Lots of ups and downs in the Burnham & District Table Tennis Winter League this week, as Division 1 and 3 leaders extend their points margin, whilst in Division 2 leaders Maldon A suffer a rare and humiliating defeat.

But the story of the week must be Cold Norton D in Division 2 – up until now the only winless team across the whole league – who, out of nowhere, lay down an amazing 9-1 victory over a very tough opponent. 

Cold Norton B have maintained their drive to retain the League crown over the Xmas period, and this week came through a tricky tie with the in-form Mapledene B. The final score was 7-3, but Mapledene were a player down and the scores could have been a lot closer had they been fully loaded.

On the night, Cold Norton’s hitman Ian Wall was in fine fettle and didn’t drop a match all evening. Mapledene’s Kieran Skeggs picked up two wins including a very notable victory over Sam Lowman.

Fambridge continue to stay in touch with the league leaders and are now the only credible threat. This week they triumphed over a young and zestful Woodham A side with a stand-out win for the stoic Mark Stones over the recently crowned Chelmsford Singles champion Dan Young. That epic win was enough to give Stones a hat-trick and a very deserved player of the match accolade.

Stones was ably supported by Paul Sayer with two wins and Bruce Kettle with a single point – a classic ‘Dusty Bin’ 3-2-1 combo. For Woodham, Young won his other matches and Dan Zeffie came through a tough five-setter with Kettle, clinching it 12-10 at the death. To complete the scoring Woodham took the doubles for an overall 6-4 win for Fambridge.

Mapledene A outblasted Cold Norton A with a 7-3 victorious scoreline. Liam Squirrell remains the man to beat, but none of the Nortonians came close as Squirrell added to his impressive win rate tally to remain at the top of the singles chart with just one loss all season.

Steve Muth added two points to the Mapledene tally and George Reeves chipped in with a very tight win over the tricky Kim Shead – going all the way to 14-12 in the decider. Norton’s Matt Stringer showed some metal coming from behind in both his five-set victories over Muth and Reeves.

Division 2 leaders Maldon A were dealt a low blow this week when they were roundly embarrassed by their own C team in a Maldon derby that could yet sway the destination of this year’s title. For the C team both Dawn Baldry and Marty Englander hit spectacular hat-tricks, with Chris Ravenhill chipping in with a five-set point over Ross Kirby, and the doubles with Englander. Despite the final score the matches were all close with none being settled in straight sets and half of the matches going to five sets – of which the C team won four!

Luckily for Maldon A their nearest rivals were doing battle this week and Mapledene C came away with a very tight 6-4 win over Blackwater A where a five-set doubles victory was enough to separate the peloton pushers. Another game with a plethora of five-setters – including Tony Ayliffe hanging on for dear life against the defending talents of Denis Balic that saw Ayliffe take a hat-trick and secure the victory in the final match of the evening. Lin Roff had a good evening with wins over Noah Sage and Neil Freeman, and she partnered up with Ayliffe for that all important doubles point.

The shock of the week was winless Cold Norton D discovering a bucketload of gumption and from nowhere destroying the regular Stow Maries B team. What a performance. Hat-tricks for the crafty Peter Lucraft, and Dick Wyman playing up from the E team, and two wins for regular Terry Hyland gave the previously hapless D team a 9-1 victory.

In the final match of the week Woodham C condemned Maldon B to bottom place with a steady 8-2 win. For Woodham there were hat-tricks for Tim Pulham and Scott Perry – with Pulham throwing a nine-dart finish and only dropping one leg in the doubles, which he blamed on partner Alan Dadswell anyways.

It remains all about Blackwater C in Division 3 as they steam towards the title – another 10 points this week as they whitewashed their own E team. Relatively straightforward hat-tricks all round for the impressive trio of Gary Smith, Peter Davenport and Tina Hutchinson. This win gives them a 43-point gap to the nearest rivals.

Maldon D had a good week as they came out of the traps strong in their encounter with Blackwater F. At 9-0 it looked like a whitewash was a certainty. In the final match Shirley Carroll went 2-0 up against David McHattie, but as her colleagues started to gather their possessions ready to leave McHattie came alive and rattled off the next three legs for an unexpected whitewash avoiding victory – great effort. Hat-tricks for both James Raymond and Luca Riedling.