Division One
Lay Off Leaves Robinson Stranded

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Division Two
Lakeside Awash With Wins


Things are getting tight at the top of the Division, with Winchcombe Legends only eight points ahead of Saracens A (115 to107), but with a game in hand, and Lakeside B closing fast on 101 points, with two games in hand on Saracens A and one on Legends, so no one can afford any slip-ups!

The Battle of Cleeve Saracens went fairly and squarely to the A team. The B team were unfortunately down to two players due to a family bereavement but in all probability, as Tony Iles and Mark Nally couldn't dent the progress of the Wadley/Dodwell/Sims juggernaut, it might not have made much difference to the 9-1 scoreline anyway. However, Mark and Tony were keen to avoid the whitewash and triumphed in four close sets in the doubles over Mike and Dennis.

Phil King's excellent form this season took a bit of a battering as CCS A went down 10-0 at home to CTTC C. Although Phil took Martin Smith to five sets, as did Steve Murton against Dave Green, and a couple of other games went to 4 sets, CCS A were unable to stem the tide and avoid the whitewash.

Old Saracens continue to suffer from the absence of Judy Morley, going down 10-0 to the strong Lakeside B team of Andy East, Chris Ball and Paul Singh, with none of the Saracens players making much impression on the opposition's still unbeaten run of wins; they remain the only team in the Division not to have lost a match yet. What are the odds that they might get through the whole season unscathed, I wonder? The match against Winchcombe Legends will be crucial, Lakeside having squeezed home 6-4 in the first half.

The other Lakeside team, the C side, were unable to knock Winchcombe Legends off their perch, going down 3-7 to Darrell Wiltshire, Chris Lane and Jacqui Carver, although Chris White was delighted to come away with a max, thereby gaining revenge for his loss to Chris Lane in the first half. But the result could have been a lot closer, as Darrell took five sets to overcome Julie Taylor (11-5 in the fifth) and Chris Lane only just managed to edge out Graham Chandler 11-7 in the fifth, after a spirited recovery by Graham from 2-0 down.

Cheltenham D's Chris James had an excellent couple of evenings against Tewkesbury A and Tirley Tigers, achieving max-es in both matches, although he was made to work really hard by Tewkesbury's Alan Cook and Mike Maxwell for his successes, needing 5 sets in each case to gain the wins. Alan also had a long 5-setter against Cheltenham D's Alan Harvey, before finally going down 12-10 in the fifth. Mike Maxwell was Tewkesbury's only singles winner, beating both Alan Harvey and Matt Mulcahy in three straight, and also combining with Mike Tyrrell in the doubles to notch up Tewkesbury's third success in a tightly-fought 4-setter.

By comparison Cheltenham D's 8-2 win over Tirley was not quite so tight, with only Elaine Evans (against Matt Mulcahy) and Pete Humble (against Alan Harvey) registering wins, but Pete also pushed Matt hard for his win, only going down 11-6 in the fifth after a see-saw match. Janie Kirby is still searching for her first win of the season; her cakes are still excellent, if only she could find the same recipe for success on the table-tennis table as well.

Under-strength CCS A did well to manage a 5-5 draw with Tirley Tigers, thanks to yet another maximum from Phil King, aided and abetted by two from Steve Murton. However Phil was made to work hard by Elaine Evans for this third win; after cruising to a 2-0 lead, he was pulled back to 2-2 by Elaine’s determined fight back but finally managed to squeeze home 11-7 in the  fifth, despite Elaine continuing to produce some powerful hitting on both wings.
 
A long and hard-fought match saw Winchcombe Legends just come out on top by 6-4 against Saracens A, despite the epic clash between Saracens’ Dennis Wadley and Legends’ Chris Lane going eventually to Dennis after a 5-set thriller by 11-8 in the fifth.  Dennis had to work hard against both the other Legends players as well, taking 5 sets to beat Darrell Wiltshire and four to overcome Stewart Ratcliffe, but was unable to make it a clean sweep with Mike Dodwell in the doubles, going down to Chris and Darrell in four sets and leaving Legends winners by the skin of their teeth.
 
Lakeside C’s 10-0 victory over Old Saracens demonstrated just how dependent on Judy Morley Saracens have been for their accumulation of points over recent fixtures.   Her absence due to injury will be a serious blow to Saracens’ chances of survival in this Division, as none of their players were able to seriously dent the Lakeside trio on the night.
 
Tewkesbury A were no match for the dynamic duo of Andy East and Chris Ball, who once again chalked up max-es for Lakeside B.  Graham Chandler weighed in with a further singles win to leave Lakeside comfortable winners by 8-2, although Alan Cook and Rob Amphlett will take some comfort from their wins over Graham.  Rob also ran Andy East extremely close in their singles encounter in a see-saw match that saw Andy squeeze home at the last gasp 11-9 in the fifth.
 
The clash between Cheltenham C and D saw the C side emerge easy winners by 9-1.  Although a 10-0 must have looked on the cards, with all the singles going to the C team, the D team were determined not to allow the whitewash and fought hard to save their honour with a 5-set victory in the doubles, courtesy of Matt Mulcahy and Alan Harvey, with all sets being tightly contested and none less than 11-8.  I always find it interesting how a good doubles combination, which has good understanding and unselfish cooperation between the two players, can often reverse individual singles losses – here was a case in point, but there have been many other examples throughout the season so far.

Steve Murton
Division Two Secretary

CCS A	0	Cheltenham C	10	Mel Garlick, Martin Smith, Dave Green
Lakeside B	10	Old Saracens	0	Andy East, Chris Ball, Paul Singh
Lakeside C	3	Winchcombe Legends	7	Chris White
Cheltenham D	7	Tewkesbury A	3	Chris James
Cheltenham D	8	Tirley Tigers	2	Chris James
Cleeve Saracens A	9	Cleeve Saracens B	1	Mike Dodwell, Dennis Wadley, Terry Sims
Tirley Tigers	5	CCS A	4	Phil King
Winchcombe Legends	6	Cleeve Saracens	4	Dennis Wadley
Lakeside C	10	Old Saracens	0	Trevor Oliver, Chris White, Barrie Pope
Tewkesbury A	2	Lakeside B	8	Andy East, Chris Ball
Cheltenham C	9	Cheltenham D	1	Christine Williams, Martin Smith, Dave Breen

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Division Three
Eagles Slip At Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury B demonstrated why they are runaway leaders of the division by comprehensively beating Cleeve Eagles, who are one of the increasingly distant chasing group. John Goodchild and Simon Lockley won three each. The Eagles only compensation on the back of a 1-9 scoreline was Dan Crook’s victory over John Teare.

Cheltenham G were 8-2 winners over Cheltenham F, although the majority of sets went to four games. Cheltenham G’s Jon Laramy was the star player with a maximum, although he was severely tested by Matt Wells, narrowly coming through 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7.

With Civil Service B a player short, Winchcombe Viking’s Alan Gallop and Dick Prior took full advantage by completing a 9-1 victory.

The next time that Cleeve Eagles and Winchcombe Vikings meet, they will in all probability send out for a take-away half way through, such was the lengthy duration of their recent confrontation. In seven of the ten sets, it took five games to find a victor, and thus the end result was always in doubt. Inevitably, the doubles followed this extended pattern, eventually enabling Eagles to squeeze home as 6-4 winners. However, it was Viking’s Roy Gavin who took the individual credit, being the only player to achieve a maximum. He got in some good practice, playing fifteen singles games on the night, but used all of his experience to edge through in all three sets.

There was little to choose between Civil Service B and Cheltenham G, and it took a maximum from Ryan Godwin to pull Cheltenham through to a 6-4 win. The key match was between Ryan and Rob Browning, in which Ryan came from behind to record a 9-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-9, 11-8 win.

Tewkesbury B continue to take their undoubted route back to Division Two with an emphatic 8-2 win over Cheltenham E. The Cheltenham side did however manage to take four of the sets to five games, and also pinched the doubles, where James Bird and Carey Maisey overcame John Goodchild and Simon Lockley.

Cheltenham E gained an expected victory over bottom side Cheltenham H, but conceded two points, with Richard Comley and Max Kelly scoring individual successes for the H side. James Bird and Andy Smith secured three wins each.

Derek Brown
Division Three Secretary 

Cleeve Eagles	6	Winchcombe Vikings	4	R Gavin
Cheltenham G	6	Civil Service B	4	R Godwin
Tewkesbury B	8	Cheltenham E	2	J Goodchild, S Lockley
Cheltenham E	8	Cheltenham H	2	J Bird, A Smith

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