Given that he has won the men’s singles title six times it comes as something of a surprise to find that Paul Davison has only once topped the Braintree Table Tennis League individual averages.
But he’s there again this year, just ahead of his Netts A teammate Michael Andrews, who defeated him in this season’s singles final.
Davison lost three times compared with Andrews’ two, but Andrews only played in half the number of matches.
Davison’s defeats were all something of a surprise, twice to Adam Cuthbert, only ninth in the averages, and to veteran campaigner Terry Dowsett.
Andrews also sprang a surprise by losing to Maria Boulton, as well as to Peter Hayden, which can happen to anybody.
Hayden, in third place, lost to Steve Pennell, not for the first time, and Davison, while James Hicks’ consistent start to the season pushed him up to fourth place. Boulton has made the most progress in the top 20, up seven places to sixth.
Dan Anderson was unbeaten in division two, as he was in the last full season, the major factor in Black Notley C’s promotion.
His teammate Glen Laing is in fifth place, with Steve Noble seventh and the remaining places well spread around the division.
Not so in division three where four of the top five places are occupied by division winners Netts C, headed by division three singles winner Szczepan Ziobro.
The division is notable for returning players. Ziobro, Graham Chinnery, who was second, Peter Clark, third, Martin Brunker, sixth, and Lawrence Grantham, eighth, were all making a comeback after an absence, some longer than others.
Final averages (qualification one-third of team’s matches) are below. As the 2020-21 season only ran for six weeks, positions for 2019-20 are shown in brackets:
Division 1: 1 (2) Paul Davison 42 wins in 45 sets, average 93.3; 2 (-) Michael Andrews 21-23, 91.3; 3 (1) Peter Hayden 18-20, 90; 4 (7) James Hicks 33-37, 89.2; 5 (4) Terry Dowsett 31-36, 86.1; 6 (13) Maria Boulton 33-39, 84.6; 7 (12) Steve Kerns 23-29, 79.3; 8 (10) Steve Pennell 46-62, 74.2; 9 (-) Adam Cuthbert 24-33, 72.7; 10 (8) Nikki Kennard 34-48, 70.8; 11 (11) Alan Burgess 17-24, 70.8; 12 (-) Andy Holmes 17-26, 65.4; 13= (20) James Mullane, (5) Simon Webber 15-24, 62.5; 15 (17) Colin Bennett 18-30, 60; 16 (14) Ian Whiteside 24-41, 58.5; 17 (-) John Andrews 16-30, 53.3; 18 (19) Ryan Pitt 20-39, 51.3; 19 (-) Chris Parr 22-50, 44; 20 (-) Graham Playle 14-32, 43.8.
Division 2: 1 Dan Anderson 42-42, 100; 2= Karl Baldwin 49-56, Paul Nicol 21-24, 87.5; 4 Gareth Davies 40-48, 83.3; 5 Glen Laing 16-20, 80; 6 Sean Clift 40-56, 71.4; 7 Steve Noble 19-27, 70.4; 8= David Razzell 24-36, Kevin Saunders 18-27, Dave Marsh 14-21, 66.7.
Division 3: 1 Szczepan Ziobro 32-35, 91.4; 2 Graham Chinnery 35-39, 89.7; 3 Clive Forster 28-32, 87.5; 4 Peter Clark 25-30, 83.3; 5 Peter Lewis 45-55, 81.8; 6 Martin Brunker 49-60, 81.7; 7 Alex Morgan 36-45, 80; 8 Lawrence Grantham 15-20, 75; 9 Matt Brooks 40-55, 72.7; 10 Jim Davy 27-39, 69.2.