Ken Lewis may have suffered another dent in his record, but Sudbury Nomads can be more than pleased with their victory over Liberal C that smooths their way to the Braintree Table Tennis League division two title.

Gareth Davies became only the second person to beat Lewis this season, although he was made to work hard, coming from two games behind before winning the final game at 12-10.

But he could not repeat the feat against Karl Baldwin, who took his three singles to help Nomads towards a 7-3 victory that leaves them 37 points ahead of Liberal C, albeit from one match more.

Liberal slip to four points behind Black Notley D, who beat their own F team 6-4.

Sean and Adam Clift accounted for the six wins but unexpectedly came second best in the doubles to Lawrence Grantham and Guy McKenzie.

In another Notley v Notley match, the C team edged home 6-4 against the E team, with Gordon Fairchild unbeaten.

The teams in seventh and eighth places, Netts C and Rayne D, shared the points, with Adi Kamma unbeaten for Rayne.

Things have got tight at the top of division three – in fact they could not be tighter. Sudbury Wanderers’ 9-1 win over Netts D closed the three-point gap on Rayne E, who could only beat Netts E 6-4.

Oliver Hicks was missing in the Rayne E line-up but Martin Brunker held the side together with his three singles. For Wanderers, Geoff Barrett’s defeat by Michael Goodchild was the only one that did not go their way.

Third-placed Notley G dropped further back after a 6-4 reverse at the hands of their own I team, the highlight of which was an excellent win for Matt Stephenson over Jamie Brooks in one of those rare encounters where all five games were decided by two points: 9-11, 10-12, 13-11, 17-15, 12-10.

Graham Chinnery took his record to 33 wins out of 36 in Notley H’s 6-4 win over Rayne G.

In division one, the top two teams, Netts A and Rayne A, were playing their own B teams. Rayne duly returned home 10-0 better off while Netts dropped two sets.

Liberal B ended their brief spell in last place with an 8-2 win over Notley A that lifts them back above their own A team and one point behind Notley A with a match in hand.

Robin Armstrong’s defeat by Takunda Nerutanga was the only singles to elude them.

Zach Harrington was in excellent form for Liberal A, winning his three singles in the draw with Notley B, his first hat-trick of the season.