Rayne A’s tilt at this season’s Braintree Table Tennis League title didn’t quite get off to the start that was expected.

None of their 2024 championship-winning squad turned out in their first match. Instead, it was left to their three new signings Nigel Peters, Kuan Lim and Carl Johnson to face Liberal A.

Nor was it Liberal’s strongest team, with neither Peter Hayden nor Brandon Crouchman in action. Current men’s singles champion Scott Dowsett was there but he clearly hasn’t acclimatised himself to the new season and won only once.

He was shown the way by his team-mate Zach Harrington, who had one of his best evenings in the league, winning all three of his singles, plus the doubles with Dowsett. The match ended in a draw.

Champions Netts A were without a match but last season’s runners-up Sudbury Nomads found it tough going.

They opened up with an 8-2 defeat at the hands of Black Notley A with Joe Addley undefeated for the visitors.

Addley’s wins were all in straight games, including 11-8, 11-8, 11-3 over Richard Fifield, who had won his other two sets.

The same day that Liberal and Rayne’s A teams faced each other, their B teams also met, where the latter scored a 6-4 win. Victor Chan, Keith Martin and Steve Pennell each won twice.

Rayne C, essentially last season’s B team, shared the points with Sudbury Wanderers.

In Division Two, the two likely title contenders got off to strong starts, Notley B overcoming Netts C 9-1 while Sudbury Strollers went one better against Rayne E.

Notley’s D team also won, 8-2 against Yeldham A. Mel Cooch was unbeaten, including a good win over Roy Hooper, who had beaten him twice last season on his way to a 79 per cent average.

The club’s C and E teams were less successful. The C team lost 7-3 to Rayne F, for whom James Grimston was unbeaten, while the newly promoted E team found Rayne D a touch too much, going down 8-2. Conrad Gomes was undefeated for Rayne.

Title favourites Finchingfield B got off to a perfect start in Division Three, a 10-0 win over Netts F, where only two sets were stretched to four games.

Likely challengers Notley F were held to 6-4 by Rayne G. Wayne Wilson was unbeaten for Notley, including a win over Gomes.

In the battle of the H teams, Notley beat Rayne with new signing Gary Kirkby and the returning Peter Foster unbeaten.

The story here though was the appearance of Rayne’s Ian Rubens, who turned 90 earlier this year. Records don’t stretch all the way back to the league’s formation in 1948 but it’s a pretty fair bet that he’s the first nonagenarian to play in the league.