The following Reports on Division One (South) and Division One (South & Midlands) complete the action from the first weekend of Senior British League matches.
The names of two players who stayed undefeated in Division One (South) and Division One (South & Midlands) will register completely different degrees of familiarity to Table Tennis followers. Almost everyone will have heard of TTK Greenhouse's former England International Gareth Herbert who leads the TTK Greenhouse challenge in Division One (South & Midlands) whilst Alex Echevvaria, a Colombian International who starred for DHS London Progress II in Division One (South) will be a new name to many readers. Both players made equally significant contributions to their respective teams.
Division One (South) - DHS London Progress II are the early leaders and having beaten the teams placed second, third and fourth you wouldn't bet against them going on to capture the title. Their only possible weakness concerns the fact that their top player, Colombian International Alex Echavvaria has since made a succesful Premier Division debut and his services may well be required by the Progress first team on a regular basis. Echevvaria and Dhaivat Pandya, were the Progress "strong men" with Echavarria taking his eight singles and Pandya only losing once. They beat their nearest challengers Cippenham I 5-3 in round four with Echavarria scoring two notable wins. He roasted Martin Adams (11-5, 11-5, 11-5) and beat Eddie Smith (11-7, 13-15, 11-4, 11-5). Pandya suffered his only defeat of the weekend when he missed out against the battling Rob Hansell 11-9, 3-11, 8-11, 6-11. A good win for Rob, but it wasn't enough to secure his side a point as Chris Bush produced an assured performance to beat Robert Lemon 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7 in the last game. Progress had also shown good form in disposing of Harvey Barnets II 6-2 in the first round, with both Pandya and Echavarria disposing of the powerful Marc Armstrong. Progress number three James Sprackling felt the full force of the Alim Hirji forehand succumbing 7-11, 5-11, 5-11. Fusion I also tested Progress to the full in a match where five games went to a deciding end. Pandya was rested for this game, and Alex Echavvaria again showed his class scoring quick-fire wins over John Dennison (11-9, 11-9, 11-4) and Tommy Cutler (13-11, 11-3, 13-11). However, it was team-mate James Sprackling who hit the heights with two outstanding five set victories. James came back from a two-set mauling to beat Tom Cutler 3-11, 6-11, 11-6, 18-16, 11-5 and in his second singles he showed equal resolution as he came through to beat Simon Phillipz 11-6, 2-11, 10-12, 11-4, 12-10. Farhat Rasul was the best of the Fusion players and Veteran "Raz" played very well to beat both Chris Bush and Vidal Graham.
You don't normally expect to see Fusion I scoring a solitary point from a whole weekend of matches, but in the event the single point they secured against Byng Hall I was hard-earned and could easily have gone astray. Farhat Rasul finally made the score 4-4 by beating Phil Saxby 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8 after a match where the Ranking List counted for nothing. Tommy Cutler made no mistake in beating Mark Brown 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 but he missed out 16-18, 7-11, 9-11 to a detemined Phil Cox. Similarly John Dennison was an excellent 9-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-13, 11-7 winner over Cox but a heavilly outgunned 2-11, 9-11, 5-11 loser to an impressive Diccon Gray. The still-improving Saxby, played his part by scoring a 11-8, 9-11, 15-13, 11-4 win over Simon Phillipz but Phillipz in turn hit back in his second singles by getting the better of Mark Brown 7-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6. A match which perhaps had "4-4" written all over it right from the outset ?.
A new-look Brighton side will be looking for a mid-table finish this year and they made no mistake in beating bottom-side Horsham I 8-0. Horsham number one Fred Dove was involved in two matches that went to a fifth end, but he eventually missed out to both Dov Katz and Samuel Nordling whilst Marc Roscaleer also gave Katz plenty of problems before succumbing in the fifth end. On this showing it is going to be a long hard season for the Horsham side. Brighton were excellent 5-3 winners over Fusion I. New Brighton number one Samuel Nordling showed his class as he cruised past John Dennison (3-0) and he added a vital 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-6 victory over Tommy Cutler. Jack Boult who had previously overcome the counter-hitting Martin Smith (3-1) made the points safe for the Brighton side with a hard-fought 13-11, 9-11, 14-12, 11-6 victory over John Dennison.
Division One (South) - No real surprises in this division, with TTK Greenhouse I taking the lead with a return of seven points out of eight. However, as their four victories were against the bottom four sides their opponents will not have conceded the title just yet. Not by a long way !. With three sides tied on six points and another team only a point further adrift it is obvious that matters will only become clearer after the second weekend of matches have been completed.
Former International Gareth Herbert, last year's British League Premier Division Player of the Season carried on where he had left off and not surprisingly won his eight singles. The point TTK dropped came at the rather unexpected hands of sixth-placed EBS-Orange Westfield I. The Northants side came out battling and even Gareth Herbert found himself stretched. Herbert eventually saw off Chris Doran 11-8, 14-12, 6-11, 11-9 and Eric Amoah 11-4, 11-7, 10-12, 11-4. Superb scores by Doran, the England no. eighteen Junior against the current England number seven Senior.
It seems that perhaps the "Paul-Darius" factor is pushing all Juniors to attempt to raise their levels if they want any chance at all of competing with the current leading England Juniors. Current England International Natalie Bawden, missed out to Eric Amoah 3-1 but she hit back in her second singles as she gunned down Olu Boyede 3-0. The genial Henry Medellin, secured a hard-earned point for his new Club by making no mistake as he beat Steve Munson 11-4, 11-7, 11-8.
TTK showed their class in disposing of OLOP Impact I 6-2. Natalie Bawden stamped her all-action game on proceedings in no uncertain terms beating Hari Gehlot 11-9, 11-4, 11--8 whilst Veteran Chopper Dave Barr felt the full might of the Herbert armoury as Gareth raced home 11-4, 11-2, 11-6. Alex Green added an excellent victory over Stephen Gertsen whilst the reliable Medellin picked up two fine wins, a 11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9 victory over Hari Gehlot and a 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 win over Adam Laws.
Three sides are tied on six points in second place, and there appears little to separate DHS London Progress III, Bedford Modern I and Oxford Fireplace Centre II who will all have to face the leaders TTK Greenhouse I in the second weekend. Bedford Modern impressed by beating London Progress III 5-3 as a Martin Gray double (over Daniel Cannon and Ashley Stokes) gave the Bedford side the ascendancy. Brother Kevin added a superb victory over Tony Halling whilst Adam Gigli played his part as he beat Halling 11-7, 12-10, 11-9 to secure the success for Bedford in the last game. Bedford met their match against Oxford and despite a second half recovery they lost 5-3. Dave Richards and Eddie Roofe held the Oxford side together. Dave secured two timely victories, a 3-1 win over Kevin Gray and a storming 11-8, 11-6, 11-1 success over Adam Gigli. Experienced campaigner Eddie Roofe also showed up well and he made no mistake in beating Andy Trott 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 and he added a second win with a 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 success against Martin Gray.
The big surprise of the weekend was Oxford's complete capitulation against OLOP Impact I who romped home 8-0. Tim O'Mahoney missed out 12-10 in the fifth end to Adam Laws in the third game and that seemed to deflate the Oxford side dramatically as they never really came to terms with their opponents again. Dave Barr, Stephen Gertsen, Hari Gehlot and Adam Laws had it very much their own way on this occasion. With five points fifth placed OLOP are clearly not out of the frame either in this most competitive of divisions.
OLOP's match with EBS-Orange Westfield I finished level at 4-4 after five games were decided in the fifth end. OLOP raced into a 3-0 lead but the Westfield side hit back strongly taking the next four singles. Eric Amoah, a 14-12 fifth end loser to Stephen Gertsen showed how comfortable he is against chop as he hammered Dave Barr 11-4, 11-5, 11-2 whilst Chris Doran (a five-end loser to Barr) hit back in his second singles with a fifth game victory over Hari Gehlot. At 4-3 down Adam Laws secured a point for his team with a gradual weakening of the Steve Munson resolve. Adam eventually won 4-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6.
Steve Kerns
Press Officer British Table Tennis League
