fourdivisionreport

Results for week 26:

Rainham 83 X (Peek 0, Daukes 0, Goodale 0) 0
Chatham Hector (Shopland 3, Coomber 3, Wells 3) 10

Anchorians IV (Bruce 0, Sayer 1) 1
Chatham Furious (Chipperfield 2, Harrington 2, Larner 1) 9

Howard VIII (Smith 3, Essop 3, Bird 3) 10
Chatham Javelin (Griffiths 0, Richards 0, Hawkes 0) 0

Divisional Secretary's report:

The top three teams were involved in this final week of the season:

Monday:
There could not be a better illustration of the highs and lows of the season as Hector won at Rainham 83 by 10-0. This lifted Hector temporarily to the top of the table, thus putting pressure on Howard VIII to score at least six points in its final match. Hugh Daukes tried to rattle Joel Shopland's cage by winning the first game in their contest by 15-13 but then lost the next three games. He teamed up with Graham Goodale, making a rare appearance, but lost in four games to Shopland and Nick Coomber. Coomber and George Wells completed the rout to finish a great season with promotion secured.

Tuesday:
With Hector safe in the promotion places, it was a curious decision by Furious to omit regular players from its line up and play Dennis Harrington and Roger Chipperfield against Anchorians, now out of the running for second place and only able to field two players. Furious won 9-1.

Thursday:
Howard VIII made absolutely sure of winning the division by the annihilation of Javelin 10-0. Although Mike Smith has steered the team by playing in 10 matches, it must be said that his young fellow team members have produced the goods and steadily improved over the season. On this occasion, Lewis Griffiths, Adam Richards and Richard Hawkes had no answer to the supremacy of Mike, Ismael Essop and Warren Bird.

In summary:

Congratulations to Howard VIII, captained by Mike Smith and ably supported by the young trio of Ismael Essop, Michael O'Neill and Warren Bird. They deservedly won the title and only lost one match all season, to second-placed Chatham Hector, for whom Joel Shopland starred over the season. I wish both teams well in division 3 next season and hope they fare better than Dartway Rats (my team)!

Although it will be little consolation for finishing third in the team competition, the doubles league was narrowly won by Anchorians IV, for whom Tony Slater and Garry Kimber impressed the most. They were closely followed by Chatham Hector, one point behind.

The singles averages were headed by Eve Gurr of Sturdee IX (96.2%) and Mike Smith of Howard VIII (93.3%) to prove that age is no barrier to success in this sport!

Commiserations to Chatham Invincible who battled gamely during the season but ended at the foot of the table without a win. Rainham 83 X finished in ninth place with two wins but a long way from the team above, by 33 points.

FINAL RESULTS