Braintree League: No real upsets in cups

November 17, 2025 | Ron Fosker

The first round of the team and restricted cups in the Braintree Table Tennis League is invariably a case of sorting the wheat from the chaff.

And so it was this year as in all but two of the matches, the higher-placed team was victorious.

The exceptions were wins for Sudbury Nomads, 6-3 over Black Notley A, and Notley B, 5-3 over Liberal B in the team KO cup.

There were extenuating circumstances. In the league, Nomads were only two points behind Notley A with a match in hand, and Notley B three points behind Liberal B with a match in hand.

In the first match, both Nomads†Aron Jordan and Notleyâ€s Luke Berridge won two out of two.

Notley Bâ€s win was notable for an excellent performance by Mike Fenech. With no league experience before this season, he brought off excellent wins against seasoned veterans Guy McKenzie and Richard Jennings.

The top two, Netts A and Rayne A, both came through safely. Netts A beat their own B team 5-0 while Rayne beat Sudbury Wanderers 5-2.

Rayne will have five teams in the quarter-finals. The C and D teams both had byes while the B team came through comfortably, 6-2 against second division Yeldham Whitlocks A. Keith Martin and Dave Moles were unbeaten.

Rayne E were the only second division team to win their way through. They had a convincing 8-1 win over Netts C, with only two sets going beyond three games.

James Grimston and Richard Whiteside were unbeaten while David Montgomery picked up Netts†sole win.

In the restricted cup, all six ties went by the formbook with only one even remotely close.

JJ Calisin and dad Jimmy were responsible for pulling Netts D through against Rayne F, accounting for all the winning sets in a 5-4 victory.

The one that clinched it was effectively Calisin juniorâ€s win at 12-10 in the fifth game against Conrad Gomes.

Other than that, the losing sides scored either nil or one. Notley H declared at 8-0 against Netts E, Adrian Boeriuâ€s defeat by Mike Smith at 13-11 in the fifth the closest Netts came, while Notley G took all five sets in straight games against Sudbury Drifters.

Sudbury Strollers ensured the club were represented in the next round with an 8-1 win over Yeldham Whitlocks B – Steve Willisâ€s win over Ian Whipps breaking the sequence – while Notley E and Netts F had 5-1 wins over Notley F and Rayne G respectively.

A commendable win in the doubles for Wendy Day and Aivars Taimins over Peter Davenport and Dave Parker gave Notley F a spark of daylight and it was Karl Bowdenâ€s win over James Howard that did likewise for Rayne G.

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