SEVENOAKS TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE
JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT DIVISION – 20.03.10
DARENTH A EMERGE UNBEATEN WHILE AMHERST A CLAIM RUNNERS-UP SPOT
The quest to take a point from Darenth A continued unabated at the last Development Division meeting whilst Amherst A had their eyes firmly on the runners up spot. Their nearest rivals were Darenth B but their cause wasn't helped by the fact they had to do without their strong man Rory Ward whose services were required by the A team as neither Nick James nor Pat Smith were available.
The match between Darenth B (Josh Da Rocha/Lizzie Ineson) and Amherst A (Will Gray/Rowan Kiely) was key to deciding the runners up spot. Gray found his hands full with Da Rocha and could easily have lost the opening set. There was some excellent play, Da Rocha bringing off some splendid counter hits when Gray thought he'd won the point. The score line speaks for itself, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10, 18-16. Ineson always goes for her shots and pinched a game from Kiely but wasn't quite able to force the fifth game. Amherst took a winning lead by securing the doubles in four but were then made to work hard for their successes in the reverse singles. 5-0 to Amherst A sealed the runners-up spot in their favour but it was a big disappointment for the Darenth team.
The Amherst C (Tommy Mack/Zeeshan Kisat) and Amherst B (Toby Barlow/Tom Connolly) derby was always going to be keenly contested, the B feeling they had a point to prove. They won the match 5-0 but there were some very good points played. It was pleasing to see players thinking about what they were doing and trying to get an advantage from newly acquired serving skills. Mack was brave to play at all having injured his playing hand during a morning football match.
Solefield (Brandon Anderson/Rory Dickson) put up a brave fight against Darenth A (Harry Cork/Rory Ward). At no time did they throw in the towel even though they lost 0-5. Both players took a game from Cork, and Dickson could well have taken him the distance. Cork was relieved to get the fourth 14-12; a fifth game would have been very interesting indeed.
The tenth round brought the best matches without a doubt as players strove that little bit harder to do well.
Solefield continued to battle on. Gray had to work hard to defeat Dickson 11-6, 13-11, 12-14, 11-9. Dickson is turning out to be a real thinker who doesn't give up. Kiely defeated Anderson in straight games to put Amherst A 2-0 up. A marathon doubles followed that. Despite losing the fourth game 1-11 the Solefield pair fought back courageously in the fifth game and pinched it 13-11 much to their delight. This obviously gave them a boost and Dickson went on to defeat Kiely over five very tough games in yet another good set which levelled the score at 2 all. There was more hard work for Gray in the deciding set with Anderson who stretched him to the limit. It was much closer than a 3-1 win for Gray suggests, the scores tell the story, 12-10, 11-5, 10-12, 15-13 but it brought Amherst A 3-2 victory.
Amherst C had a change in line up for their match with Darenth B (Ineson /Da Rocha) with Jem Arnold partnering Kisat while Mack was whisked off to A&E for a check up. Ineson and Da Rocha have been performing fairly well but just losing out on those long five game sets which is frustrating for them. Amherst C might be bottom of the table but Arnold and Kisat weren't there to make up the numbers and got their heads down from the word go. Winning their first match of the season was a big incentive. Arnold set them on the right road to a win with a 3-0 win over Ineson and Kisat turned round a 2-0 deficit to defeat Da Rocha in an excellent set. Amherst managed to hang on in the fourth game of the doubles to take a winning lead, much to their delight, and Kisat followed up with his second win of the afternoon, defeating the much taller Ineson in four. The last set between Da Rocha and Arnold was a real tussle, a battle between two very determined characters. Da Rocha went 2-1 down but came back to level at 2 games all. The deciding game swung this way and that before Da Rocha managed to edge Arnold out 15-13 to get a point on the board for Darenth B.
Darenth A (Ward/Cork) kept their unbeaten record against Amherst B (Barlow/Connolly). It is quite an achievement to go through an entire season without dropping a point and has never been done before in the League's history. It wasn't for want of effort that Amherst B lost, both players fought bravely and it looked at one stage as if Barlow was going to pull off a win over Cork in the last set of the day but it wasn't to be. His late charge was thwarted by Cork at 11-9 in the fifth.
What started out three years ago as a Gala Day between the Darenth, Amherst and Meopham clubs has come to fruition with an excellent competition. It has been interesting to watch the youngsters develop as the season has progressed and the enthusiasm has been simply infectious. The late Sarah Dowe who did so much for junior table tennis in West Kent would have approved. The cup named in her memory goes to Darenth A but already the youngsters are talking of next year and all will be keen to get their hands on that magnificent trophy.