Veterans British Clubs League 1st Weekend - 5-6 October 2024
The Veterans British Clubs League new season got underway at Derby Arena over the weekend with Cippenham's three teams, two men's and one women's, all performing creditably.
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The men's first team of Dave Barr, Andy Trott, Martin Adams and new to the age-group, Rob Hansell, playing in Division 1A, had high hopes of starting their quest for the single promotion spot to the Premier Division from which they were relegated last season.
With Andy not available on the Saturday, things started off well against Foresters C, with Dave and Martin securing victories over Lewis Mayhew and Adrian Moore respectively, although Rob narrowly lost out to Rob Anderson. Dave secured victory over Adrian Moore to restore the two set advantage before Rob, who seemed to be struggling a little with confidence and needing to grow accustomed to the venue, was again frustratingly narrowly defeated, this time by Lewis Mayhew 11-13 in the fifth. Despite also going to a fifth game with Rob Anderson, Martin was able to see out the 4-2 win and get the first two points secured.
The second encounter with The Musketeers was always going to be a tight one. Martin continued where he left off, seeing off the highly-rated Sujay Jagannathan in five but Dave lost out to Tim Dyson to equal the match score at 1-1. There was a clash of styles as Rob had no answer to Shahriar Masoudi's combination play and, after Dave's narrow defeat to Jagannathan, Cippenham were on the brink at 1-3. However Martin quickly worked out Masoudi and it was all on Rob to force a draw. He stepped up to the plate and saw off Tim Dyson 3-1, one of only two matches the Yorkshireman would lose all weekend.
Next up was St Georges, led by former Cippenham member Mark Jackson, who was defeated by Martin after Dave had dispatched fellow defender, Ben Willson, in five tight games. Rob was narrowly defeated by the all-out attack of Ryan Stockham but the setback was only temporary as Dave saw off Jackson and Rob secured a win against Ben Willson, both comfortably. With the two points already assured, Martin suffered his first defeat, also at the hands of Stockham, despite an epic comeback from 3-9 to 9-9 in the fifth.
The Sunday morning match was crucial to the team's future in this division as, with Andy now available, they faced off with division leaders Jenkins Windows, a team consisting of Scottish and Irish international players who proved their credentials by racing into a 2-0 lead. Stewart Crawford had too much ammunition for Andy and Daryl Strong, despite an uncomfortable opening, was able to counter Dave's defence admirably. Martin narrowed the match score with victory over Gerry Campbell but the two-set cushion was restored by Crawford over Dave. Andy ensured the match would go the distance in seeing off Campbell, but it wasn't to be as Martin had no response to Strong's consistency and intensity. The match thus resulted in a 2-4 defeat. Crawford and Strong would both end the weekend with 10/10.
However, business was not finished as Foresters B were Cippenham's final opponents. Things didn't start to plan as the eccentric Jack Boult managed to cling on to Andy's coat tails and pip a win with the tightest of margins before Martin was able to outfox Stuart McIntyre. Next up, Rob grew in confidence to see off Sean Madden before Andy defeated McIntryre with ease. Rob secured the win over Boult and Martin provided the icing on the cake over Madden. The final result 5-1. The team is creditably placed second but with a three point deficit to the leaders, promotion seems unlikely if the Jenkins' squad stays together for the second weekend.
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Meanwhile, the Cippenham men' second team were operating in Division 3A and gained one victory and three draws from their five matches. Spearheading the team was Reading's Hari Gehlot, who has dropped down from having played several seasons in the first team, and he was assisted by team-mates Steve Joel, Samson Bekele and Paul Baker. For three of the first four matches the points were shared as Draycott 3, CVS Rams and Graham Spicer all held Cippenham to 3-3 draws. For winning his two matches in the match against New Malden-based Spicers, Hari won the player of the match award, as did Steve against CVS Rams, helped by a superb 3-0 win over Rams' number one player Mark Ramsbottom who went on to defeat Hari by a similar score. Paul held a 2-1 lead against Andrew Jackson but could not quite convert this to give Cippenham their first win of the season. The opening match against Draycott 3 had seen Hari also bag a brace over Christopher Torr and Alan Cherry, both by the finest margins in the deciding game.
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In between these drawn matches was Cippenham's only loss of the weekend when top-of-the-table Admiral Paws ran out 5-1 winners after Hari had given his team an early lead beating Dave Tiplady 3-0. However, the weekend ended on a high note as the Cippenham second team beat the St Georges second team 4-2 to finish the weekend in third place in the division. Samson was the star for Cippenham in this match, winning his two matches while Hari and Steve were both defeated by the Saints' number one Richard Hayes.
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Cippenham Ladies were playing in Women's Division 3 and completed the first weekend in fifth place out of eight but with two of the lesser teams still to play before the division splits into top and bottom halves in the new year. Cippenham won two of their five matches and on both occasions the player of the match was Julie Dean. First up were Halton, and in a slightly one-sided match Cippenham beat the bottom team 5-1, Mary Heffernan also bagging a brace while Sue Hayes added the other. Mary was then Cippenham's only winner in the second match against Butterfly Lilleshall Lightning when she beat her opposing number one Rebecca Hurrell 3-0 and was unlucky to concede to Sarah Hudson 16-14 in the fifth. Saturday concluded with a 3-3 draw against Foresters fifth team. This time Mary did take her two and the player of the match award. With Julie losing both her matches 3-0 it was left to Sue Hayes to clinch the points for Cippenham which she did with a 3-0 score against Katherine McIntyre.
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The first two individual encounters on Sunday morning were both won 11-9 in the fifth game, by Mary over Helen Shields, and Julie, over Heidi Smith and this set up a welcome second victory, 4-2 over Sutton at Hone. Sue extended Cippenham's lead further when beating Carol Homewood but successive losses by Mary and Sue meant it was left to Julie to wrap up the win against Homewood, which she did 3-0 and with it earned the player of the match award. The final match of the weekend saw Cippenham up against division leaders Norther Belles who romped to a 5-1 win with Mary securing Cippenham's only score against Christine Williams.