National Cadet League 2011-12 (Cippenham)

Purdy Performs

Meeting 3

Horsham TTC’s National Cadet League (NCL) A team of James Arnold, Holly Holder and Freddy Goodall played in Division 1 again and did well to stay up, beating Twickenham Brunswick A 5-1. They also finished higher than Burlington Danes B to finish up in fourth place. Arnold won 4/8, Holder 3/8 and Goodall 2/8.

The club’s B team of Sam Dallas, George Hazell and Chris Purdy had been relegated to Division 3 on Day Two, in the absence of Sam Dallas due to illness. On Day Three they won all of their matches comfortably but failed to go back up due to a loss to a Chiltern team which occurred at the previous meeting when they had a two player team. Dallas and Hazell both won 8/8 and Purdy played superbly to win 6/8. The team finished in second place behind Chiltern.

The C team was also in Division 3. Sean Worley was not on his usual good form, winning just 2/8. This was matched by Kyo Kaneko, but player of the team was Ben Worley who won 4/8 and also lost three five-setters including a 14-12 in the fifth to Purdy. The team finished in fourth place.

The D team was in Division 4 and consisted of David Poole and debutants Dominic Hawkins and Harriet Goodall (Fred's sister). Poole did well as usual with 7/9. Hawkins picked up 3/9, but lost a couple of close ones. Goodall has not had any experience of competitive play and so did not win any matches, but showed good determination and attitude and had a few close games. The team lies in third position.

Click to download tables and averages

Arnold Excels

Meeting 2 Report

A Team: James Arnold of Horsham A had a great day winning 7/9 matches, including beating Elias Daaboul, who is ranked above him and other than losing to Arnold won all of his matches (14/15). Holly Holder did one better than last time winning 4/9, but lost to the only other girl in the top division (Rhiannon Folan). Interestingly both girls have 5/15 after round 1. Freddy Goodall, who did not play last time won 1 (against Foley). However he did lose two matches in the fifth set. The team managed to avoid relegation finishing above Ashford and stayed up in Division 1 for round 2.

B Team: Sam Dallas had been unwell on the Saturday, so the team was a player short. The two-player team struggled with only one win from George Hazell from the first two team matches, meaning the team was relegated to Division 3 for round 2. Then they had the misfortune of meeting a very strong Division 3 side, which was much stronger than the team they had fielded on day 1 and they lost 8-1, with Hazell picking up the single win.

C Team: With George Hazell having moved up to the B Team, Ben Worley stepped up to the C team and gave a good account of himself, winning 3/9 matches. His older brother Sean continued his good form, with only two losses from nine. Kyo Kaneko improved from last time with six wins. The team finished second in Division 3 in round 1 and so remained in Division 3 for round 2. They were only two points behind the winning team.

D Team: Chris Brent performed well with 6/9. David Poole had a respectable 5/9 and JP Rushton who did not play on day one, managed one win. The team stands joint second in round 1, but with each team having one more match each. The team in pole position is a hefty eight points clear. After round 1, Division 4 will be split into two divisions of four teams rather than one division of eight teams. The top four will remain in Division 4 and the remaining four will be Division 5. Horsham D is likely to be in Division 4.

Individual totals:

Horsham A: James Arnold 7/9, Holly Holder 4/9, Freddy Goodall 1/9

Horsham B: George Hazell 2/9, Chris Purdy 0/9

Horsham C: Sean Worley 7/9, Kyo Kaneko 6/9, Ben Worley 3/9

Horsham D: Chris Brent 6/9, David Poole 5/9, JP Rushton 1/9

Tables

Averages

Dallas Dazzles

Meeting 1 Report

NCL ran at Cippenham Table Tennis Centre and Horsham TTC had a team in each of the four divisions.

The first team had the toughest time of all the Horsham teams losing their matches 3-6, 0-9 and 4-5. James Arnold and Holly Holder both won three matches. Newcomer Vatsal Raina, playing in his first ever competition, struggled but managed to get a win in the third round. All players will need to become more aggressive and consistent in attack next time round.

The Division 2 team fared better and picked up a 5-4 win against a strong team in the first round. Sam Dallas scored an impressive three and new player Vyas Raina got two. Chris Purdy was unlucky to miss out 11-8 in the fifth in one of his matches. In the next match they faced strong opposition and Dallas and Raina picked up a win each as the team lost out 7-2. The third round again produced a 5-4 win with Dallas winning another maximum and Vyas a brace. Purdy lost another five-setter. Dallas in particular was on top form with some powerful attacking shots, but Raina and Purdy also demonstrated improvement.

The third team (George Hazell, Sean Worley and Kyo Kaneko) got off to a flying start with a fine 7-2 win in the opening round. Both Hazell and Worley were undefeated and Kaneko picked up one. Things got better in the next match with a great 8-1 victory, only Kaneko missing out on a maximum. In their third match they faced more awkward players and they lost 5-4 with Hazell suffering his only defeat of the day over five ends. Kaneko’s win was a close final setter in which he held his nerve well. This was an extremely impressive debut for Worley, with a fine 7 wins out of 9. Hazel also shone and will be aiming for promotion to the second team for the next NCL meeting. Kaneko was also playing for the first time, so can be proud of his performance.

The fourth team, full of debutants, had arguably the best results of the day with 11 year olds Ben Worley and David Poole, performing well above expectations to win seven out of nine. Chris Brent was a little disappointed not to match them, scoring five wins, but lost two of these deep in the fifth end. The first match was a close 5-4 loss with Worley winning a double & the others getting singles and then came the only 9-0 win for any of the Horsham teams. The last match of the day ended 6-3 to the Horsham outfit with a maximum for Poole, a pair for Worley one for Chris.

The third and fourth teams are both in contention for promotion and will need good performances on Day 2 to achieve this. The second team is fairly safe from relegation, but the first team will need to pull out the stops to avoid the drop. A number of the club's new players will get on to the national ranking list for the first time as a result of their exploits.

Averages for the NCL players (listed in ranking order; some of the rankings may change for Day 2 based on these results):

Div 1:

James Arnold: 3/9=33.3%

Holly Holder: 3/9=33.3%

Vatsal Raina: 1/9=11.1%

Div 2:

Vyas Raina: 5/9=55.6%

Sam Dallas: 7/9=77.8%

Chris Purdy: 0/9=0%

Div 3:

George Hazell: 8/9=88.9%

Kyo Kaneko: 4/9=44.4%

Sean Worley: 7/9=77.8%

Div 4:

Chris Brent: 5/9=55.6%

David Poole: 7/9=77.7%

Ben Worley: 7/9=77.7%