella and Trevor Mole) had a slender 12 point handicap over visitors Lee Mill (Richard Smaridge, Anne Warren and Wendy Roberts) and no single player achieved a maximum although Smaridge came closest but lost one end to Fowler 22-25. The match between Vella and Warren ended all square 46-46 but Vella came unstuck when playing Smaridge and lost 19-50 which was his team’s lowest points for any match. With the games swaying both ways Astor held on to the lead all evening and match finished 395-375.

Again there were no maximums won in the match between Astor B (+13) and Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D who had Mike Chapple playing up from Div 3. Astor’s Chris Tucker secured 143 points and Chaddy’s Steve Tyler won 141 points and when the two players met Tyler won the first end 25-18 but suffered a loss in the second end 23-25. Chapple did manage a draw against Tony Powlesland 47-47.

Astor D (+131) (Steve Harvey, Andy Watmore and Nick May) seem to be loving the handicap system with another win this time over Woodland Fort A (Brian Luscombe, Jon Goldfield and Norman Hall) 479-438. Fort almost claimed maximum points but it was the handicap that did most of the damage despite Harvey beating Goodfield 25-20, 24-25.

Astor E (Bob Steele, Dave Harding and Rob Jenkins) made the trip to Horrabridge (Crispin Jordan, David Wilson and John Cook) with a 12 point handicap and throughout the evening all the matches were close encounters. It wasn’t until the sixth match that Horrabridge took the lead, albeit with a single point, only for Astor to regain the lead by eight points when Jenkins beat Wilson 49-40. Steele then defeated Cook 50-39 and lead by 16 points overall. However Jordan made the game a whole lost closer beating Harding 25-14 in the first end and needing to keep Harding to below 17 to win the match. By only beating Harding 25-19 in the final end, this meant Horrabridge lost by just two points 400-402.

Crafthole C (+17) fielded a strong team in Mike Wood, Trevor Luckhurst and Ryan Taylor and defeated Ivybridge 433-354.

Other Handicap match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 1 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C 415 v 345 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B

Div 1 Shopfitting By SWS 412 v 421 Astor A

Div 2 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D 417 v 396 Woodland Fort B

Div 3 Horrabridge 411 v 388 Crafthole C

Div 3 Astor F (2 players ) 196 v 450 Ivybridge A

Div 3 Ivybridge A 391 v 419 Astor F

W/C 17/04/23 HANDICAP LEAGUE

With a handicap of only 12, to Div One Astor A, this promised to be a very close match when they played Crafthole A. The evening started with Astor’s Steve Cookson playing his brother, Mike. The entire set was played point for point with no player getting more than 2 points ahead at any stage of the set, Mike Cookson finally edging the result 25-23, 25-23. With Steve Garlick taking a lead over Crafthole’s Iain Oxenham 50-34, Astor looked to have the upper hand with the next couple of sets increasing their lead slightly; however Shirley Luckhurst then pinned Garlick down with a heavy defensive game, taking the set 50-25 to take Crafthole back to their initial starting position of being 12 points down. This points difference remained between the teams as Steve Cookson went into the final set against Luckhurst, with Astor eventually running out 417-410 winners, the final result reflecting the highly competitive evening.

Mathias Aboudou of Shopfitting By SWS A had a shoulder injury but managed to partner Dan Kayes and Jan Walaszkowski, who missed their previous match, and took on their C Club mates (Colin Mitchell, Steve Foster and Bryn Ford) and had to give them a 75 point handicap. Without his normal attacking top spin and smashing game, Aboudou lost to Mitchell 17-25, 12-25 and this proved to be the C teams only win of the evening. Kayes turned out to be the man of the match taking the only maximum closely followed by Walaszkowski (146) and helping their team win 425-404.

A cracking entertaining evening ensued when Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C (+22) (John Steuart, Steve Hill and Travis Foster) turned up to play Shopfitting By SWS B (Gary West, Mike Briggs and John Palmer) but it was Foster who stole the show with a fantastic maximum from some ridiculously perfect top spin shots, only conceding 76 points in his three matches to secure his team a 400-356 win.

Leaders Chaddy A (Tony Sweet, Sam Bruty and Glyn Price) had little trouble beating their B team Club mates despite having to give them a 108 handicap. Defender Steve Hugh won the only match for the B team beating Bruty 50-35 but the A team won 435-396.

Due to postponements only one match was played in Div Two and this was between Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D (+40) and Crafthole B. Crafthole had young Holly Davis on form securing a maximum and only conceding 81 points all evening. This was closely followed by her team mates Martin Hynes and Anthony Shapland winning 141 and 139 points respectively. Chaddy’s improving player, Jake Neilson did manage to beat Shapland however by 47-46 and then only just lost out to Hynes 44-45. The final score saw Crafthole win 430-363.

Leaders of Div Three, Woodland Fort C (Graham Cooksley, Ralph Stone, Glenn Delaney, didn’t drop a point all match when playing Ivybridge B. Chris Collings came closest winning 41 points against Cooksley but apart from this Fort just proved too strong and now should be looking forward to playing in Div Two next season.

With a small handicap of 15 points Astor E versus Woodland Fort D was always going to be a close encounter and with the final score being 385-365 to Astor proved the handicap was almost perfect. Fort’s Nigel Aston only lost one point all evening to Rob Jenkins. Fort’s Pete Andrews only lost five points all evening and this was against Dave Harding who won the match 49-45.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E travelled to Crafthole C and came away with a win 430-355 thanks to a maximum from Adam Forshaw, 145 from Mike Chapple and 135 from Ben Kelsey. Despite the individual high score the evening didn’t start to well for Chaddy as Kelsey lost to Trevor Luckhurst but after that Chaddy took command of the matches.

Other Handicap match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 2 Astor B 447 v 386 Crafthole B

Div 3 Woodland Fort C 450 v 207 Astor F (Two players only)

W/C 10/04/23 HANDICAP LEAGUE and SEMI FINAL

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A (Tony Swet, Sam Bruty and Garry Reed) are the current leaders of Div One in the Handicap League after a victory over Shopfitting By SWS A (+65) who had to call on a reserve player on the day of the match. Mathius Aboudou did his utmost to thwart the leaders beating Reed 25-24, 25-21 but after beating Sweet 25-21 in the first end Sweet upped his game to convincingly win 25-12. Bouncing back, Aboudou then beat Bruty 25-24, 25-15, but despite his performance his team lost 410-421.

Another close encounter in Div One saw Shopfitting By SWS C (+46) (Steve Foster, Colin Mitchell, Bryn Ford) and Astor A (Steve Garlick, Steve Cookson and Tony Maestri) fight it out. With no maximums for any individual player the matches ebbed both ways throughout the evening. Garlick beat Foster 50-37 and then Mitchell dwon 25-19 against Cookson only to lose the second end 21-25. Meastri then added 50 points to his teams total beating Ford 25-20, 25-12. With Mitchell then beating Garlick 50-31 SWS had 211 points to Astor’s 175 points. From that point onwards Astor won all the remaining matches and with Meastri taking a total of 146 point for his team ran out 419-399 winners.

Continuing with close matches, Div Two Astor C (Martin Fowler, Bob Vella and Trevor Mole) played their Club mates from the B team (Chris Tucker, Tony Powlesland and Les Cole). With the C team starting with a 37 point handicap they never looked back despite their opponents gradually clawing back the points. Again, no single player secured their maximum but Mole managed 148 for his team and Cole 144 with Mole winning the match between the pair 25-24, 25-20. Mole only lost his 2 points to Tucker in a very close match with Tucker victorious 49-48.

Another club match saw Woodland Fort A and B playing each other. With a bit of a gulf between the two teams Fort A (Brian Luscombe, Jon Goodfield and Norman Hall) had to give their club mates (Mike Willis, Richard Searle and Dave Wyatt) a 103 point handicap. Goldfield and Luscombe won all their matches with maximums and Hall claimed 142 points and with these scores never lost an individual game all evening eventually winning 442-380.

There was a rearranged Handicap Cup Semi Final played between Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A top of Div One and and top of Div Three Woodland Fort C (Graham Cooksley, Ralph Stone and Glenn Delaney) who had a 280 point handicap. Despite the gulf in Divisions and the massive handicap Chaddy controlled the matches keeping Fort to low scores with Sweet defeating Delaney 25-5, 25-2, Cooksley 25-5, 25-8 and Stone 25-7, 25-9. Fort’s best performance came from Stone who manged to score 36 points against Reed (25-20, 25-16) but with a brave fight Fort still lost 470-500.

Other Handicap match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 2 Lee Mill 439 v 366 Crafthole B

Div 3 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E 423 v 367 Ivybridge B

Div 3 Woodland Fort D 398 v 271 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E (Two players only)

Div 3 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E (Adam Forshaw 150) 435 v 365 Horrabridge

W/C 03/04/23 HANDICAP LEAGUE

Div One Shopfitting By SWS A (Dan Kayes, Mathias Aboudou and Jan Walaszkowski) almost scored maximum points in their match against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B (+43) with only Kayes missing out on a maximum by just four points and this was against Chris Dunn who actually beat Kayes 25-21, 24-25 (49-46). Apart from this win all the other matches were won convincingly by SWS who ran out 446-353 winners.

SWS’s B team (Gary West, John Palmer and Mike Briggs) took on visitors Crafthole A (+39) who at the last minute had to call on Div Two Player Martin Hynes after Iain Oxenham fell ill just before the match. Hynes, who hopes to play in Div One next season, did his very best scoring 36 against West and 33 against Palmer but when he played Briggs there was a difference in styles and percentage returns which favoured Briggs 50-23. With only a 39 point handicap, Crafthole would struggle without their usual player and lost 425-383.

A very closely handicapped match between Astor A (Steve Cookson, Steve Garlick and Tony Maestri) (+94) and Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A (Garry Reed, Sam Bruty and Glyn Price) finished with 8 points between the two teams at the end 422-430 in favour of Chaddy. Reed did a lot of damage with his service, which, even if returned in play, was followed up with a fairly devastating loop. Maestri was struggling with his game as he'd been playing tennis during the day and couldn't get the feel for the lighter ball Both Price and Reed claimed maximums during the match. With the match being very close the two teams could end up playing each other in the Handicap Cup Final in about a month’s time and it could be a cracker!

Astor B (Tony Powlesland, Chris Tucker and John Turner) of Div Two achieved their 450 total thanks to the handicap of 44 points but an underperforming Woodland Fort A (Brian Luscombe, Jon Goldfield and Norman Hall) all struggled against the left hander Tucker hitting a maximum with some great top spin smashes. The match against Powlesland and Hall finished all square 24-25, 25-24 but at no stage during the evening did Astor look like losing the match.

In Div Three Crafthole C (Trevor Luckhurst, Mike Kinger and Ryan Taylor) (+29) lost heavily to Woodland Fort D (Pete Andrews, Barry Oliver and Nigel Aston) 319-434 with Fort winning convincingly especially with Aston taking a maximum 150 points. The match started with Luckhurst beating Andrews 49-45 but then Fort won the next six matches to take a control of the match and finish winners.

Other Divisional match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 1 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B 6 v 4 Shopfitting By SWS C (mutually agreed adjudication)

Div 1 Shopfitting By SWS C 4 v 6 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C (Travis Foster 3)

W/C 27/03/23 VARIOUS MATCHES

This week the Handicap Cup Semi-Finals should have taken place along with some postponed matches but due to circumstances one of the

semi-finals had to be postponed to a later date. However, the other semi-final match was played.

Astor A, of Div One, had to play their club mates from Div Three, Astor E, and going in to the derby match had to give the E team 219 points start and they knew they had to fight for every point, needing to keep their opponents to an average of 28 points each set to stand any chance of winning. However the E team were missing their averages player Ken Chambers, who had had an eye operation, calling on Rob Jenkins who has only played one game this season. The evening started with a fairly even match, as Bob Steele almost made his required total against Steve Cookson, but then the points started slipping away from the E team, with Steve Garlick keeping Dave Harding to just 17 points in the next set. By the 8th set, the A side had managed to claw back the handicap to within 3 points, despite some excellent play from Jenkins who caused all 3 of the A team difficulty during the match. As the match went into the doubles, the A team needed just 25 points to secure the win, which they did with an overall match score of 500 vs 451. Tony Maestri was the inform player for the A team, conceding just 64 points over the evening.

In Div Two there was a league match between Woodland Fort B and Astor C with Fort calling on Glenn Delaney to play up from Div Three and he certainly didn’t disappoint by taking 2 of the 3 points Fort won in their 3-7 lose. Delaney lost his only match to Bob Vella 9-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6, 5-11 but then beat Trevor Mole in five games and Martin Fowler in straight games. With Vella on a maximum he just lost out in a fifth end tie-break to Mike Willis 8-11, 11-4, 12-10, 5-11, 12-14.

Another league match saw Div One teams Shopfitting By SWS C take on Crafthole A and with Crafthole’s Mike Cookson getting his first maximum of the season, Crafthole ran out 6-4 winners, although he did have a strange game against Steve Foster. After romping home in the first end 11-1 Foster won the next two ends 11-7, 11-7. But with some resilience Cookson won the next two ends 11-9 and 11-6.

In the Handicap League there was a nail biting close finish between Lee Mill (Richard Smaridge, Wendy Roberts and Mark Chapman) and Woodland Fort B (Mike Willis, Richard Searle and Abel Hernandez). Fort had the initial advantage with a 34 point start but this was almost wiped out with Smaridge beating Willis 50-20. Throughout the following matches Fort held only to their lead and just before the final match they lead 373-347. Then the wheels came off with Willis and Searle being heavily defeated by Chapman and Smaridge 50-23 thus resulting in the narrowest of wins to the Millers by 397-396, wow!

Horrabridge had only a 3 point handicap over visitors Woodland Fort D but were always in control of the overall match despite Fort’s Nigel Aston doing his best and wining 142 points from a possible 150. Horrabridge finally winning 403-374.

Astor F, again with only two players (Jewel Vittle and Kieran Mcgarry) lost their match 203-450 to Astor E.

W/C 20/03/23 HANDICAP LEAGUE

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C (Shaun Gilbert, Steve Hill and Travis Foster) made the journey to Crafthole A (Iain Oxenham, Shirley Luckhurst and Mike Cookson) for their Div One match this week and had to give Crafthole a 17 handicap. Gilbert took on Oxenham in the first match and won 50-37 reducing Crafthole’s lead to just 4 points. Luckhurst then just managed to beat Hill 50-47 but then Foster caught Cookson cold and beat him 50-21 giving Chaddy a 22 point lead which they never looked back from. Gilbert managed to defeat Luckhurst 25-21 in the first end of their match but Luckhurst returned to the table and managed to beat Gilbert by the same score, thus drawing the game. Throughout the whole evening both team won four matches with one drawn but with more points gained per match Chaddy ran out winners 403-378 with Foster gaining maximum points.

In Div Two there was a close finish when Astor D +62 (Steve Harvey, Andy Watmore and Nick May hosted Lee Mill (Richard Smaridge 150, Ann Warren and Mark Chapman 146). The first game saw Smaridge beat Harvey 50-33 to reduce Astor’s lead but then Watmore beat Warren 50-27 to recover the space between the two teams. Chapman then beat May 50-40 and Smaridge again achieved a win beating Watmore 50-41. The next three matches were all fairly even but then Smaridge did his team a big favour beating Nick May 25-9, 25-9 reducing Astor’s lead to just 11 points. The last game saw Warren beat Harvey 25-10 in the first end to give the lead to the Millers for the first time in the match but Harvey fought back and managed to defeat Warren 25-17 and win the overall match 414-410.

Crafthole B had to give visitors Woodland Fort B a massive 112 points handicap and throughout the match couldn’t claw back enough points despite a brave effort from Martin Wilcox (141) only losing to Abel Hernandez 18-25, 23-25. Hernandez was involved in a close match whilst playing Anthony Shapland and just won 43-40 (25-15, 18-25). The final score, probably due to the help of the handicap, was in favour of Fort winning 487-401.

Current leaders of Div Three Woodland Fort C (Graham Cooksley, Ralph Stone and Glenn Delaney) had to give Astor E a handicap of 60 points but with a match full of dominance by Fort, Astor (Bob Steele, Richard Avent and Ken Chambers) suffered a loss of 334-445. Only Cooksley suffered an end defeat to Chambers 25-20.

Ian Reed of Ivybridge A secured a maximum for his team in beating Crafthole C (+33) and in one match managed to beat Mike Kinger 25-7, 25-7. However as the evening went on Kinger warmed to the matches as he lost again to Alan Davis 25-12, 25-17 but then against Jeremy Wilcox, Kinger eventually found his game winning 25-12, 25-21

W/C 06/03/23 HANDICAP LEAGUE

Div One Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A took on their club mates from the C team and had to give them a 65 point handicap and Garry Reed took a maximum 150 points for the A team with Sam Bruty scoring 147 and Glyn Price 143 for their total of 440 points. Shaun Gilbert (137), who played extremely well for the C team but despite this his team only scored 390 points.

Mathias Aboudou signed for Shopfitting By SWS A this week and the French player was the top scoring player securing 137 points against his B team club mates. He narrowly lost his first match to Gary West 44-45 but then beat Mike Briggs 43-40 and John Palmer 50-25. A great enjoyable evening of table tennis finish 411-368 to the A team.

Crafthole A had only two players with a mix up of fixture nights and also they had to call on Div Two Rui Barreto (135) to cover for Shirley Luckhurst. With only two players and having to give Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B 26 points handicap they were never going to win this match but despite this it all came down to individual player pride. Barreto started with a defeat to defender Steve Hugh 37-45 but then went on to defeat Chris Dunn 50-26 and Chris Dyson 48-44. Chaddy went on to win 420-258.

There was only one match in Div Two and this was between Astor D (+87) and their B team club mates. With some great duels and with the B team winning 6 of the matches they could not claw back the handicap and lost by 41 points (446-405). John Turner of the B team managed a maximum and Chris Tucker 143 points during the match.

With only a 12 point handicap in favour of Ivybridge B against Woodland Fort D this looked like it was always going to be a close match and it didn’t disappoint. Young Toby Spencer of Ivybridge suffered a big defeat in his first match to experienced Nigel Aston losing 2-25, 7-25 but his head didn’t drop and he won his next match against John Cobbledick 25-22, 25-18. Just before the final match Ivybridge had a slender 5 point lead but with Aston securing his maximum and beating Tom Pearson 25-16, 25-16 Fort won 366-353.

Ivybridge A had no problem beating an understrength Horrabridge but only Ian Reed took a maximum for Ivy. The very first match was the closest encounter of the evening with two 25-24 wins for Alan Davis over Crispin Jordan. Then Ivy’s Jermey Willcox lost to David Wilson 18-25, 14-25 but after that it was Ivybridge who stamped their authority on the match winnig 421-319.

Woodland Fort C fielded their strongest team against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E (+59) and the final result showed this as Fort ran away 433-386 winners. Ralph Stone won 150 points, Graham Cooksley 149 Points, only losing to Mike Chapple 24-25, and Glen Delaney won 134 points leaving Fort leaders of Div Three at present by 66 points.

Unfortunately Crafthole C travelled to Astor F only to find Astor only had one player available and had to concede the match to Crafthole. Since they had travelled some distance all the players had a fun evening playing each other in friendly matches, showing Great Spirit throughout.

Other Divisional match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 2 Crafthole B 7 (Rui Barreto 3) v 3 Woodland Fort A

W/C 20/02/23 HANDICAP LEAGUE

The Handicap League continued this week were every single point counts towards the total team score.

Div One Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C had injury problems but could call on Travis Foster to step in against Shopfitting By SWS A and he didn’t disappoint winning 140 points from a 150 maximum. The match started from scratch with neither team receiving a handicap so was always going to be very close and the final score of 397 – 385 to Chaddy proved this in a very entertaining match with some fantastic table tennis from all players.

Mike Cookson of Crafthole A scored a maximum 150 points and along with Shirley Luckhurst’s 137 and Iain Oxenham’s 136 points defeated Shopfitting By SWS C 423-393 despite having to give SWS a 58 point start.

The tightest match in this division saw Astor A (+51) just beat Shopfitting By SWS B by 397-393. However none of the Astor players could stop Gary West and Mike Briggs from gaining maximums, but with John Palmer only managing 93 points this gave the slim victory to Astor.

The only result in Div Two saw Astor B overcome a handicap deficit of 25 points whilst playing visitors Lee Mill. After the third game Astor had managed to claw back the handicap and were only losing by the solitary point. The up stepped Richard Smaridge of the Millers and after he defeated Tony Powlesland the gap was 18 points. After the sixth match the teams were level only for Mark Chapman to open up another lead of 21 points again beating Powlesland. This was slightly reduced when Chris Tucker defeated Smaridge 48-37 and with the millers now only leading by 10 points the final game would decide the match. Astor’s John Turner was just too strong for Ann Warren and with a 25-9, 25-19 win eventually secured a 391-379 win for his team.

There has been no brakes for Div Three Astor F (+81) this season as they have mainly played all their matches with only two players and again with only two players in the handicap league they had lost 150 points before they had started the match against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E The final score being 450-177. Despite only having two players Jewel Vittle and Keiran McGarry turn up every week to their credit. Anyone wishing to join and play should contact the club for more information.

Woodland Fort D had a small 4 point handicap over Ivybridge A but this was nowhere near enough to overcome Ivy despite the higher scoring Nigel Aston (146) putting in a brave effort for his team. Ivy’s Ian Reed also secured 146 points and in his match against Aston they could not be separated as the score finished 25-21, 21-25. Ivy took the victory 387 to 332.

Astor E travelled across the Tamar to Crafthole C and had to give them only a 14 point handicap and with a great performance from Dave Harding (150) and Ken Chambers (148) backed up by Bob Steele (130) won 428-344.

Other Divisional match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 1: Shopfitting By SWS A 9 V 1 Shopfitting By SWS C

Div 3 HL: Woodland Fort C 404 v 368 Woodland Fort D

W/C 13/02/23 (HANDICAP LEAGUE)

The Handicap League started this week were every single point counts towards the total team score and with nine games of singles to be played there is 450 points on offer plus the handicaps.

Div One Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A continued their winning ways from the standard league after given Crafthole A +82 and won 425-410 with Tony Sweet picking up maximum points for Chaddy. A special mention goes to Crafthole’s Mike Cookson who played especially well against Glyn Price and Garry Reed in two closely contested matches. Also Reed did well to come back from the disappointment of breaking his bat in his first match against Ian Oxenham but maintained his composure whilst playing with Price's spare to clinch the match against Shirley Luckhurst in the deciding game.

Astor A +29 (Steve Garlick, Steve Cookson and Tony Maestri) got the better of Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C despite the Chaddy players only dropping one point in the first three matches and went on to win 444-390 in a great evening of table tennis and banter. The top player being Maestri winning 146 points.

Shopfitting By SWS C were given a 34 handicap start against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B but really didn’t require the handicap to beat Chaddy 424-379. Despite his low league averages, SWS’s Bryn Ford was the top player earning his team 143 points and beating Chris Dunn 25-18, 25-14.

The top two teams in Div two met with Woodland Fort A having only a slight 9 point handicap against rivals Crafthole B. After the first game, Crafthole had already levelled the match with Rui Barreto beating Brian Luscombe 25-21, 25-20. After the fourth game Fort lead by 3 points but with Barreto beating Norman Hall 25-17, 25-20 and Crafthole now lead by 10 points (227-217). Things changed again and after the eighth game it was Fort who were leading again but by only 3 points. Up stepped Barreto to play Jon Goodfield and with a 21-25, 25-12 score line Crafthole won the match by just 6 points 401-395.

Trevor Mole of Astor C dropped only 2 points all evening and this helped his team to a 421-409 victory over Astor D (+50). He was backed up by team mates Martin Fowler (139) and Bob Vella (134).

Chris Tucker took 147 points for his team Astor B when they visited Woodland Fort B who had a 59 point start and with this handicap kept the lead throughout the evening and eventually won 437-395. Fort’s Abel Hernandez struggled against Tucker in the first match and lost 38-47 but went on to win both his remaining games.

It was the battle of the Bridge in Div Three as Ivybridge A and B met with the B team having a 16 point handicap. Ivy’s Ian Reed took a fine maximum and only conceded 92 points, this was backed up by Alan Davis taking 136 points thus helping their team to a 396-375 victory.

When Astor E entertained Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E there was only a solitary point start for Astor so basically it was all to play for both teams. It was Chaddy who took the early ground after 6 matches, but, after losing the last three games eventually came out second best 396-381. The top player was Astor’s Richard Avent taking 141 points, followed by his team mate Robbie Jenkins 134.

Other Divisional match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 1: Shopfitting By SWS B (Mike Briggs 3) 6 V 4 Shopfitting By SWS A

Div 1: Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A (Tony Sweet 3) 6 v 4 Shopfitting By SWS B

Div 3: Astor F 2 v 7 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E - (only 2 players each team)

W/C 06/02/23

This should have been the final week of the main league season before heading into the handicap league but with many postponements some matches in all division still have to be played.

One thing in Div One is certain and that the winners Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) have romped home to the title and with another whitewash victory, this time over bottom team Shopfitting By SWS C, have proved unstoppable. Colin Mitchell put up the only real resistance coming close to beating Sam Bruty but fell at the last end 5-11, 9-11, 119, 11-5, 7-11.There were in fact 7 tie-breaks during the matches and everyone went the way of the champions.

Shopfitting By SWS B did much better than their team mates beating Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B 9-1 with Steve Hugh saving the whitewash defeating John Palmer. The match started with some very close games; Gary West beat Hugh in four ends, Palmer beat Chris Dunn in five ends and Mike Briggs defeated Chris Dyson in five ends. It was after that the wheels came off for Chaddy only winning one more end out of 21 played.

The spoils were shared between Crafthole A and Shopfitting By SWS A but it was Shirley Luckhurst who came away with the only maximum of the evening although SWS’s Darbz Allen pushed her all the way losing out on a couple of tie-breaks 12-14, 11-7, 11-7, 11-13, 7-11. The doubles match also proved to be a great game with Allen partnering Dan Kayes and getting some revenge over Luckhurst and Mike Cookson by beating them 11-4, 12-14, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9.

Norman Hall of current leaders Woodland Fort A had a much better second half of the season winning 12 of his matches compared to only 7 in the first half and he took a maximum along with Jon Goodfield in their 9-1 victory over bottom side Astor D. Surprisingly it was Andy Watmore who saved his teams whitewash beating Brian Luscombe 12-10, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7.

Trevor Mole (Astor C) inflicted Richard Smaridge’s (Lee Mill) second defeat of the whole season 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8 and secured his maximum along with a 7-3 team victory.

There were some strange games going on between Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D and Astor B as Chaddy’s Steve Tyler beat John Turner 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 and then lost to left hander Chris Tucker 9-11, 8-11, 8-11 as all these three players are in the ‘Averages’ as the division top players. Despite these fortunes no-one came away with a maximum and Astor won the last three matches to secure a 6-4 victory.

Winners of Div Three Woodland Fort C (Ralph Stone 3, Glenn Delaney 3) almost had a 10 nil victory over Ivybridge A but it was thwarted by Alan Davis who beat Barrie Oliver 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 8-11, 12-10.

Young Toby Spencer of Ivybridge B continues to improve and beat Pete Nicholson 13-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 and he just missed out by a fifth end tie-break to Mike Kinger 11-7, 10-12, 11-4, 4-11, 10-12 but despite this Ivybridge (Chris Collings 3, Alan Spencer 3) came away with a 8-2 win.

Ken Chambers, Astor E, was the top man in the match against Horrabridge taking a fine maximum but unfortunately he was still on the losing side as he partnered Dave Harding for the doubles and although they started well and went 2 nil up, lost the set and the match 4-6.

Due to illness bottom of the table Astor F had to cancel their match against Woodland Fort D and the adjudication went in the favour of Fort 10 nil.

Other Divisional match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 2: Woodland Fort B 4 v 6 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D, Steve Tyler 3.

W/C 30/01/23

With only a few weeks of the standard league season remaining Div One Shopfitting By SWS B (John Palmer, Gary West and Mike Briggs) look resigned to the runner-up spot after a 6-4 win over Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C. In a great evening of table tennis, played in fantastic spirit between long-time friends Briggs took a perfect maximum and this was backed up by West (3) but the pair could not defeat Chaddy in the doubles losing to 9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 12-7, 7-11.

Shopfitting By SWS C hosted their A team mates but suffered a 1-9 lose with Colin Mitchell saving the whitewash beating Jan Walaszkowski in a close 11-8, 9-11, 6-11, 13-11, 11-9 match. During the matches there were 7 tie-breaks and six of them went in favour of the A team and in the match between Walaszkowski and Steve Foster, Walaszkowski rode his luck winning three of them 12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 13-11.

We had the battle of the brothers Cookson when Crafthole A hosted Astor A and a battle royale prevailed and the match swung both ways in an extremely close encounter. Crafthole’s Mike, the elder, took the first two ends 11-7, 12-10 but Steve levelled the match winning the next two ends 11-9, 11-9. So, onto the final game and with another close 11-9 Mike claimed the family kudos. No player form either side took a maximum and the match was eventually drawn.

Crafthole B and Woodland Fort A (Brian Luscombe, Jonathan Goldfield and Norman Hall) are still battling it out for top spot in Div Two and Fort A managed a 7-3 win over Lee Mill but none of the Fort Players could overcome “anti-loop” Richard Smaridge who took all of his teams points but he was made to fight for them.

At the bottom half of the table Astor C won 6-4 against Woodland Fort B with no maximums for any players. However, Trevor Mole of Astor unexpectedly lost to Mike Willis after being 2-1 up 6-11, 16-14, 11-7, 7-11, 8-11. The whole evening was a close encounter with no less than 7 sets all going to the fifth end.

The top two teams in Div Three both whitewashed their opponents. Firstly champions elect Woodland Fort C (Ralph Stone, Graham Cooksley and Glenn Delaney) beat Ivybridge B but Cooksley relied on two tie-break wins against Chris Collings as he tried to save the whitewash. Second placed Ivybridge A had no problems beating bottom of the league Astor F who again only had two players.

Nigel Aston for Woodland Fort D took a maximum and inflicted Astor’s Richard Avent’s first defeat, albeit he has only played six sets, but he had to do it the hard way winning in the fifth end 11-4, 8-11, 12-14, 13-11, 11-6. With the score at 5-4 to Fort, Avent partnered Dave Harding to defeat Aston and Pete Andrews to level the match and share the points.

By mutual consent the match against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E and Crafthole C was adjudicated as both teams were unable to field teams and the adjudication favoured Chaddy 6 to 4.

Other Divisional match results from previously postponed matches:

Div 2: Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D 5 v 5 Astor C

W/C 23/01/23 HANDICAP CUP SECOND ROUND

This week it was the second round of the Handicap Cup which sees teams from all divisions compete against one another with the lowest ranked team getting a start in the race to 500 points (or when one team can’t be caught).

A very close encounter ensued between Div Two Woodland Fort B (Richard Searle, Abel Henandez and Dave Wyatt) when they took on Div One team Shopfitting By SWS B (Darbz Allen, Dan Kayes and Jan Walaszkowski) and with a 183 point start the match went all the way to the last game. Hernandez played well taking 120 points out of a maximum 150 for his team but despite this after the ninth game Shopfitting By SWS had caught their opponents and lead by just the solitary point. So, on to the doubles match andSWS took the first end 25-21 and were now leading by four points. In a brilliant last end Wyatt and Hernandez managed to take the end 25-23 but with this courageous battle lost the match overall by only three points.

An all Div One clash saw Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C (Steve Hill, Shaun Gilbert and John Steuart) give Astor A (Steve Garlick, Steve Cookson and Tony Maestri) 48 points, meaning Chaddy had to claw back about five points per individual match. All was going to plan for Chaddy after the eighth game as they were only 2 points behind their opponents. Then up stepped Cookson who turned the match around beathil Hill 25-15, 25-11 giving Astor a 26 points lead going into the doubles. The first end went to Chaddy 25-14 and it was all set for a close finish only for Cookson and Meastri to ruin all of Chaddys hard work and score 22 points leaving the final score 459-447 in favour of Astor. There was some outstanding points from every player throughout the whole evening.

The handicap of 193 in favour of Div Three leaders Woodland Fort C (Barrie Oliver, Graham Cooksley and Glenn Delaney) just proved too much for Crafthole A (Iain Oxenham, Shirley Luckhurst and Mike Coookson) and with Oxenham unexpectedly losing a few ends to Cooksley and Delaney the match swayed in favour of Fort who won 503-491.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E (+103) of Div Three (Mike Chapple, Adam Forshaw and John Chadwick) managed to knock out Div Two opponents Astor B (Les Cole, Chris Tucker and Tony Powlesland). It started well for Chaddy with Chapple beating Cole 22-25, 25-16 (47-41). He then had a close encounter with Tucker only just losing 45-50 but went on to beat Powlesland 45-44. With this performance and back up from his team members, Chaddy ran out winnings 479-442.

Woodland Fort A (Brian Luscombe, Jon Goldfield and Norman Hall) of Div Two had no real problems knocking out Div Three Ivybridge A (Ian Reed, Alan Davis and Jeremy Willcox) with all but the last end being won by Fort but by that time the match in reality was over 440-354.

With a start of 157 points Div Three Astor E (Bob Steele, Dave Harding and Ken Chambers) still had it all to do to defeat Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D (John Dodd, Jake Neilson and Steve Tyler) of Div Two. At the end of the seventh match Chaddy hadn’t lost an end and the overall match was set to be a close finish, however surprisingly Chambers convincingly beat Dodd 25-7 and the 25-23 to totally swing the match and see Astor through to the next round winning 488-464 eventually.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A had a walk over against Shopfitting By SWS B as SWS were unable to field a full team.

Other Divisional match results from previously postponed matches:

Div1: Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A 9 -1 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B

Div 2: Woodland Fort B 0 v 10 Woodland Fort A

Div 2: Lee Mill 6 v 4 Astor B

Div 3: Astor F 0 v 10 Ivybridge B

W/C 16/01/23

With only a few weeks of the season left, Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A are still unbeaten and look odds on favourite to win Div One especially after beating Shopfitting By SWS A 9-1. It was Darbz Allen who gained his team’s solitary point defeating Garry Reed 11-3, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5. During the match most games went to the fourth end and Chaddy had the majority of luck winning 6 out of the 7 tie-breaks contested.

The encounter between Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B and C saw the C team beat their club mates for the second time this season and it was Shaun Gilbert who came away with a maximum for Chaddy B in his team’s 6-4 victory. Despite his maximum there was a close encounter with Chris Dunn which went all the way to the fifth end 11-4, 6-11, 5-11, 14-12, 11-9.

Shopfitting By SWS C are languishing at the bottom of the league at present and have games in hand but are struggling for points. This week they played Astor A and all of the Astor players (Steve Cookson, Steve Garlick and Tony Maestri) secured braces along with SWS’s Colin Mitchell. Here again there were 6 tie break wins in favour of Astor compared to just the one for SWS. The closest encounter saw Mitchell beat Maestri 10-12, 11-7, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9.

Rui Barreto took a maximum along with braces from Holly Davis and Martin Wilcox for Crafthole B, who lead Div Two, in their 8-2 victory over Astor D, which happened to be the same score when the teams meet earlier in the season. The main surprise of the match saw Astor’s Nick May defeat Davis in straight games 11-4, 11-9, 11-3

Astor B and C played each other this week and after a draw the first time around the B team came away victorious with an 8-2 win with maximums for John Turner and Chris Tucker. Bob Vella returned for his first match of the season for the C team and started by beating Tony Powlesland 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10 before losing to Tucker and Turner.

Run away leaders of Div Three Woodland Fort C secured only their second maximum of the season and no surprise as it was against two player Astor F who have only managed one point all season and all credit to them for taking part every week.

Third placed Ivybridge A without their talisman Ian Reed slipped up with a draw against Astor E and encountered a stubborn Ken Chambers who took a maximum for his team but when he partnered up in the doubles could not stop Ivy securing the point they needed to gain the draw with Alan Spencer and Alan Davies beating Chambers and Bob Steele 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7.

Meanwhile Spencer also played for his own team Ivybridge B this week and he was involved in another draw this time against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E. Ivy’s Chris Collings took a hard fought maximum needing two five ends against Adam Forshaw (2) 11-4, 9-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-9 and Mike Chapple (2) 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 12-14, 15-13.

Crafthole C with the visit of Horrabridge saw the longest distance match take place and the visitors went home contented with a 7-3 victory thanks from braces from Dave Vanstone, Crispin Jordan, Dave Wilson and the doubles but none of them came really close to beat Trevor Luckhurst.

Other results from previously postponed matches:

Div 2: (Two player) Lee Mill 2 v 8 Woodland Fort A (Jon Goodfield 3 and Norman Hall 3)

Div 3: Horrabridge 6 v 4 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E (Mike Chapple 3)

W/C 09/01/23

After last week’s Handicap Cup matches league play resumed and Leaders of Div One Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A (Sam Bruty, Tony Sweet and Glyn Price) whitewashed Astor A (Steve Garlick, Steve Cookson and Tony Maestri). The result flattered Chaddy a little as there were many close sets, particularly early on in the evening. On another night the score line could have been closer. It all started with Bruty coming from 2 nil down but winning the third end with a 13-11 tie-break and then going on to win the final two games 11-6, 11-7. Maestri had a close game against Price but tie-breaks played their part for both players with Price winning 11-8, 13-11, 10-12, 11-8. With this win Chaddy have opening up a 13 point lead in the division.

Shopfitting By SWS B (Gary West, Mike Briggs and John Palmer), second in the league at present could only manage a draw against Crafthole A (Iain Oxenham, Shirley Luckhurst (3) and Mike Cookson) and it was Luckhurst who came away with a difficult maximum beating Briggs 119, 8-11, 13-11, 9-11, 13-11 and inflicting only his third defeat of the season. Luckhurst also needed five ends to defeat West 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8 in a very close encounter.

Darbz Allen took a maximum for Shopfitting By SWS A in their 8-2 win over Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B and this made up for their 4-6 loss to Chaddy earlier in the season. Both of Chaddy’s points came courtesy of Chris Dyson who beat Dan Kayes and Jan Walaszkowski. In the match against Kayes, Dyson trailed 7-11, 3-11 but turned the match around winning 11-7, 11-8, 11-8.

In Div Two Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D fielded a strong team of John Dodd, Jake Neilson and Steve Tyler against Astor D (Steve Harvey, Nick May and Andy Watmore) and with a maximum from Tyler and a brace from Neilson won 7-3 which equalled the score first time around. Astor’s Harvey had a brilliant match against Tyler but lost out on tie-break points losing 11-13, 14-16, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11.

John Turner and Chris Tucker both took braces and the only points for Astor B in their match against Woodland Fort A. Again there were a couple of braces for both Jon Goldfield and Norman Hall but no maximums for either team.

Woodland Fort C (Ralph Stone, Graham Cooksley and Barrie Oliver) are walking Div three at present and with another 9-1 win over mid-table Astor E have opened up a 29 point lead at present. It was only Oliver who dropped a point against Ken Chambers losing three tie-breaks 12-14, 10-12, 14-16 in what must have been an enthralling match.

Woodland Fort D (Nigel Aston, John Dean and Pete Andrews) now second in the division revenged their first half defeat to lowly Crafthole C winning 6-4 with Aston only dropping one end all evening and even at one stage beat Mike Kinger 11-0.

W/C 02/01/23 - HANDICAP CUP - FIRST ROUND

After the Christmas and New Year break teams from all 3 divisions returned to compete in the Handicap Cup, which is a race to 500 points (or when a team cannot be caught). The team handicap is added at the start of the matches and games are based on two ends to 25 points. This was the first round of the cup and 1

6 teams competed for the right to join some teams already in the second round due to having byes.

An all Div One clash saw Shopfitting By SWS C (+53) (Steve Foster, Colin Mitchell and Bryn Ford) take on visitors Crafthole A and (Iain Oxenham, Shirley Luckhurst and Mike Cookson) and it was Cookson stealing the show securing 150 points and only losing 85 whilst playing some outstanding table tennis with brilliant unstoppable looping forehand and backhand shots helping his team to a 479-436 win.

League leaders Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A (Tony Sweet, Garry Reed and Sam Bruty) had a very close encounter with Div Two Astor D (+280) (Nick May, Andy Watmore and Steve Harvey). It all came down to the final doubles match and Astor only required 18 points but Harvey and May lost 25-9, 25-5 to Sweet and Reed and eventually lost by only 3 points.

Leaders of Div Two Crafthole B (Rui Barreto, Martin Hynes and Holly Davis) only had a 29 points start against Div One Astor A (Steve Cookson, Tony Maestri and Steve Garlick). The match was going well for Crafthole until Garlick and Maestri inflicted heavy defeats upon Hynes and Davis and they lost 454-473 points.

Another close match saw Div Three Woodland Fort D (+101) (John Dean, Nigel Aston and Pete Andrews) only just lose out 445-458 to their Div Two Team club mates from the ‘A’ team (Brian Luscombe, Jon Goldfield and Norman Hall) as the match swayed both ways as Fort D (Aston and Andrews) actually won three of the games outright.

Ivybridge B (Chris Collings, Toby Spencer and Alan Spencer) of Div Three had the daunting task of taking on Shopfitting By SWS A of Div One despite having a 258 handicap. With a brave effort from all, Ivybridge just came up 27 points short losing 474-500.

Astor C of Div Two could only field two players (Trevor Mole and Martin Fowler) and therefore gave their opponents Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E (Mike Chapple, John Chadwick and Adam Forshaw) an additional 150 point start on top of their 69 point handicap and so a real uphill struggle ensued and they lost 294-394.

Three other matches saw walk overs for Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C v Horrabridge, Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D v Crafthole C and Astor F v Lee Mill.

W/C 28/11/22

Sam Bruty of Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A, the leaders of Div One, played some outstanding defensive shots from the back of the playing area with brilliant accuracy to secure his second maximum of the season; however he also had some intriguing 5 games. Against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C’s defensive player Steve Hill he needed a fifth end 12-10 tie-break win to secure the point and against top spinning John Steuart he was losing 2-nil but turned it around destroying Steuart’s game and rhythm beating him 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-4. Tony sweet won another maximum and with Glyn Price (2) losing to Travis Foster Chaddy A went on to win 8-2.

Meanwhile Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B could only field two players against visiting Crafthole A and lost 1-9 with Chris Dunn taking the solitary team point beating Mike Cookson (who is yet to secure a maximum) to save the whitewash. Chaddy’s Steve Hugh put up a brave defensive fight but lost out on two 5 game defeats the closest being against another defensive player in Shirley Luckhurst (3) but fortune favoured Luckhurst winning two tie breaks in the match 12-10, 9-11, 1-11, 12-10, 11-9.

It is relatively tight in the lower half of Div Two but top of that pile stands Lee Mill and they came away with a 6-4 win over Woodland Fort B and once again this was mainly down to Richard Smaridge’s maximum but he didn’t have it all his own way as Fort’s Abel Hernandez pushed him all the way in a strange scoring match which including beating Smaridge 11-2 only for Smaridge to win the final end 11-8. Fort still remains the only team to win a match in Div Two.

The points were shared between Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D and Woodland Fort A and the man of the match turned out to be Chaddys Steve Tyler winning all his matches but Jon Goldfield (2) pushed him all the way, except for the last end when Tyler excelled and won 11-2. Chaddys John Dodd rode his luck when facing Norman Hall and needed two tie-breaks wins to secure his only point of the evening 11-7, 13-11, 8-11, 5-11, 12-10.

Div Three could almost be over if Woodland Fort continue playing their top three ‘Averages’ players (those who have won at least 75% of their matches) of Barrie Oliver, Graham Cooksley and Ralph Stone. This week they played two player Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E and whitewashed them although Mike Chapple put up a fight just losing to Oliver 8-11, 12-10, 2-11, 13-11, 7-11.

Another team to only have two players was Ivybridge B who only had father and son Alan and Toby Spencer to play against Woodland Fort D. It started with Pete Andrews beating Toby game love in the first end and then going on to win in straight games but his Father got a bit of revenge for the family honour beating Andrews 11-3, 4-11, 11-13, 11-7, 11-7. Nigel Aston took the only maximum as Alan Spencer also defeated Dave Brown but Fort were victorious winning 8-2.

There was one adjudicated match this week when bottom club Astor F could not travel to Crafthole C and conceded the match. Adjudication: 10 nil in favour of Crafthole.

Other results from previously postponed matches:

Div 3: Astor E 8 (Richard Avent and Ken Chambers 3) v 2 Crafthole C

W/C 21/11/22

Shopfitting By SWS B lost some ground over the leaders of Div One with their first drawn match of the season against Astor A. The set of the night saw Tony Maestri take on Mike Briggs, where Briggs was really on attacking form and hitting every ball past his opponent, taking the first two games without any problems. Maestri then tightened up his game, managing to restrain the fierce attack and following some excellent play from both players edged Briggs out in the fifth end for only Briggs’s second loss of the season2-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11. No single player however secured a maximum.

Shopfitting By SWS A are languishing in the wrong half of the league and suffered a 4-6 loss to Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C but It was SWS’s Jan Walaszkowski who stole the show with a great maximum and the doubles with Dan Kayes. Tony Freestone played his third match of the season for SWS after returning from a lengthy retirement from the game but despite some great play was out done by John Steuart and Steve Hill both in five ends after being 2 nil up in each match.

Leaders of Div Two Crafthole B beat Astor C 7-3 with a superb maximum for Rui Barreto (3), who surprisingly struggled to get the measure of Rob Barnes who put in a shift with some fine attacking play. This along with braces from Martin Hynes and Martin Wilcox secured the victory although it was Astor’s Trevor Mole who beat both Hynes and Wilcox.

Woodland Fort C remain the only unbeaten team in Div Three and now lead the pack by 11 points and a game in hand after beating Horrabridge 7-3. Ralph Stone took another perfect maximum along with a brace from Barrie Oliver and a single from Glenn Delaney. Fort’s Delaney had to come from 2-1 down to beat John Cook and Oliver had to win two tie-breaks 12-10 and 13-11 to defeat David Wilson.

Ivybridge A Jeremy Willcox, Ian Reed and Alan Davis are now only one point behind their opponents Woodland Fort D who they beat 7-3 as Reed stretched his unbeaten run to seven matches. Davis overcame an out of form Nigel Aston in 5 games and then beat Pete Andrews 12-10 in the fifth end after a very close encounter to gain a maximum on the night.

Other results from previously postponed matches:

Div 2: Astor D 4 – 6 Astor C (Trevor Mole 3)

Div 2: Astor B 4 (John Turner 3) v 6 Woodland Fort A

Div 3: Woodland Fort D 3 v 7 Woodland Fort C (Ralph Stone 3)

W/C 14/11/22

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C and Astor A in Div One met for the second time within 7 days and the 6-4 win originally for Chaddy was reversed this week with Steve Cookson taking a perfect maximum, his first of the season, with some power full and precise hitting and despite some great defending all the Chaddy players had no answer to his accuracy with the match played in great spirit.

Sam Bruty of Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A had a bit of an unlucky night having been involved in 5 tie-breaks in his three matches and came out losing all but one of them. The most expensive tie-break saw him lose to Crafthole’s Iain Oxenham in the fifth 13-11, 3-11, 11-9, 9-11, 10-12. Chaddy’s Glyn Price had to come from 2-1 down against Shirley Luckhurst eventually coming to terms with her defensive play and winning 114-4, 11-6. On the other hand Tony Sweet (3) had no problems beating Luckhurst 11-1, 11-2 and 11-4.

Astor B and Woodland Fort B played out a draw in Div Two with Astor’s Chris Tucker taking a maximum along with a brace from John Turner whilst Abel Hernandez took a brace for Fort. The come-back match of the evening saw Astor’s Tony Powlesland take a two game lead over Mike Willis 11-6, 11-5 only for Willis to turn the match completely around in his favour winning the next three games 11-3, 11-6, 11-7. Another unusual score line saw Hernandez capitulate to Tucker after levelling the match at 2 games each with a 12-10 tie-break win to only go and lose the final game 11-1.

Club mates of Astor C and D met and with Astor C’s Martin Fowler winning his first maximum of the season and backed up by Trevor Mole’s maximum secured a 6-4 victory. Despite Rob Barnes’s enormous effort and just losing to Andy Watmore 14-12, 6-11, 11-8, 2-11, 10-12 came away with a duck.

Another 6-4 match saw divisional favourites Crafthole B beat Woodland Fort A with Rui Barreto taking a maximum winning all his matches in four games. Young Holly Davis lost her first match of the season to Jonathan Goodfield 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 3-11 and this was after a narrow win over Brian Luscombe 11-9, 5-11, 12-10, 10-12, 14-12

The local derby between the two Ivybridge sides from Div Three went to form with two notable exceptions. Up and coming Toby Spencer (Ivybridge B) was over the moon to beat his regular Club sparring partner Jeremy Willcox in straight games, then the upset of the century when young Toby partnered dad Alan in the final doubles. The Spencer's fell to a predictable 3-11 loss in the first game, but against all odds won the second 11-4, from that point on the Ivybridge A could not regain the momentum losing the next two games, falling foul of Toby’s smashes, including a straight at body match winner, giving the underdogs an unexpected 6-4 win.

Astor E’s Bob Steele is on an unusual run of form at present having lost all his matches for the fifth consecutive week but despite this his team mates Dave Harding won 2 points and Ken Chambers securing his second maximum of the season managed to gain the required points to beat Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E 6-4.

With bottom club Astor F unable to travel to Horrabridge for their match, Astor had to concede and the adjudication went in the favour of Horrabridge 10 nil.

Other results from previously postponed matches:

Div 1: Shopfitting By SWS A 4 v 6 Shopfitting By SWS B

Div 2: Astor D 5 v 5 Lee Mill (With Richard Smaridge losing his unbeaten run to Steve Harvey)

W/C 07/11/22

The Plymouth & District Table Tennis League reached the half-way stage of the season this week, albeit with some matches still outstanding.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A lead Div One by a clear margin after an 8-2 victory this week over Shopfitting By SWS C who could only field two players in a very sporting match. SWS’s Steve Foster took the only singles point for his team beating Glynn Price 12-10, 3-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8 and then partnered Bryn Ford to win the doubles over Garry Reed (3) and Sam Bruty (3).

Shopfitting By SWS B are in second place with a narrow 6-4 win over Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B with Mike Briggs once again securing his perfect maximum. Chaddy’s Tau Manonge played only his second match of the season and took a fine brace coming back from 2-1 down both against John Palmer 8-11, 110-12, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 and Gary West 11-8, 4-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D, despite their 4-6 loss to Astor B lead Div Two at present by a solitary point but second placed Crafthole B have a game in hand. John Turner took a maximum but had a tough fought match with Chaddy’s Jake Neilson. Turner lead 2 nil (11-6, 11-5) only for Neilson to level the match (9-11, 6-11). In the final end, things went the way of experience Turner who won the match 11-8.

Brian Luscombe (3) returned to play for Woodland Fort A and things got more difficult for him as the evening progressed. He beat Astor D’s Steve Harvey in straight games then beat Nick May in 4 games but needed to come back from 2-1 down against Andy Watmore (2) to win in five games. He then partnered Jon Goodfield (2) to win the doubles and the overall match 7-3.

Games finished very quickly when Astor C took on visitors Lee Mill with six of the singles matches being won in straight games but the final two single matches went all the way to the fifth games. The Milliers had Richard Smaridge (3) and Mark Chapman (2) plus the doubles to thank for their eventually 6-4 win.

The leaders in Div Three are Woodland Fort C and they still have two games in hand, however it is the bottom Team Astor F who gets the best mention this week as Jewel Vittle won their very first point of the season beating Woodland Fort D’s John Cobbledick 6-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7. Despite losing 10 nil every week Astor keep playing season after season and all credit to them and to Vittle for her and her team turning up every single week. This was Vittle’s first win since November 2019. Congratulations and well done.

Ivybridge B won 6-4 after travelling all the way to play Crafthole C and young Toby Spencer nearly added another point but lost out in tie-break fifth end to Pete Nicholson (2). Chris Collings took a maximum for Ivy and Alan Spencer a brace, which at present keeps them mid-table but with two games in hand.

Other results from previously postponed matches:

Div 1: Astor A 4 v 6 Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C

W/C 31/10/22

The league leaders Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A met their B team mates this week and had a 7-3 win with Sam Bruty unfortunately losing all his points even after losing two matches in five games and one of them being a tie-break to Steve Hugh. Glyn Price and Tony Sweet both took maximums with price winning all three of his tie-break games.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C however were not really at the races against Shopfitting By SWS B who ran out convincing winners 7-3 although the score-line should have been more. Mike Briggs and Gary West both took convincing maximums in a very friendly and enjoyable match.

An understrength Astor A lost 3-7 to visitors Crafthole A as Shirley Luckhurst and Iain Oxenham secured maximums but Mike Cookson lost to Steve Garlick and Steve Cookson. In the doubles the breaks went to Garlick and Cookson over Luckhurst and Oxenham winning two games with tie-breaks 12-10, 11-3, 5-11, 12-10.

With two matches postponed in Div Two the only match played saw the top two teams Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D and Crafthole B battle it out but Crafthole had an ace up their sleeves in the form of young Holly Davis who took a maximum although things didn’t go that smoothly at the start for her as she needed the fifth end to beat Adam Forshaw in the first match of the evening. Chaddy’s Steve Tyler (2) had a brilliant win over Rui Baretto (2) beating him in straight games 11-6, 11-7, 11-2 seeing both players were ranking in the Averages. With Crafhole winning 6-4 they inflicted Chaddy’s first loss of the season.

Woodland Fort C remain the only unbeaten side in Div Three and with Ralph Stone (3) returning to the side and unbeaten Graham Cooksley (3) playing well the other teams in the league will have a struggle to catch them. This week they defeated Ivybridge B 8-2 but Chris Collings was took Stone all the way but lost 11-9, 6-11, 14-12, 6-11, 5-11.

Dave Harding and Ken Chambers both took braces for Astor E but neither could defeat Nigel Aston of Woodland Fort D who took a maximum along with the doubles with Pete Andrews helping his team secure a 6-4 victory.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E, who are also pushing for divisional glory, only just managed to defeat Crafthole C but thanks to John Chadwick’s maximum won 6-4 with some very close and long matches with five matches going to the fifth end and three to the fourth end.

Other results from previously postponed matches:

Div 1: Shopfitting By SWS B 7 v 3 Astor A

Div 2: Woodland Fort B 4 v 6 Astor B

Div 3: Woodland Fort C 10 v 0 Astor F

W/C 24/10/22

All three of the Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) teams lead Div One at this stage of the season with the A team opening up a 7 point over their B and C club mates. Tony Sweet of the A team, continued his unbeaten record taking a maximum against Shopfitting By SWS A and once again he didn’t lose a game and with braces from Sam Bruty and Garry Reed they won 7-3, although Reed had a close encounter with Dan Kayes and needed a tie-break win in the fifth to seal victory 11-13, 15-13, 9-11, 11-8, 13-11.

The other two Chaddy teams played each other and surprisingly the C team got the better of their B club mates who were mainly unlucky despite some great play from both teams. Travis Foster stood in at the last minute and took a perfect maximum not losing a game and with John Stuart securing his first maximum since February 2020 the B team ran out 8-2 winners. Unfortunately Steve Hugh suffered a first duck of the season after playing some brilliant defensive blocks.

Tony Maestri in only his second week back playing in the league for Astor A took his first maximum in a match were only two sets were won in straight games. Maestri was backed up by Steve Cookson taking a brace although he only just lost to Shopfitting By SWS C’s Steve Foster in a tight match 12-10, 10-12, 12-14, 6-11 in Astor’s 7-3 victory.

The lights went out in Div Two’s match between Lee Mill and Crafthole B at the very start of the evening just as the first point was about to be played. After swapping some fittings around both teams sportingly decided to continue their match with reduced lighting seeing that Crafthole had travelled so far to get to the match. When the match resumed the dimmed lighting didn’t really seem to affect Lee Mill’s Richard Smaridge who beat Crafthole top player Rui Barreto (2) 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 11-13, 11-7 and then went on to take a maximum but his team eventually lost to the visitors 4-6.

Crafthole B (martin Hynes 3, Holly Davis 3) also played two player Astor D at home this week and ran into a 8 nil lead before Nick May beat Bob Hallett (2) and then partnered Steve Harvey to win the doubles.

In the battle of the clubs Woodland Fort A played their B club mates and Astor C came up against their B club mates and both matches ended in draws. Abel Hernadez took a maximum for Fort B and John Turner a maximum for Astor B. Rob Barnes of Astor C rode his luck a bit winning two tie-breaks to just beat Tony Powlesland in the fifth game 11-5, 12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 15-13.

Ivybridge A in Div Three top the table at present after an 8-2 win against Astor E where Ken Chamber secured both of his team’s points beating Jeremy Willcox in straight games and Alan Davis 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 3-11, 11-6 but suffered a heavy defeat to unbeaten Ian Reed after winning the first end 11-9, 4-11, 5-11, 5-11.

Ivy A also played a rearranged match against their club mates from the B team and again Reed took another maximum, his only blemish was dropping a game to Alan Spencer. The match of the night saw the leagues youngest player Toby Spencer (B team) push Jeremy Willcox all the way with some excellent attacking play, only to lose the final end 7-11.

In Ivy B’s second match this week Chris Collings took the only maximum of the evening and the doubles with Alan Spencer (1) as they drew with Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E where there were some very close games with no less than 8 tie-breaks played throughout and once again Toby Spencer was unlucky against Mike Chapple losing two of them 11-5, 4-11, 10-12, 10-12.

W/C 17/10/22

It was a case of friends reunited with Anthony Maestri making a return to the league playing for Astor A in Div One after (we think) 25 years of absence. His team mates Steve Cookson (2) and Steve Garlick (1) were all in the same year at the same school and used to play each other there every week, this match was the first time they've actually played together since the late 80's. Maestri’s first match back however was a baptism of fire as he was up against Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A who are the favourites to win the league. It started well for Maestri who took the first end off Sam Bruty 11-9 but then he didn’t win another game all evening showing that with patients and more practice things will only improve. Tony Sweet once again took a maximum and Chaddy ran out 7-3 winners.

Mike Briggs of Shopfitting By SWS B took a maximum but was behind to Crafthole’s Shirley Luckhurst 5-11, 11-7, 9-11 but recovered to win the next two games 11-8, 11-8. Briggs was backed up with a brace from Gary West who had two 5 setters beating Iain Oxenham (1) 11-9, 10-12, 11-13, 11-9, 11-5 but losing to Mike Cookson (2) 7-11, 11-13, 11-7, 11-7, 9-11. The final score was 6-4 to SWS .

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C had Shaun Gilbert to thank for taking a perfect maximum by not dropping a game and the doubles with Russ Keith in their 6-4 victory over Shopfitting By SWS C where both Colin Mitchell and Bryn Ford both took braces. The whole evening was played with great spirits and enjoyable banter between old friends.

Darbz Allen of Shopfitting By SWS A was undefeated in his team’s 4-6 loss to Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B with all of Chaddy’s players, Steve Hugh, Chris Dyson and Chris Dunn, taking braces but losing the doubles. This was SWS’s first defeat and Chaddy remain unbeaten.

In Div two John Dodd took his first maximum for Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D as they beat Astor D 7-3. Dodd did find himself 6-10 down to Andy Watmore in the fourth game but ended up winning it 17-15 and then the deciding end 11-7. Chaddy’s Neilson claimed his second maximum of the season but Steve Harvey managed to take a game off him to thwart a perfect maximum.

Horrabridge who had a 10 nil victory last week came back down to earth with a bump after coming up against a re-energised Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E who stormed into an 8 nil lead only losing the final singles match and the doubles. Chaddy’s Mike Chapple and Adam Forshaw both took maximums along with a brace from John Chadwick who only lost to David Wilson 11-9, 9-11, 4-11, 11-6, 8-11. Unfortunately Horrabridge’s Crispin Jordan suffered his first duck of the season.

Crafthole C had to thank Mike Wood for his maximum in their 6-4 victory over Woodland Fort D but he did have a fight on his hands only eventually beating Pete Andrews 6-11, 11-2, 11-2, 6-11, 11-6. Crafthole’s Trevor Luckhurst wasn’t just lucky in name as he needed three tie-break wins to beat Andrews 6-11, 14-12, 13-11, 13-11.

Ivybridge B returned to their winning ways (10 nil) against a very experienced Astor F Side. Having already secured the points, honour came to play, as the oldest player in the league Cecil Downing, the most experienced man in the division, attempted to prevent the whitewash against the youngest player in the league Toby Spencer who had youth and determination. Spencer suffered in the first game against Downing’s serves, but in games 2 & 3 Spencer played some simple and effective returns which placed downing out of position. A nerve racking fourth game saw Downing step up the pace to win the only tie-breaker of the evening, only to face the confidence of Spencer mixing his game up, by using the full width of the table and shots to the body to secure the final leg 11-9.

Unbeaten Woodland Fort C go top of Div Three with a 9-1 win over Astor E with all sorts of records being broken. Firstly Glenn Delaney obtained his first maximum and Graham Cookson remains unbeaten in his first season back for some time. Astor’s Bob Steele and Dave Harding however suffered their first ducks of the season.

W/C 10/10/22

As the two Div One defenders took to the table for the first match of the evening, the rest of the players might have expected a long game but no-one would have known that the match between Crafthole A’s Shirley Luckhurst and Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C’s Shaun Gilbert would last 42 mins and had 3 tie-breaks in the five ends. In an exhausting match for both players it was Gilbert who just ran out victorious winning 12-14, 11-9, 14-12, 6-11, 14-12 in a great match. The match must have taken it out on Gilbert as he then lost to Mike Cookson in straight games who benefitted from some brilliant top-spin attack. Travis Foster however came away with another maximum and Chaddy made the late journey back to Plymouth after winning 7-3.

Shopfitting By SWS C hosted their B team mates but Mike Briggs and Gary West took maximums for the B team in a 8-2 win. Briggs had to recover from being 2 nil down to Colin Mitchell to win the remaining ends 11-2, 12-10, 11-4. There were 11 tie-breaks during the match with 9 of them favouring the B team.

Astor A’s John Sherlock had to retire injured and could be out for some time now. It was during his first match of the evening playing returning player Tony Freestone, who hadn’t played since the 2014/15 season with Freestone eventually taking the win. All the other matches were won in straight games except for the doubles with no-one taking a maximum.

Only two teams remain unbeaten in Div Two. Firstly Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D had a 6-4 win over Astor C with Chaddy’s Steve Tyler still unbeaten although Martin Fowler (1) and Trevor Mole (2) took him to five games. Astor have now lost all their 3 games played so far.

The other unbeaten team is Crafthole B and they survived a very close encounter with Woodland Fort B winning 9 out of the 14 tie-breaks played through the matches and winning 7-3. Fort’s Dave Wyatt was the master of the “Deuce Game” as he was involved in 8 of them including the doubles. Crafthole’s Anthony Shapland was unlucky not to win a set in this his first match of the season losing both to Richard Searle and Abel Hernandez in five ends and to Wyatt in three tie-breaks.

Astor F still haven’t won a point in Div Three but week after week they turn up and give it their best with the team struggling with only two players (Jewel Vittle and Kieran McGarry) at present. This week Astor E (Ken Chambers, Dave Harding and Bob Steele) took advantage of this and took all the points to move them up to second spot in the league.

Woodland Fort D are just two points ahead of Astor E but have now played a game more after beating two player Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E 7-3. Chaddy’s John Chadwick started the evening well beating Pete Andrews 6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9 but Nigel Aston (3) stopped Chadwick’s chance of getting a maximum by beating him 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5. Chaddy’s Ben Kelsey toured Plymouth by turning up to two wrong venues before arriving at the right place and lost to heavily to Aston. Fortunes then changed and he claimed his first point in the league beating John Cobbledick in straight games.

Crafthole C’s Trevor Luckhurst saved the whitewash taking his team’s only point beating Ivybridge A’s Jeremy Willcox. Pete Nicholson came close to winning his team another point but lost out to Willcox 8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 10-12, 9-11. Congratulations to Ivy’s Ian Reed for his perfect maximum and Alan Davis for also taking three points.

W/C 03/10/22

Tony Sweet secured a maximum along with a brace from Glyn Price but Sam Bruty suffered a straight games duck for Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A in their match against Div One Shopfitting By SWS B with Mike Briggs only losing to Sweet. The match against John Palmer and Price was a strange one with the match swaying to both players. Price took the first game 11-9 only for Palmer to level it with another 11-9 and then take the lead with a 12-10 tie-break. Price won the fourth end with a 14-12 tie-break to level the match again but in the final end the wheels game off for Palmer losing 11-1.

Steve Hugh of Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B took a perfect maximum in not dropping a game against Astor A and helped his team to a 7-3 victory. Steve Garlick of Astor managed a brace though but needed the help of three tie-break wins, two of these came against Chris Dyson 11-6, 13-11, 13-11 and the other against Chris Dunn in the final end 11-8, 5-11, 11-7, 6-11, 13-11.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D are the early leaders in Div Two after beating visitor’s lee Mill 9-1 with Mark Chapman saving the whitewash just beating John Dodd 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7. Chapman also took Steve Tyler to the fifth game after Tyler won his previous two matches in straight games. Dodd found himself 2-1 down both against Wendy Roberts and Ann Warren but managed to turn those matches around.

John Tuner of Astor B continues to impress in this league with another maximum and even from being 2 nil down to Crafthole B’s Martin Hynes managed to turn the match around 12-14, 6-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-5 but his team lost 4-6 as Hynes and Barreto managed braces and the doubles.

Both Astor C and Woodland Fort A had reverse fortunes from their first matches of the season and with the overall match at 4 each Fort won the last two sets to take a 6-4 victory. Rob Barnes managed to take his first every point in this league with a win over Norman Hall but Barnes had to wear down Hall and take him to a fifth end to do it wining 11-7, 9-7, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5. Astor’s Trevor Mole did take a max but two matches went to the fifth end.

Woodland Fort B’s Abel Hernandez took the only maximum but despite this his team lost 4-6 to Astor D where Steve Harvey and Andy Watmore took braces and they completed the win pairing up and winning the doubles.

Ian Reed’s first maximum of the season for Ivybridge A was almost a perfect one but he did drop a game only to Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E’s Adam Forshaw. Chaddy’s newcomer Ben Kelsey was unfortunate losing to Jeremy Willcox as he lost both the tie-breaks in the match 10-12, 5-11, 12-14. Wilcox did not however have any luck against Mike Chapple when he suffered a heavy defeat 0-11, 4-11, 2-11.

Ivybridge B and Astor E shared the points despite Ivy’s Alan Spencer achieving a maximum but only just as he needed two lucky edges in the fifth end Tie-break to win 17-15 to beat Ken Chambers in the very first match of the evening. Astor at one stage took a 5-3 lead but Spencer then beat Dave Harding and paired up with Tom Pearson to win the doubles and level the match after an amazing come-back from 6-10 down in the fifth end to win 16-14.

Other re-arranged results:

Div 1: Shopfitting By SWS A (Jan Walaszkowski 3) [6 v 4] Crafthole A

Div 2: Woodland Fort A [3 v 7] Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D (Andrew Courtney 3)

Div 3: Astor E [5 v 5] Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E (Mike Chapple 3)

Div 3: Horrabridge [2 v 8] Woodland Fort C (Graham Cooksley 3)

Div 3: Astor F [0 v 10] Crafthole C (P Nicholson, M Kinger, T Luckhurst 3’s)

W/C 26/09/22

All three Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) teams were in action this week in Div One with Chaddy A taking on their C team mates whilst Chaddy B had to visit Crafthole A. Tony Sweet returned for Chaddy A and took a perfect maximum winning all his matches in straight games. Glyn Price also had a maximum but in two matches won the final game 11-9 against Shaun Gilbert and then Travis Foster (1). The final score saw an 8-2 win for the A team.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B shared the spoils with Crafthole A but none of the Chaddy players could beat Shirley Luckhurst. Chaddy’s Tau Manonge seemed to lack the finishing touch as in two matches found himself 2-1 up against Mike Cookson and Luckhurst only to lose the final two ends. However his team mate Chris Dyson recovered from 1-2 down against Iain Oxenham but went on to win the next two ends 11-8, 11-9.

Astor D hosted their B team mates in Div Two but could only field two players with Andy Watmore pulling out of the match at short notice whilst their opponents called on Rob Barnes to help them out and this proved the difference in a 7-3 win for the B team who had John Turner unbeaten after only losing his first game of the evening and then not dropping another game.

Woodland Fort B made the long trip to South Brent to play Lee Mill where they found Richard Smaridge robust once again despite Abel Hernandez taking him to 5 games and losing 7-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-8, 5-11. Mike Willis, 80 years young, had the miss fortune whilst playing Ann Warren losing two tie breaks with the most important one being in the fifth and final end, the match score finishing 17-15, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11 to Warren.

In Div Three Woodland Fort D played two matches this week, the first against Ivybridge A were they won 6-4 and the second against Ivybridge B were they lost 4-6, but none of the four players involved managed to gain a maximum. The closest match against Ivy B saw John Dean beat Chris Collings in the tightest match all evening gaining his team a point beating Collings in tie breaks 12-10, 20-18, 12-10. Another close match saw Pete Andrews beat Ivy A’s Ian Reed 13-11, 18-16, 11-8. Ivybridge B had Toby Spencer making his first ever league appearance but unfortunately he failed to win a game but we wish him well.

Woodland Fort C fielded a strong team and beat Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E 8-2 with Ralph Stone securing a perfect maximum backed up with braces from Barrie Oliver and Glenn Delaney. Delaney and Mike Chapple had a big hitting match but deservedly won 11-8, 11-7, 11-5. Oliver found himself 2-nil up against Adam Forshaw only to Forshaw to level the match 2-a-piece but Oliver’s resilience prevailed as he came back from 9-7 down in the fifth game to pip Forshaw 11-9.

W/C 12 & 19/09/22

We are back and this is the round-up for the first two weeks of the new season with three divisions competing.

Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) A in Div One have a new player from days past and Sam Bruty immediately took his first maximum of the season along with Glyn Price. Bruty got off to a great start beating Crafthole A’s Shirley Luckhurst 11-8, 5-11, 11-2, 11-4 but then needed a 11-9 win in the fifth end to beat Iain Oxenham. Price however only dropped one end all match to Luckhurst. Crafthole had Rui Barreto helping out from Div Two and was unlucky not to win a set.

In Crafthole’s second match they hosted Shopfitting By SWS C and they all won braces along with Colin Mitchell of SWS. Steve Foster had mixed fortunes throughout the evening being 2-1 up against Barreto only to lose 11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11 and then from 1-2 down against Luckhurst recovery to win 9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, however the final score favoured Crafthole winning 6-4.

Chris Dyson was the star player in the match between Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) B and Shopfitting By C securing a maximum and only dropping one game to SWS’s Colin Mitchell. Braces from Chris Dunn and Steve Hugh helped secure an 8-2 victory.

Travis Foster stepped in and joined Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) C and came away with a maximum for his new team when they took on Shopfitting By SWS A in what was an incredible night with some fantastic points played by all players. The match was very evenly balanced and the draw was a fair result in the end. Sporting attitude prevailed when Jan Walaszkowski called a fault on his own shot when the umpire thought the ball had clipped the top of the table only for Walaszkowski to say that it hit the side of the table.

Astor B relegated to Div Two suffered a 3-7 loss to Lee Mill after Les Cole had to retire injured half way through his first match and will now probably have to miss a couple of weeks. The Millers had Richard Smaridge on form, winning his first maximum of the season.

Barreto back in his own division playing for Crafthole B had almost the perfect maximum but lost one end to Astor C’s Trevor Mole in his team’s 8-2 victory.

There were no maximums in the drawn match between Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) D and Woodland Fort B with Chaddy’s Andrew Courtney and Jake Neilson picking up braces along with Fort’s Richard Searle and Mike Willis. An extremely close match saw Courtney edge out Searle 10-12, 12-10, 6-11, 12-10, 11-6.

Astor F played two matches and were whitewashed in both of them. They have been joined this season by newcomer Kieran McGarry. In their first match they only had two players against Horrabridge’s Crispin Jordan, Davis Wilson and John Cook but in their second match they were joined by super veteran and the oldest player in the league (89 year old) Cecil Downing but still lost to Chaddlewood (Molyneux Assoc) E’s Adam Forshaw, Mike Chapple and John Chadwick, with Ben Kelsey (new to the league) playing in the doubles.

Another player returning to the league after many years out was Graham Cooksley of Woodland Fort C and straight away he secured a maximum over his D club mates only dropping his very first game to Nigel Aston helping his team to a 6-4 victory. Fort C’s Barrie Oliver took his foot off the gas in both his matches against Peter Andrews and David Brown as he lead 2- nil in both of them only to be pulled back to 2 each and then going on to win the fifth and final ends in both matches.

Another newcomer Mike Wood of Crafthole C started with a fine maximum over Astor E and in one game came from 1-2 down to defeat Robbie Jenkins 11-4, 4-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6. He also partnered Trevor Luckhurst in the doubles and beat Jenkins and Ken Chambers 14-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9 to save the match with a draw.

WRITE UPS - SEASON 2022/23 BY RUSS KEITH