It was Cup week in the Burnham & District Table Tennis League with both Team Handicap Cup semi-finals being played on the Monday, and both came to very decisive conclusions.

Team Handicap Cup holders and clear favourites Cold Norton B hosted a handily handicapped Woodham B assortment at their Latchingdon stronghold. This notorious Handicap specialist team have yet to drop a single leg in their journey so far, but would they falter this week?

The Cold Norton trio of Sam Lowman (-17), Ian Wall (-18) and Captain Dan Anderson (-12) would have plenty of points to catch up in every leg of this semi-final with the three Woodham players all around the -5 mark.

In the opening doubles Lowman and Anderson started off at some pace to recover their -9 handicap against David Penrose (-5) and Harry Sawford (-6) and won the opening set at a canter. The Woodham boys fought back in the second leg and made a go of it for the crowd but the experience of the Cold Norton duo was just a bit too much.

Wall versus Eamonn Hall (-5) was the opening singles battle and it was soon backs against the Wall as Hall dominated the opening leg for an unexpected lead. The second and crucial leg saw Wall much more cagey and picking off his winners more selectively as Hall continued to defend but was given less opportunity to attack. With Wall now in the ascendency and the game all square the final leg was closer but once Wall caught up his handicap there was only one winner and despite the scare Cold Norton went 2-0 up.

It was a similar tale of the tape in the next singles as Lowman lost the first leg comfortably to Sawford but then sorted out his noggin, ignored his injured hip and went about his business in a more professional manner to rattle off the final two legs for another Nortonian recovery win. Anderson bucked the trend with a very tight but straight sets victory over Penrose despite having game points against in the opening leg that went to 25-23.

So, 4-0 up and Cold Norton field their finest doubles duo (on paper) for the crucial fifth contest of this semi-final. Lowman and Wall with a -12 start, against the right-left combo of Hall and Sawford. Well Lowman and Wall had recovered their handicap before the Woodham Boys had worked out the right way to serve for a right-left combo and the first game was gone in the blink of an eye. Woodham fought back in the second and had racked up enough points by the time Norton had recovered their handicap that the structure of the game was in Woodham’s favour and they finished strongly to even up the match. With Woodham now on top would this be the first loss of the season for the Nortonians? Well, no – they have better things to be doing with their time than taking Cup matches beyond the 5-0 status so Wall and Lowman did their team proud and crushed their opponents to win the leg, that match and secure yet another 5-0 overall victory that propels them into the final still without a single taste of defeat for any player.

Blackwater A, similar to Cold Norton B, had also not dropped a single leg throughout their campaign this season – but that been courtesy of two byes, so we had no real idea of their handicap form but we expected they would be tough to beat. Opponents Blackwater B had come through a tough last gasp 5-4 win over Woodham D in their quarter-final so they had plenty of skin in the game for this contest.

The opening doubles saw the A team’s Denis Balic (-6) and Alan Scammell (-5) take an early leg loss to the B team’s Louis Gunn (-3) and Gary Smith (+1) but this didn’t deter or hamper the A team duo as they went on to grind down the hard-working B boys and see out the opener for a 2-1 victory. Exactly the same scenario played out in the opening singles as the B team’s up and coming Noah Sage (-1) took the opening leg against the much more experienced Neil Freeman (-6), but the spirit of youth was quickly crushed as Freeman looped and smashed his way passed the Sage defence to regain his dominance and take the final two sets for the A team.

Balic was just too steady for Gunn in the next one and the A team soon had a 3-0 lead. Scammell took a relatively easy opening leg against Smith and it looked like he had his number, but Smith had other ideas and served and fought his way back into contention with a second leg reverse. Perhaps Smith had used up too much energy in that second leg as Scammell soon caught up the handicap in the deciding leg and then bamboozled Smith into submission to wrap things up for a seemingly unassailable 4-0 overall lead.

The crucial doubles saw Freeman and Balic win a tight opening leg against Gunn and Sage, but the B team duo weren’t going down lightly as they fought back and won the second leg – so all to play for in the decider. With just a five-point handicap to catch up it was important for the A team to have a good start so the gap remained achievable. This one was close all the way through as the teams traded points and the gap was tightening but only very slowly. As is befitting the competition we arrived at deuce (20-20), and at this point we would find out who had the mental wherewithal to triumph. No surprise as the experience of Balic and Freeman saw out the contest for another overall 5-0 victory – but a tough one for sure!

So an April final betwixt two unbeaten sides, neither of whom have dropped a single point in the journey so far.  

Despite the Cup week status we did still managed to sneak in a few League games and there was some decisive action in Division 2 as both the top sides dropped points unexpectedly.

Maldon B have had an up-and-down kind of season so their A side will not be thanking them for having their most ‘up’ day in this week’s Maldon derby where the B side routed the A team in a comprehensive 7-3 conquest where Steve Aspland and Marty Englander laid down serious hat-tricks. Aspland also combined with Garry Eames in the doubles for his most perfect four-ball of the season.

So, with Maldon A dropping points at will, surely Stow Maries A would jump at the chance to strengthen their lead and get at least a few digits, if not one hand, on the Division 2 Shield. Well, they might have done if they had fielded a full side in the clash with Mapledene C, but alas the fight was left to just two protagonists – Gary Brignall and Peter Chastin.

They did themselves proud though with Brignall scoring yet another hat-trick of wins and he was ably wing-manned by the tough to beat Chastin who was able to better Tony Ayliffe and Mike Johnston, but fell to the trusty forehand of Mapledene’s Andy Seaman. Seaman and Ayliffe then defeated the withering Stow duo in a five-set doubles confrontation that led to an overall sharing of the points. It could have been so much worse for the Stow outfit but looks like they have survived this scare.

In the final divisional bout this week Stow B and Stow C played out a competitive match that saw every player put at least a point on the scoreboard, with Nicky Reece-Ford going two better as he hat-tricked for the B side to secure the 7-3 win, with Tony Forster in support role with a decent brace.

Only one match in Division 3 this week and as usual when Maldon C take part the result is very decisive. This week’s victims were Maldon E, who worked hard but were no match for the C team trio of Marty Englander, Brian Riedling and Chris Ravenhill, all of whom laid down hat-tricks in the whitewash 10-0 win.

Englander was in devastating form taking just 12 legs to record four wins, combining with Ravenhill in the doubles. A win that just confirms Maldon C’s status as Champion-elect, and not surprisingly all three C team players are in the top four of the divisional player of the year running, each with an over 90% win rate – but chasing down the 100% man, Allan Steel, in top position.