In contrast to the last couple of seasons, when things were tight at the top, a clear pattern has emerged in all three divisions of the Braintree Table Tennis League at the mid-term break.

Unless something goes dramatically awry, Netts A will win division one, Sudbury Wanderers division two and Finchingfield A division three. They lead by 11, nine (with a match in hand) and 18 points respectively.

Netts A and last year’s champions Rayne A have kept more or less the same teams as last season: Paul Davison, James Hicks and Andy Holmes for Netts and Maria Boulton, Adam Buxton and Paul Lucas for Rayne.  

Last season Davison averaged 88 per cent, Hicks 75 and Holmes 79 while Boulton, Buxton and Lucas came in at 92, 76, 88 respectively. The figures this time have Netts on 100, 88, 79 and Rayne on 83, 67, 93.

Not only is Netts’ average higher, they have also have the substantial backing of new signing Gary Young, so far undefeated.

By comparison, Rayne have lost the services of Lee McHugh, whose 14 wins out of 15 greatly helped their cause last season.

Netts have been the model of consistency, only once failing to win at least eight sets in a match and that was when had to field a reserve and were restricted to 7-3.

The most important of those matches was when they overcame Rayne by the surprisingly convincing score of 9-1.

Division two has been something of a procession for Sudbury Wanderers with nine wins out of 10 and a nine-point lead with a match in hand at the halfway stage.

Ian Shrubsole and Louise Hartshorn, who both returned to the game in 2022 after a lengthy lay-off, are averaging 83 and 73 per cent respectively and with strong support from new signings Natalie Dodd (89 per cent), Colin Moss (83) and David Hitchen (64) they look well set to continue in cruise mode.

Rayne E, the only team to beat them, owe their second place overwhelmingly to Matthew Brown, who has won all 33 singles, plus ten doubles, accounting for 60 per cent of his team’s total.

Finchingfield A have been just as dominant in division three. An influx of new players enabled the club to enter two teams this year and allowed them to put most of their good eggs in the A team basket.

The addition to their ranks of Dave Punt, a regular division two player in 2023, and Peter Clark, part of the Netts C team that won division three in a canter in 2022, plus John Barrett and Ray Bradford from last season, has given them a solid platform.

They have won 11 out of 11, all but three by 8-2 or better.

Finally, an encouraging note: the number of juniors flourishing in the third division. Ten-year-old Ethan Collins leads the way with seven wins out of nine, an average of 77.8, which places him ninth in the division’s rankings. He’s followed by Lucien Nolan-Bradford, 16, on 73.3, JJ Calisin, also 16, on 71.4, Tom Verrier, 13, on 66.7 and Arun Cochrane, 11, on 55.6.