Chesterwell are looking unstoppable

Chesterwell D look to be unstoppable in their quest for the Division Three title in the Wellingborough & District Table Tennis League.
Kevin BirdKevin Bird
Kevin Bird

They made it six wins out of six with a 10-0 whitewash of WDHA Challengers with only one singles game requiring a fourth end.

The doubles saw Hubert Malenda and Ansh Shah push Johnathan Driscoll and Daniel Mann to a deciding fifth end before bowing out 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 5-11.

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The clash between second-placed Wanderers E and third-placed Stanwick ended in a 5-5 draw.

David May lost his unbeaten record to both Kevin Tivey and Jon Tuplin, a great result for Stanwick.

Tivey earned a hat-trick and he and Jon Tuplin combined to add the doubles to tie the fixture. Derek Shears and Steve Hoole got two wins each for Wanderers.

Stanwick’s other game of the week saw them beat WDHA Knightriders 9-1 with Kavish Dodhia saving the whitewash with an 11-6 fifth-end victory over Tuplin.

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Geoff Neville was in action in this game and won a hat-trick without dropping an end and he was well supported by Al Hayes, who also secured a treble. The duo then combined to win the doubles.

Knightriders also suffered an 8-2 loss to Higham Harriers C as Asish Patel and Dodhia managed to score a single victory apiece over Jamie Laughton, who registered his first win of the season against Jay Mandela.

Oli and Matt Hicks secured fine wins and teamed up to add the doubles in three.

Higham Band B beat Westfield E 8-2, although John Yeates had trouble with two of his opponents, losing out to Nicole King and Ian Rae in the fourth and fifth ends respectively.

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Yeates did secure a point against Wendy Bradford while the rest were earned thanks to trebles for Raylee Burton and Devlin Whitmore while Yeates joined Whitmore to win the doubles.

Chesterwell E conceded the doubles against Westfield D, gifting them the 10-0 whitewash.

It was a full complement of points with hat-tricks for Stuart Holroyd, Asish Nandi and Amrat Mistry.

Results: Stanwick VHTTC 9 (Geoff Neville 3, Al Hayes 3, Jon Tuplin 2, doubles Neville/Hayes) WDHA Knightriders 1 (Kavish Dodhia), Higham Band B 8 (Devlin Whitmore 3, John Yeates 1, Raylee Burton 3, doubles Whitmore/Yeates) Westfield E 2 (Nicole King, Ian Rae), WDHA Knightriders 2 (Anish Patel, Kavish Dodhia) Higham Harriers C 8 (Oli Hicks3, Matt Hicks 3, Jamie Laughton, doubles Hicks/Hicks), Westfield D 10 (Stuart Holroyd 3, Asish Nandi 3, Amrat Mistry 3, doubles conceded), Chesterwell E 0, WDHA Challengers C 0 Chesterwell D 10 (Johnathan Driscoll 3, Duncan Wright 3, Daniel Mann 3, doubles Driscoll/Mann), Wanderers E 5 (David May, Derek Shears 2, Steve Hoole 2) Stanwick VHTTC 5 (Kevin Tivey 3, Jon Tuplin, doubles Tivey/Tuplin).

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Kevin and Nicole Bird, the father and daughter combination tend to be a class above most teams and they again cruised to trebles without dropping a leg as Westfield A beat Chesterwell B in Division One.

However, their team-mate Travis Holly is struggling for form and despite beating a below par Luke Hughes, Holly lost in four ends to both Graham Ellson and Carlton Ellwood.

A decade or so ago, Ian Bird was one of the best players in the county and he has returned to strengthen a struggling Higham Harriers A side.

He opened by dropping the first two legs to Chesterwell A’ Valdy Papiernik but got into his stride to win out 6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7.

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Against an old adversary in Mike Pond he won out 12-10, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9 and similarly saw off Stan Galkowski in four.

Unfortunately for the second week running, Martyn Reeves only put up token resistance, again failing to register even a leg.

Norman Wooster fought hard without success against Galkowski and Pond, but disappointed in a 6-11, 3-11, 1-11 defeat to Papiernik as Chesterwell sealed a 7-3 victory.

At full strength, St John A can compete with the best and they claimed an 8-2 win at Old Grammarians A.

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Grant Timms completed a fine treble, his highlight being an 8-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, victory over Steve Kendall in his opener.

Mick Ball was well below par and, together with Phil Laurence, failed to register.

Kendall had too much in his locker for Richard Wills and Pete Boustred to gain the hosts their two points.

Ethan Ali gained an excellent treble for hosts WDHA Royals in their 5-5 draw with Wanderers A, which included an 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 win over Tony Wharton who is finding the going much tougher this season.

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Shyam Bavalia gave a disappointing display, failing to register or even gain a leg.

John Stamp did well to win out 11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6 over Abin Islam who had earlier seen off Tony Wharton.

With the match dependent on the doubles, the visiting pairing of Wharton and Law gained the draw in a tense finish, winning out 5-11, 11-5, 12-10, 12-14, 11-8 over Islam and Ali.

Results: Westfield A 8 (Kevin Bird 3, Nicole Bird 3, Travis Holly, doubles Bird/Bird) Chesterwell B 2 (Graham Ellson, Carlton Ellwood), Chesterwell A 7 (Stan Galkowski 2, Mike Pond 2, Valdy Papiernik 2, doubles Pond/Galkowski) Higham Harriers A 3 (Ian Bird), Old Grammarians A 2 (Steve Kendall 2) St John A 8 (Pete Boustred 2, Richard Wills 2, Grant Timms 3, doubles Boustred/Timms), WDHA Royals 5 (Ethan Ali 3, Abin Islam 2) Wanderers A 5 (Tony Wharton, Andy Law, John Stamp 2, doubles Wharton/Law).

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The week’s big winners in Division Two were Chesterwell C with a thumping 9-1 victory over Wanderers D.

Maxine Shears and John Henderson, making his debut for the season, both scored maximums and were well supported by Clare Coles with a good double.

Roger Ellingham scored a consolation win for the visitors which prevented the whitewash and Coles and Shears finally took the doubles and lifted Chesterwell off the bottom of the table.

Westfield B were 7-3 winners in the top-of-the-table clash at St John B.

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Fine trebles from Charlie Morrow and Mark Thomas, two of the league’s most consistent performers, did most of the damage and a single win from Charlie Clements completed Westfield’s points.

For the home team, Mike Terry and Alan Hill scored single wins before Terry and David Hatherall did very well with a surprising win in the doubles against Westfield’s two unbeaten players.

Maximums from Jack Bain and Dev Patel and a single win for Daniel Bain, playing up from Division Three, saw WDHA Superkings climb four positions into third as they saw off Higham Harriers B 7-3.

Phil Inman and Neil Stevens scored a win apiece for the visitors and then teamed up to seal a fine doubles win, also against the home team’s unbeaten players.

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Anthony Stevens, yet to get off the mark this season, made a brave effort, taking two of the Superkings’ players to five ends but ended the night pointless.

Results: Chesterwell C 9 (Maxine Shears 3, John Henderson 3, Clare Coles 2, doubles Shears/Coles) Wanderers D 1 (Roger Ellingham), St John B 3 (Mike Terry, Alan Hill, doubles Terry/Hatherall) Westfield B 7 (Charlie Clements, Charlie Morrow 3, Mark Thomas 3), WDHA Superkings 7 (Daniel Bain, Jack Bain 3, Dev Patel 3) Higham Harriers B 3 (Phill Inman, Neil Stevens, doubles Inman/Stevens).