County 2nd team report

Please find below a few words from Martin Gray about the County second team weekend which has just passed. Unfortunately Cambridge 2 finished bottom (3 Points) of Division 2C by a small margin closely followed by Leicester 2, Suffolk 2 and Oxford (all on 4 Points).

Cambridgeshire 2nd team travelled to Westfield Table Tennis Centre in Wellingborough on the weekend of the 24th and 25th October to take part in Divison 2C County table tennis Championships. Cambridge were represented by (left to right in the team photo) Helen Arnold (Impington) Caroline Wright (Cambridge), Tracey Sambrook (Impington) Martin Freeland (Soham), Tim Avis (NCI), and Li Wei (Cambridge).

All matches were played in a two table format so that the allotted 7 matches could be played over the weekend.

Saturday 24th

The first match for Cambs 2 saw them face off against Suffolk 2nd team.

Cambs v. Suffolk 2 5-5

Tim Avis and Martin Freeland were first on the tables against Charlie Fulcher and Nigel Hodder respectively. Both Cambs players looked nervous playing their matches with Tim Avis losing out in a close 9 in the 5th to the Number 2 player from Suffolk while Martin Freeland never really found his feet against Nigel Hodder (0-3), a player with much more experience. Cambs 0 Suffolk 2 2.

Next came Tracey Sambrook playing her first County game for Cambs and in some fashion winning 3-0. Li Wei Lost a close 4 ender against Gary Young to make the score 3-1 to Suffolk 2. Thankfully for Cambs, Suffolk 2 were a woman short meaning Helen Arnold was awarded a walkover to make the match 3-2. Martin Freeland was next up against Charlie Fulcher who had conquered Tim Avis in his first match. Freeland, finding slightly better form, managed to take the first leg but after that Fulcher put the preasure on to take the next 3. Tim Avis Managed a close 5 end win (11-9)against Gary Young to square the match at 4-4. Helen Arnold took a good close win against Sonja Talbot (Suffolk 2's only lady) 9 in the fifth to give Cambs a 5-4 lead. Unfortunely Li Wei was unable to get the win against Nigel Hodder, losing -7 in the fifth. Cambs were lucky that Suffolk 2 were a lady short!

Cambs v. Oxfordshire 6-4

A much better team performance all round with Martin Freeland picking up his first county win against Mick Portman. Jing Yu Sun, Oxford's Number 1, a penhold student at Oxford University showed why he is one of the best players in the divison with strong wins over Tim Avis and Li Wei. Both Helen Arnold and Tracey Sambrook seemed to settle well into their matches giving Cambs a 3-2 lead at the half way stage. Li Wei picked up another win to make it 4-2 with Tracey coming through strongly against Laurel Christer to give Cambs a 5-2 lead. Helen Arnold took the win in a battle of the number 1's against Janet Brown in 4 games. Cambs 2 first win!

Cambs v. Suffolk 1 0-10

Suffolk 1 were always going to be a hard match and Suffolk ran out easy 10-0 winners. Brothers Jack and Ryan Collins both around the top 100 in the men's rankings simply had too much fire power for the Cambs 2 men. Along with Strong ladies, Suffolk look to be one of the top teams in line to go up. Highlights of the match were Martin Freeland's match against Suffolk number 3 Andrew Warner losing in 4 games which were actually a lot closer than they appear on the score sheet and Caroline Wright's 5 end loss to the Suffolk number 2 lady.

Cambs v. Norfolk 1 4-6

Tim Avis got Cambs off to a flyer with a 3-0 win against Kevin Roper. Martin Freeland losing against Aaron Marche after coming back from 2-0 down and 10-6 down to falter slightly in the 5 end losing to 5. The more experienced Lindsey Dare took Helen Arnold 3-0 while Li Wei lost in 7 in the 5th to Andrew Hawes. Caroline Wright tried to get things back on track for Cambs with a 3-0 win over Rachel Tooke only for Kevin Roper and Andrew Hawes to take tight games against Martin Freeland and Tim Avis. Lindsey Dare's experience again gave Norfolk the Match with a 4 end win over Caroline Wright. While Li Wei Finished strongly against junior Aaron Marche to finish the match 4-6.

Sunday 25th

Cambs v. Bedfordshire 2-8

Li Wei started where he had left off the previous evening by taking a superb win over Beds No 1 Hammish Yeung 3-1. This is a great win for Li who was really firing early on in the morning. Unfortunately for Cambs they had to wait till game 8, where Tim Avis pulled off another strong win against Hammish Yeung in 4 games again, to get another point. Beds strength and depth and the fact they have two of the strongest ladies in the division mean that they will be hard for any team to beat.

Cambs v. Leicester 2 3-7

Good wins for Helen, Tracey and Li. The rest of the matches didn't seem to go Cambs way at all with many of the matches being lost in 4 games.

Cambs v. Northants  4-6

Cambs, losing the first 4 games, needed a fightback which again came in the form of Cambs ladies with Helen Arnold and Tracey Sambrook finishing the weekend on great form. Helen's win over Northants Number 1 Jordan Wood in 4 Games really excelled. With Cambs ladies supplying 3 points it was Li Wei who, even though Cambs had lost by this stage, made the result respectable by beating Mathew Carter 13-11 in the fifth to finish the day and weekend on a tight 6-4 loss.

Summary

The ladies of Cambs 2 really did provide a strong backbone to the team, supplying many of the vital points in most of the matches. Helen Arnold finishing the weekend on a strong 80% while team mates Tracey Seabrook (41.6%) and a slightly out of sorts Caroline Wright, who struggled with new pimples, but played well and won 1 out of 6. Li Wei finished on 35.71% while Tim Avis finished on 28%. Martin Freeland struggled with the jump in standard and finished on 7%. Beds 1 became county Division 2C winners by the closest of margins by 1 point beating a strong Suffolk team 13 points to 12. Hopefully next year the weekend will not fall on a grand prix event date which will free up some of our other players who were playing elsewhere which would have strengthened the team and made it much more competitive. A good weekend's table tennis was had by all players and a good team spirit made the two days play a good experience.