Nottingham took a big step towards winning the Senior British Clubs League Championship division title as they extended their lead at the top of the table, with one weekend left to play.
The host club led BATTS II by three points at the start of the weekend, but increased that to five points by Sunday evening – though it was not all smooth sailing as both teams dropped points.
The weekend ended with a crucial 4-4 draw between the top two. Victory for BATTS would have cut the gap back to three and left them feeling still in the hunt for the title. As it is, it would take a major turnaround at the last weekend on 28-29 March for Nottingham not to emerge triumphant.
BATTS must have felt confident of closing the gap – they came from 1-0 and 2-1 down to lead the match 4-2 after Abraham Sellado notched a double and Djen Bakx beat Oliver Cornish 3-2 (9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9).
But Maxim Stevens pulled one back for Nottingham by defeating Luc Miller 3-2 (11-6, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7) and James Hobson (pictured above) salvaged the draw as he saw off Ethan Walsh in four.
Back in the first round of matches on Saturday, BATTS had got off to a bad start as they were brushed aside 6-2 by Hurricane, who led 2-0 and 5-1, with Joe Sawyer and Daniel O’Connell both bagging doubles – including Sawyer beating Sellado in the fifth.
Nottingham started with a 5-3 victory over Ormeau, though they had to fight as they trailed three times before winning the final three matches, including Joseph Dennison beating Adam Faulkner 3-2 (11-6, 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 11-7) in the penultimate match and Hobson overcoming Christopher Allsop 3-2 (13-11, 11-4, 7-11, 6-11, 11-5) to seal it in the final match.
Also in Saturday morning’s matches, Ormesby II beat Woodford Wells 6-2. One of the matches to go against Ormesby was an eye-catching 3-2 (12-10, 4-11, 12-10, 7-11, 16-14) win for Sinan Surensoy over Zac Greenhough – Surensoy also beat Thomas Rayner 12-10 in the fifth.
It was the same score for Perry Dale over Finsbury, while Wymondham beat three-player Urban 5-3.
Saturday afternoon’s matches saw BATTS recover from their opening defeat with an 8-0 romp against Woodford Wells, while Hurricane also notched a whitewash against Finsbury. Ormeau won 5-3 against Perry Dale, who closed from 4-1 down to 4-3 before Allsop overcame Mari Baldwin in four to take the points for Ormeau.
The other two matches were drawn, including leaders Nottingham’s clash with Wymondham. Nottingham led 3-1 having won three five-setters, but trailed 4-3 as Wymondham hit back, including a fine 3-2 (6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-2, 13-11) win for Umair Mauthoor over Adam Dennison. Hobson’s win over Dan Ives in the final match sealed a point for Nottingham.
The other draw was between Urban’s three men and Ormesby II – Urban’s Gabriel Achampong beat Greenhough 3-1 (11-13, 19-17, 14-12, 14-12) in a bit of an arm-wrestle.
Greenhough bounced back to notch a double against Nottingham on Sunday morning, including beating Stevens 11-8 in the fifth, but his were the only wins for the Middlesbrough side as the leaders won 6-2.
BATTS dropped another point in a 4-4 draw against an Urban side now up to a full complement of four players. BATTS will be kicking themselves as they led three times, including 4-2, only for Barney Mindlin to beat Bakx 3-2 (13-11, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4) and Kanayo Onuma to then edge out Walsh 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9).
Hurricane beat Woodford Wells 6-2, and it was 7-1 for Perry Dale against Wymondham (though none were decided in three straight). Finsbury versus Ormeau finished 5-3 in favour of the former, despite Paul McCreery’s double for Ormeau, which included beating Ho Yin Tam 16-14 in the fifth.
The Sunday afternoon matches were the 14th of 18 this season and included that 4-4 draw between Nottingham and BATTS. There was also a draw between Perry Dale and Ormesby – the latter came from 3-0 down to level, and from 4-3 down to bag a point clinched by Josh Harland’s win in the fifth over Baldwin. Greenhough was involved in another thriller, defeating Mircea Neagu 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 5-11, 13-11, 14-12).
It was 6-2 for Wymondham over Ormeau, while the other two matches were 5-3 wins for Hurricanes and Finsbury over Urban and Woodford Wells respectively.
So, with one weekend and four matches left, Nottingham have 24 points, with BATTS second in 19 and Hurricane third on 1.
Ormeau are bottom with seven points, but they do have the division’s top player in the averages – McCreery has won all 16 of his matches for a 100% record. BATTS’ Sellado is next, on 91.67% (11/12), with Nottingham duo Adam Fuzes and Hobson on 87.5% (14/16).